THE Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling is hosting a summer School of Spells for budding witches and wizards.

In an attempt to make the holidays a little bit more magicial, a lively programme of events has been put together at the centre - covering 9¾ days.

From Saturday, July 1, to Monday, July 10, The Thistles will be calling on youngsters to dust off their capes, wands and broomsticks and hone their spell-making skills.

Launching at Stirling Train Station at 10am, new students will be taken over to The Thistles' School of Spells, complete with its steamer trunk installation and rather opinionated talking cat.

Parents will be warned, however, that occasionally spells can go wrong and that they should be prepared for the likelihood of mishap.

Once inside the imposing grey school building with its gargoyles, mossy, grey stones, craggy trees and a giant spell book, casting magic up high, children will be taken into the school-room where they will invent their own unique spell written in wizard script.

Helped by the spell-casting wizard teacher, and using the bubbling cauldron, where they will add six eyes of newts, frogspawn and gargoyle toenails, The Wizartree with its whispering branches will also help fire inspiration.

With the spell-written, a second bright, cheerful and friendly spell school teacher will then help the children to create their own wand, which will allow them to cast their personal spells.

The teacher will also share stories about past spells that went wrong.

Once children have their own spell and unique wand in place, they move on to the Sweep You Off Your Feet simulation broomstick flight training area.

Here, they will be allocated the appropriate broom, and given rudimentary broom-flight skills against the starry sky.

The teacher will be closely watching over them, to see who’s got what it takes to graduate from the School of Spells.

The School of Spells experience culminates with the children’s graduation. Here the teacher will present each child with their graduation certificate.

Against the backdrop of the flight simulator, and under the guardian owl, children will be able to pose so their proud parents can take photographs of them with their graduation certificate as well as the real-life owls.

The free event runs from 11am-4pm daily, and hopes to bring some theatrical, craft and physical fun to the holidays.

Phil Byrne, centre director of The Thistles said: “School of Spells will be a magical destination for the summer school holidays and an unmissable attraction for wannabe wizards of all ages. T

"The School, which runs for 9¾ days, is free and open to all – simply come along to The Thistles between 11am – 4pm daily.

"In keeping with the theme, School of Spells promises to be a spellbinding experience and one which is guaranteed to fire imaginations.”