www.theaoi.com

The AOI was established in 1973 to advance and protect illustrator’s rights and encourage professional standards. The AOI is a non-profit making trade association dedicated to its members’ professional interests and the promotion of illustration.

Members consist primarily of freelance illustrators as well as agents, clients, students and lecturers. The AOI is run by an administrative staff responsible to a volunteer Council of Management.

 www.rbsa.org.uk

The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists is one of the oldest Art Societies in the UK. As early as 1807, Samuel Lines opened an Academy teaching students, several of whom became famous in the art world.

 www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk

The Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses, in the United Kingdom, are a 15 acre oasis of delight. Designed by J. C. Loudon, a leading garden planner, horticultural journalist and publisher, they opened to subscribers in 1832.

 www.macmillan.com

With over 7000 staff operating in more than 80 countries, Macmillan Publishers Ltd is one of the largest and best known international publishing groups in the world. It is characterized by high-quality academic and scholarly, educational, fiction and non-fiction publishing in many forms; from STM and social science journals to serious non-fiction and literary fiction; from educational course materials and dictionaries to college textbooks, academic monographs and reference with supporting online resource sites.

 www.tamarindbooks.co.uk

Tamarind Books was founded by Verna Wilkins in 1987. Verna’s mission was to redress the balance in publishing by giving a high positive profile to children from ethnic minorities and those with disabilities. This is done unselfconsciously with engaging and enjoyable stories and stunning illustrations.  All Tamarind stories, including the biographies, offer positive role models for success. Many of the books feature on the National Curriculum and on children’s television. Tamarind titles have also been chosen among the Children’s Books of the Year. 

 www.mallgalleries.org.uk

The FBA is a registered charity, established in 1961, which runs the Mall Galleries in Central London.

 www.ladybird.co.uk

Ladybird books are known and loved the world over. For millions of people, they bring back the golden days of childhood - learning to read, discovering the magic of books, and growing up.

 www.himleyhall.org

Himley Hall, situated between Kingswinford and Wombourne, started life in the 18th century when a medieval manor house on the site belonging to the Earl of Dudley was demolished to make way for a great Palladian mansion. The 180 acres of grounds were designed by Capability Brown to include a great lake fed by a series of waterfalls from a higher chain of smaller pools.