Michael Morpurgo in Manchester

Well, I had a little trip the other week for a friend's wedding and as luck would have it I found myself in Manchester on the same day as Michael Morpurgo was there reading from his book, Private Peaceful, accompanied with music by Coope, Boyes and Simpson, an amazing acappella trio. The concert was part of the Manchester Children's Book Festival.
I was a student in Manchester - on occasion I could be found dancing on tables in the Flea and Firkin (that is what tables are for in Manchester in case you are not aware). Seventeen years later (eeek...yes, seventeen years later) I found myself in one of the student buildings on Oxford Road sitting and listening to this spellbinding concert. At the start a voice in my head would speak and say, 'Oh my goodness, he wrote Warhorse, HE actually wrote Warhorse...and I am hear listening to him read.' I wanted to go out onto Oxford Road with a megaphone and shout 'Everyone needs to come inside here and listen to this' - suffice to say I was quite excited. But, as he began to read, and as the music filled the atrium, weaving in and out of the lines he spoke, the story and characters became the focus; you were drawn in, you held you breath, you were thinking of nothing else and time seemed to stop.
Check out the Michael Morpurgo website for details of further events/reading and if you are in the right place at the right time go!!
p.s The wedding was ace too - though I did not dance on any tables this time...