Adele Cleaver

Adele Cleaver was born in Birmingham in the 1980s. She describes herself as a

nomadic Brummie whose wanderlust has taken her to the likes of Lisbon, Accra,

Tokyo, Salvador da Bahia, even Timbuktu. She now lives in Bournemouth on the

south coast of England with her husband and four year old daughter. She started

writing in November 2019 through an art therapy course she enrolled on after her

second miscarriage. She began reflecting on her varied career in playwork and how

her professional experiences helped her overcome some of the challenges of

parenthood. She found her approach to raising their child very different from her

peers: she makes play her priority. Her book is a playful manifesto about the

importance of play: her play, her daughter’s play and play in the community.

My career highlights

2009 - trained as a playworker with an inclusion development agency in

Birmingham. We had a radical approach to designing pop up community play

spaces: at the centre of our planning was accessible play for children with the most

complex needs, rather than them being on the periphery, or an afterthoughts.

2012 - hospital playworker at Great Ormond Street Hospital. This was an

uncomfortable, heartbreaking experience; I only lasted four months.

2013 - juggled and struggled with the chaos of London. Found playful work as a

youth worker for young people with disabilities, a playworker and also employed as a

nanny for a playful family aka. private playworker.

2014 - moved to Bournemouth which I quickly regarded as a ‘play desert’. In

comparison with London and Birmingham: very little understanding of or

commitment to play within the children’s workforce.

2016 - first daughter was born. Re-realised the importance of my own play as a new

parent.

2019 - began writing my memoir with the working title Can I bring my baby? Guest

on The Parent Journey podcast.

2020 - founded Big Blue Play, a community play project in Bournemouth

2021 - Children don’t dissolve in the rain - a story about parenthood & playwork published on 1st July 2021