Motivating
words
We had been looking forward for weeks to the visit to
the afternoon conductive group of the creative-effects,
make-up artist Nick
Maley, or as he is called by Star Wars fans
The Yoda Guy.
I had once again received one of those phone calls that needed
a prompt, on-the-spot reply – ‘Can the Yoda Guy visit your afternoon group, Susie?’
I must admit at
that point I had no idea who the Yoda Guy was and had little idea about Star
Wars. Star Wars fever seemed to have passed me by the first time round and almost
the second time round too. But nevertheless I said YES!
The event was looked forward to by all, thanks to the enthusiasm of the few children in the afternoon
group whose parents had been bitten by the bug the first time around. Now, with
the second series of films, these parents have sparked thier children's interest in Star Wars and together they enjoy this world of fantasy.
Mr Yoda Guy
Mr Yoda Guy
Yoda Guy, Nick Maley, is a Londoner who went off to Hollywood
and stardom as the special-effects man on many films, not only Star Wars –
He has a museum of film paraphernalia in the Caribbean
and is looking for a location in Germany to open another. He was in Nürnberg
for a couple of weeks meeting fans and possible supporters of his project and
taking part in activities in the streets and at the local cinema.
He also visited a couple of charities. As the Nürnberg
Star Wars Fan-Club has chosen the conductive department of our association as
their charity of the year they suggested that the Yoda Guy should visit us,
which he did, with Yoda travelling with him in a suitcase.
It was difficult to manage this 2pm visit as all our
children turn up at different times from different schools and arrive very
hungry. We had invited a few other children and teenagers to join us so the
room was soon filled up with guests. As one by one our children arrived they
sneaked in, were given a hot meal to tuck into and in between times introduced themselves
to Yoda and Nick Maley.
I had been a bit nervous about how it would all fit
together but it turned out to be just like a big family lunch. We all sat
around a long table with eats and drinks and lots of merriment while Nick talked to us about life,
about motivation and about having high expectations of ourselves, about rising high
above what others think that we can achieve. He talked about being creative and
inventive and trying to produce something creative every day. He suggested that
we should always try to stretch ourselves, to move onwards and upwards, and to learn
through doing, through being active. He was really inspiring for both the
adults and the children alike.
We should have had this wonderful Yoda Guy with us at the World Conference
last year as a keynote speaker!
After the ‘lunch’ was finished, and the home-made Star Wars muffins eaten, the guests started to drift away and left space for the conductive
group to show Nick a bit of what we do every day. It was lovely for me to be
the translator, especially as the Yoda Guy’s philosophy to life seemed to fit in
so well with ours. There was not a lot of explaining for me to do about our work, Nick seemed to understood
spontaneously what conductive upbringing is about.
It was certainly a very motivating occasion and I am
glad that I said Yes so spontaneously when I received that initial phone call asking whether we would like the visit organised for us.
Inspiration to create
Before Nick Maley and Yoda arrived for their visit the
children drew Star Wars pictures while they waited and they presented these to Nick as he arrived. These
were small and drab in comparison to the lively pictures that they drew
immediately after he had left. The difference was enormous.
Unfortunately I was so busy with my host hat on that I
have no photographs of the day! No picture of Nick, Yoda, no picture of the two
huge white wolf twins, no picture of the Darth Vader wheelchair conversion and
no pictures of the drawings. I do have a few pictures of the post-visit drawings
though! You will just have to take my word for it that they were better than those
created pre-visit.
The children were so quiet over lunch, livening up just
a little when we were alone with our guests, but later when all the guests had left
they began to discuss the Star Wars characters and it was clear to see in the
artwork that they then produced that Nick Maley’s motivating talk really had
inspired the children to be creative.
We hope that as the plans for the new film paraphernalia
museum in Nürnberg develop we will meet Nick again so we can enjoy another family
style lunch with him and be inspired and motivated once more.
PS
PS
There are
lots of photographs of the visit and the Star Wars events in Nürnberg to be seen here –
