School boy dreams of becoming
an animator were close to becoming a reality for Nick Meredith
when he was guided towards starting his freelance work as an
illustrator and writer of children's books.
Nick
lives in the Wednesfield area of Wolverhampton, which is in the
county of the West Midlands in England.
Nick
is a former pupil of Oak Meadow Primary School, and Coppice Community
High School. He has also studied at Dudley College of Technology
and at the University of Wolverhampton.
Nick was lucky enough in 1985 to be involved
in the shooting of a feature film for Channel Four Television
(a UK based terrestrial television company). This involved being
on location for three weeks with actors and actresses such as
Warren Mitchell (best know as Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do
Part, In Sickness And In Health and also made appearences in
a number of 'Carry On' films), Rachel Davies (Boon, Crossroads,
Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Kavanaugh QC ), Tracie Bennett (Coronation
Street, Making Out, Next Of Kin and Lily Savage's Blankety Blank),
Chris Wilde (Brookside, The Bill, Parallel 9), Annette Badland
(Bergerac and a variety of CBBC programmes but most recently
seen as Margaret Slitheen in the BBC's 2005 series of Doctor
Who), and Clive Wedderburn (The Bill). This gave Nick a valuable
insight into film making, building a plot line, and setting a
scene. Way back then, at the age of eighteen, he was offered
a job by the Director in his animation studios in London but
decided to take a different route.
Warren Mitchell
Rachel Davies
Tracie Bennett
Annette Badland
Clive Wedderburn
Before
Nick started as a freelance illustrator he spent many years as
a Youth Leader working in youth clubs and on playschemes. During
this time Nick helped to start up the Wolverhampton Youth Arts
Project which offered opportunities for exploring art, drama,
film making and music styles by taking qualified instructors
into youth clubs.
Some of his previous projects have also
included designing company logos for letterheads and business
cards, illustrating leaflets and posters and also providing articles
and illustrations for community newsletters and magazines.
Nick went freelance
in December 1993 and since then has been involved in a number
of projects. These include submitting a bid to the BBC, in conjunction
with a video production company, to produce a series of programmes
for the 'Teaching Today' series. His role being to illustrate
the teachers notes and worksheets that accompany the programmes.
He
has also received a commission to write a book for schools. This
was funded by a department in the British Government's Home Office.
This department was known as the Drug Prevention Initiative (DPI).
It is now known as the Drug Prevention Advisory Service (DPAS).
Nick
has found time to speak at number of conferences, whether they
be regional, national or international. Usually about the subjects
he deals with in his books and sometimes about the workshops
he leads in schools and on playschemes.
Nick
has been interviewed by BBC local radio and by television news
and has been approached by Central Television to take part in
a documentary series about unusual professions.
Since December 1993
Nick has gained an excellent reputation throughout primary schools
in Wolverhampton, Walsall and South Staffordshire for his practical
workshops. These include an anti-bullying workshop, which has
proved popular with schools for their Year Six pupils ready for
their transition to Secondary School and gives them practical
skills to deal with bullies, through the media of role-plays,
discussion and play writing.
Also, 'The Amazing Adventures of Mike & Sal', which uses
characters that Nick has created. During the workshop the children
make up stories and illustrate their exciting adventures. This
is usually in the form of a giant sized cartoon strip. He is
hoping to take these further a field in the near future.
Nick
has recently finished working on "Not To Be Sniffed At",
a book concerning the dangers of solvent abuse. The illustrations
in Nick's books are the most striking aspect of his work. They
have been described as being really lifelike portraying real-life
situations and the characters could easily be people who live
in your street or even next door.
In
January 1998 Nick heard from the Home Office saying that they
no longer had funds to publish 'Not To Be Sniffed At!' Straight
away Nick got on the phone to Sound Learning, an educational
publisher based in Cannock, Staffordshire.
After two meetings with Steve Humphrey, the editor, who liked
Nick's work, they have decided to publish his books.
The
books currently available are topic packs for Personal, Social
and Health Education.
School boy dreams of becoming an animator were close to becoming a reality for Nick Meredith when he was guided towards starting his freelance work as an illustrator and writer of children's books.
Nick was lucky enough in 1985 to be involved in the shooting of a feature film for Channel Four Television (a UK based terrestrial television company). This involved being on location for three weeks with actors and actresses such as Warren Mitchell (best know as Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part, In Sickness And In Health and also made appearences in a number of 'Carry On' films), Rachel Davies (Boon, Crossroads, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Kavanaugh QC ), Tracie Bennett (Coronation Street, Making Out, Next Of Kin and Lily Savage's Blankety Blank), Chris Wilde (Brookside, The Bill, Parallel 9), Annette Badland (Bergerac and a variety of CBBC programmes but most recently seen as Margaret Slitheen in the BBC's 2005 series of Doctor Who), and Clive Wedderburn (The Bill). This gave Nick a valuable insight into film making, building a plot line, and setting a scene. Way back then, at the age of eighteen, he was offered a job by the Director in his animation studios in London but decided to take a different route.
Some of his previous projects have also included designing company logos for letterheads and business cards, illustrating leaflets and posters and also providing articles and illustrations for community newsletters and magazines.
Nick went freelance in December 1993 and since then has been involved in a number of projects. These include submitting a bid to the BBC, in conjunction with a video production company, to produce a series of programmes for the 'Teaching Today' series. His role being to illustrate the teachers notes and worksheets that accompany the programmes.
Since December 1993 Nick has gained an excellent reputation throughout primary schools in Wolverhampton, Walsall and South Staffordshire for his practical workshops. These include an anti-bullying workshop, which has proved popular with schools for their Year Six pupils ready for their transition to Secondary School and gives them practical skills to deal with bullies, through the media of role-plays, discussion and play writing.
