Rare bird found nesting in our garage ... #SpringWatch #ChickenGirl #Cumbria

Very excited to have my work included in this new anthology with such a fantastic line up of poets. Thank you @northernjim.bsky.social for all your work pulling this together!

Massively excited for this!

THE DIRIGIBLE BALLOON 🎈 will have a 3rd #anthology in aid of #KeepMeBreathing a charity that does vital work for children & adults. Thankful to Jonathan Humble & Colin West for including a #poem of mine within🙏🏻 Looking forward to supporting the anthology!❤️ #BooksChangeLives #Readforagoodcause #Poems

Thank you to yourself and to Colin West @colinwest.bsky.social for encouraging children's poets to create and for inspiring the incredible renaissance of children's poetry in the UK! Looking forward to supporting this project! ❤️

Update announcement #ThirdAnthology #DirigibleBalloon #PoetryForChildren #KeepMeBreathing This is your Captain speaking ... northernjim.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/t...

Update announcement #ThirdAnthology #DirigibleBalloon #PoetryForChildren #KeepMeBreathing This is your Captain speaking ... northernjim.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/t...

Your #FoxOfTheDay today ! Thanks to Pete Allison for sharing !

The next phase is beginning. Mr West has kindly offered his good offices in the organisation/match-up of poets and artists. We are thrilled. An info article will be up on the DB later this week and we will be contacting the poets who have kindly allowed us to include their work. #KeepMeBreathing

Update coming soon wrt our third anthology. Thank you to that splendid human Colin West for all he has done (and is doing) to make our aeronautical adventures a reality. Thanks also to the wonderful Richard Trinder of The Yorkshire Times & Yorkshire Times Publishing. #PoetryForChildren #TheBalloon

The DB is nothing without its poets ... JH x

My social media 'memories' feature is telling me it's been 2 years since my 1st children's poem appeared on at #TheDirigibleBalloon .🎈I'm so grateful & proud to be part of this joyful platform dedicated to children's literary arts. Check out the full fab site here.🪂👇🏻 dirigibleballoon.org

six poets still to confirm ...

Young owl jumping up and down on the letter rejecting the first poems it sent to a magazine.

I couldn't agree more. #BookSky

Replies in from 80% of poets contacted (all positive). 8 still to confirm. #DirigibleBalloon #PoetryForChildren #Anthology #KeepMeBreathing #CongenitalCentralHypoventilationSyndrome

Thank you @rocketbirdbooks.bsky.social Two wonderful picture books from Rocket Bird Books dropped through my letterbox today (such a lovely surprise). Ant Life, written and illustrated by Moesha Kellaway and Scooter Dog, written and illustrated by Lo Cole. #YearOfReading2026 #WooHoo JH x

Soooo ... no chance of a blue plaque at 3 Widop Street (it was demolished decades ago). However, 65 years later, I'm still kicking. Had a lovely day out in Manchester. Art gallery visit followed by a wonderful meal at Piccolino Caffé Grande. #Recommend 🙂👍

Very grateful for all the interest. A post will appear on the Dirigible Balloon website with details that will answer questions which have been raised here. Just to clarify one point: this is a charitable project. The DB is unable to make any payment for poems or artwork donated.

We're still shortlisting the poems (no one has been contacted yet). Looking for artists. #PoetryForChildren #DirigibleBalloon #AnthologyNumberThree 🎈

We currently have a longlist of 60 poets in the running for possible inclusion for the next Dirigible Balloon anthology. No one has been contacted. #Thanos #StageOne #TamingTornadoes #PoetryForChildren JH

A poem from my time as a teacher ... #JimTheStick #Poetry

The Mór-Ríoghain #Poetry #IrishFolklore

Keep being visited by the Great Queen ... #IrishFolklore #PoetryPortent #Cumbria

Thursday update: two more accepted today ... need to buy a lottery ticket!

Haven't written much lately so a poetry acceptance this morning was a lovely surprise. 🙂

We've just sent our open mic poets the Zoom link for Sunday's Yes We Cant, which is going to be amazing! If you'd like to join our audience, drop us a line. 😊

Run Day Twenty ... carrying a calf injury. A few days rest required.

My emails seem to be ending up in people's spam folders with a depressing and increasing frequency; hate it when the impression is given that I can't be bothered to respond to communications.

Just arrived in today's post. A beautiful book full of brilliant poems and excellent illustrations. How lucky were we at the Dirigible Balloon to have poems sent by Rhiannon Oliver? Sooo pleased Chris Riddell and Firefly Press agree. #PoetryForChildren

We have sent out replies to all poetry submissions. Please check your spam/junk folders.

Abolish OFSTED #AbolishOfsted 🙂👍

The DB continues to be available for kids,families&schools to access brilliant poems, but we are now taking a break over the rest of spring&summer to review/organise our next anthology. News will follow on the website (soon) with updates of progress and info for poets/artists.

Thank you to everyone who sent poems for our spring flight. The window has now closed. A lot arrived yesterday, so the next few days will be spent reading and replying to emails. #PoetryForChildren #DirigibleBalloon 🎈 dirigibleballoon.org

Poetry Submissions Closing at Midnight GMT March 14th

Children's Poem Of The Week: Dance Of The Stream Sprite by Jacqueline Shirtliff yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Chil...

Accepting submissions until March 14th then we're concentrating on the next anthology (which might mean that the summer flight in June gets pushed back a little). A post will go up on the DB website about our third book once all the spring flight poems have been published. JH 👍#TamingTornadoes

I was thrilled to find out that all three of my poems were added to The Dirigible Balloon today! Now I have a total of four poems on this wonderful website! 🥰 @northernjim.bsky.social

I am excited that my poem Blue Colours Wearing Children is in the spring flight of The Dirigible Balloon. It was one of my most fun poems to write in a workshop. Thanks, @northernjim.bsky.social #Poem #Poetry

Taking another trip on the Dirigible Balloon with the (decidedly not sky-bound) Green Submarine! dirigibleballoon.org/writer/ianbr... @northernjim.bsky.social #WritingCommunity #WritingForChildren #PoetryForKids #PoetryForChildren #PoetryCommunity #KidLit #KidLitUK

So pleased that Little Spring Moon 🌕and Tangrams🔺are up on The Dirigible Balloon website, along with a host of fresh new poetry for kids. @northernjim.bsky.social #poetryforkids #teachingresources dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Little-...

Such a joy to have some new poems up at dirigibleballoon.org So grateful to @northernjim.bsky.social #childrenspoetry

Now uploading our #SpringFlight of excellent poetry for children written by a range of known and unknown poets from around the world ... #NationalYearOfReading #CheckUsOut >>> dirigibleballoon.org #PoetryForChildren #DirigibleBalloon @kidsbloomsbury.bsky.social @schoolreadinglist.bsky.social

Always happy and grateful to have new poems in dirigibleballoon.org - a children's poetry resource like no other the world. Thank you, as ever, to @northernjim.bsky.social #NationalYearOfReading2026 #Poems4kids #TEACHers #poems4kids