Grimm & Co

Who we are

Welcome to Grimm & Co, Apothecary to the Magical!

As you enter you are immediately transported into a world of wonder and enchantment.  Warm greetings from friendly shop keepers take you on a tour of wild schemes, evil plots and kitchenware.  Little do you know there’s a secret door, hidden within the shelves, that takes you on a further journey of awe and wonder, starting with the imagination gym for dusting off and unleashing hidden creativity.  Once the imagination is sparked one can climb the giant’s bookcase through the corridor of glory, past Graham and Grizelda’s office, glimpsing at the Writers’ Closet, through to the glorious Writers’ Pad.

Behind the everyday façade of the beautiful shop, through the secret door amongst the broomsticks and goblin mucus, there’s a whole other world, only accessible if you have an intact imagination.  The ‘Imagination Gym’, leading to ‘The Writers’ Pad’, is our story destination.  Here we champion the writer in every young person.  We are truly child-led and believe in taking fun seriously, unleashing the power of young people’s extraordinary imaginations, building their confidence, self-respect and enhancing their ability to communicate and aspire.  Here, young people can enjoy free activities, all aimed at encouraging and inspiring young people to write, whilst also receiving support through one to one mentoring from a trained volunteer. 

Grimm & Co is a Yorkshire literacy charity with a mission to change lives, one story at a time.  We provide exciting writing workshops to children and young people, aged 7-18, unleashing imaginations through the joyful discovery of stories.  The workshops cover lots of different types of writing, from comedy writing and stories, to poems, plays and monologues.  These workshops are all free to the child, and encourage their self-esteem, resilience and self-belief, raising literacy levels and building confidence. We target young people from disadvantaged areas, both in our school workshops and out-of-school activities, and this can have a hugely positive impact of their lives.  We aim to build the capacity of children and young people, helping them to discover and unleash their hidden talents, building confidence and self-esteem and recognising their individual skills and potential.

We encourage literacy and family engagement within our apothecary, where children and families can take a book from our Forgotten Library or write a letter to a fairytale character (replies delivered by owl in 7-10 days), as well as taking part in various other spellbinding activities in the holidays. 

We train and support volunteers to develop their own skills but also to have a meaningful role in our mission.  Volunteers provide one to one mentoring, support and constructive feedback to young people.  We have many volunteer roles at our centre - including administration, media, retail, caretaking, and more.

We also have a wonderful apothecary and online shop, bursting at the seams with wonderful artisan products that are sure to make humans laugh, whilst supporting our charity.