 Hello, everyone, and welcome to Pack Your Suitcase with Paddington. Paddington comes to London all the way from Peru with just one small leather suitcase packed with his most treasured possessions. If you were going on a journey like Paddington, what would you pack to remind you of home? This summer from the 7th of June until the 16th of July, the British Library are asking children across the country to create and personalise their own paper suitcase and reveal what they'd pack inside to remind them of home or a special place using art, creative writing or collage. This new creative project for children is inspired by Paddington and powerful stories of journeys and new homes. To inspire children to take part, the British Library invited some brilliant authors and illustrators to make their own suitcases and show us what they'd pack if they were going on a journey. This story is told by Richard O'Neill, Richard as an author and storyteller. There isn't time to tell you anything while Richard is describing his suitcase, and so I can let you know now what is happening. As he starts his tale, Richard is in a crisp white shirt with black braces over his shoulders. He's sitting on a narrow bench in a traditional wooden caravan leaning back against a red cushion. Pale wooden beams hold up the horseshoe-shaped top of the van, and the wallpaper is grey covered with large pink roses. In a picture which he shows us of the outside of the van, there are three wooden steps going up to the only door, and the wagon has four large wheels. Next to him is a pine sideboard on which he has laid out his favourite things that he would want to take with him. A blue-and-gold china cup with stumpy gold legs, a folded piece of paper, a small round pebble, a long silver key, a horseshoe painted in yellow and white flowers with kushty-bok Richard, written in white on the band of the shoe, Richard has grey wavy hair and square brown glasses covering light brown eyes. His face wrinkles slightly when he smiles, which he does a lot. His suitcase is made of brown cardboard and is covered with stickers. I love to travel, mountains, a cooking pot on an open fire, a waterfall and a notebook. Take a seat with Richard O'Neill as he reveals what's inside his suitcase and the stories that he carries with him. Hello, I'm Richard O'Neill, storyteller and author, and I've been asked by the British Library to create my very own suitcase. I hope it inspires you to create your own too. Now on the outside of my suitcase you can see at the front and at the back, I've put lots and lots of stickers about things that mean a lot to me, including this photograph here of the old-fashioned caravan that I'm sat in right now talking to you. I've also done a label which says, Ask Me For A Story, because I hope on my travels people will ask me for a story. And I thought, what if I lose my suitcase and somebody finds it and wonders why all of the things are in it? I thought I'd better write a little letter to explain it, so I'd like to read this to you now. Writers love to write and many like to travel. There's something I wrote as a little introduction going back in time to when I was a child. It's time to shift again, and that's OK. I'm used to it. I only have a few special items. There isn't room in my home for a lot of things, because my home is mobile. But my mam says that I can keep my special things in a suitcase that can be stored under the bed in the caravan, so it keeps safe and secure in case of any bumps in the road. Now as an adult in my suitcase, I have some notes and some little bits of writing for some new stories I'm working on. I also have a very precious cup, which although it seems very delicate, it's already 100 years old and has survived lots of journeys. It's much tougher than it looks. I can use my cup if anyone is kind enough to offer me a cup of tea. I have a list of stories, so I don't forget them. It's a long list, so each entry has a couple of words, some in English and some in Romani. Greedy King, Choon Gray, Baro Bowery, Yinot Ridler and so on and so on. And then of course I have to pack a pencil and some paper. Now these writing tools are not just to record all the amazing things I might see in here, but to cheer me up when I might feel a little bit lonely. I've noticed that no matter what I write, even if it would seem moany or boring to others, my pencil and paper never complain or judge. They just let me put the words out there. Then there's my favourite pebble from a beach I once visited that people in the local village were so welcome in and kind. Then there's the old key that was given to me by an older lady who told me she had no idea which locket fitted, so wherever I go I should ask people if I could try it in their locks. And I have. It hasn't fitted any locks so far, but I have made lots of people smile when I tell them why I carry this key. Who knows, one day it might even open a treasure chest. There's the wooden spoons, which you can use to eat, but also you can clack them together to make a lovely percussion sound. And who knows, I might find a band who needs somebody like me to join them. Then there's the homemade wooden clothes peg, which reminds me of my family. It is also very useful for keeping my papers together. And then finally, there is this lovely painted horseshoe that a friend gave me for a gift for no reason at all, apart from they knew I would like it. It could bring me luck, but I could also use it to play a game of coits. Well, that's everything that's in my suitcase. And I hope you enjoy your travels as much as I do.