Annie Ant Makes Friends for Demelza
Features Editor Ben Bruges recommends a children’s story for Christmas.
Demelza Phillips worked in a hospice in Birmingham. Tragically she died of a brain tumour at 24. Her parents visited the hospice on the day of Demelza’s funeral and realised to their surprise that it “radiated cheerfulness, affection and understanding”. It helped them understand more fully their daughter’s commitment to her work; perhaps they could continue the work she had to stop?
In the South-east an estimated 500 to 600 families will have a child who is born with, or develops, a life-threatening condition. However the nearest hospice was Oxford: far too far for sick youngsters from Kent and East Sussex.
ARTWORK: Twig Otos
They set up Demelza Hospice Care for Children as a charity in 1994, and, by 1998 had raised enough money to set up the first hospice in Sittingbourne in Kent. Later merging with James House – a charity established in East Sussex by Robin and Mary Gooch following the death of their son, James – by 2009 they were able to set up a hospice in Eltham to serve South East London.
Annie Ant
The work that Demelza does inspired Chris Sanderson to write the children’s book – Annie Ant Makes Friends which is sold to make money for Demelza. Of the cover price of a fiver, almost all goes to Demelza.
Chris is a spritely 79 who came to Hastings when her husband got a job at the college many years ago. She talked to me when she was just back from a park run with Hastings Runners. She had written the story a few years ago, but hadn’t found the right illustrator. It turned out a neighbour’s granddaughter, Twig Otos, was in her last year at Ark Alexandra and wanted to pursue art. A perfect match. The neighbour, Penny Hockenhull, shared the production costs with Chris as their donation.
The book is a sweet story about big-hearted Annie Ant, but there are some powerful messages underlying it which are important for children, whether or not they are suffering from a fatal condition. Big-hearted Annie encounters other insects who are miserable about themselves and cheers
them up.
Snail shell drum
The story is not about treating people equally, but instead is about valuing people for their strengths and weaknesses and working out solutions that fits with their capabilities. For example for those that move slowly (Sammi Snail and Chloe Caterpillar) will move slowly, whatever you might wish, so if a bunch of insect friends are running around trying to find a stage for their gig, then it makes sense to send the bouncy Gary Grasshopper on ahead. Sammi Snail may only be able to dance with his antennas, but (spoiler alert!) his shell makes a great drum… and so it goes.
Chris Sanderson & Twig Otos
Credit Penny Hockenhull
The story even deals with the awkward fact that one of the friends, Sophie Spider, has a propensity towards eating the others!
When I asked Chris, an experienced parent and grandmother, what age the story was aimed for, she said her granddaughter Esme loved it at three (hence the dedication) as a story to be read to her, whereas a child would probably have to be about seven or eight to read it for themselves. That made sense, as I found it quite wordy, but with a lovely pace and feel and enough pictures to help children imagine the characters.
• Find Annie Ant Makes Friends at BookBusters or Hastings Bookshop or through Hastings Runners on Facebook. www.demelza.org.uk
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