It was a lovely sunny day. Conestance, Conerad, Cone-Vera and Conen were standing outside a very big building. "Where are we?" Conerad asked. "Whoa " he said, jumping backwards. Two big sliding doors opened and there stood a bright yellow Cone. "Hello," said the new Cone. "My name is Conespicuous. I'm the warning Cone and I look after health and safety here at Leeds Children's Hospital. It's one of the biggest in the country." Each of our four friends introduced themselves. So begins another adventure for the Cones friends. The award-winning Cones series of books for children, written by Chris Madeley, are specifically designed to enhance children's understanding of aspects of safety, friendship, kindness and moral and ethical principles by which to be guided. Cones Visit the Children's Hospital is wonderfully illustrated by Emily Vaughan. Children love the Cones and adults love reading them. Chris has always enjoyed words, books and writing for as long as she can remember. Having been brought up in a family which did not possess a television, she was well used to making her own entertainment and with a very fertile imagination and a preference for her own company, she immersed herself in the world of make-believe and fantasy. Throughout Chris' school life, she developed a great love and respect for the written word and reading and writing featured right at the top of her favourites list. Hardly surprising that her career took her into working with English and led her to some very interesting Executive P.A. posts in several major well-known companies. After a career break to have her family, Chris went back to work part-time and after training changed disciplines to work as an Independent Financial Adviser. It was during this time that she received the inspiration for writing The Cones. Chris spent many a long hour on the M1 motorway with her husband Keith as they travelled from their main office in Bradford to their company's branch office in Hertfordshire and guess what happened? Yes, they sat in road works surrounded by miles and miles of CONES Thus, the 'conecept' of Cones coming alive and having adventures was born.
