Southampton Storyteller heads Beyond the Border

The car is packed, the cat has now mastered his new cat flap and I'm heading off to St Donat's Castle in Wales. This weekend is their International Storytelling Festival ' Beyond the Border'!

If you want to know more about the whats going on at the festival check out this link:  Beyond the Border 
I'm looking forward to tales galore and meeting up with some of my friends from the International School of Storytelling too...


And yes... I am camping!!!!! 

Winchester Hat Fair and Storytelling

Wherever you look there seems to be an abundance of hats!  Increased appearance in the media since the Royal wedding last year, the beginning of the month for the Jubilee and today the start of Ascot. Now it's festival time and in Hampshire alone there are many more hats set to come...


Winchester Hat Fair, Britain's longest running Festival of Street Theatre and Outdoor Arts, returns annually on the first weekend of July from Friday 6th to Sunday 8th July 2012. A crazy, colourful celebration of theatre and music, now in its 37th year, where entertainers perform voluntarily in exchange for money to be thrown into their hats. 


Alas I will be out of the county that weekend BUT in honour of the event we will be dedicating our next story gathering at the Hyde Tavern to the topic.

Join us 8pm on the 11th of July for  HATS and TALES  

Stories of Hats, Veils, Heads or however else our regular storytellers interpret the theme!

  

Winchester Storytelling Event: Flaming June!

Check your diaries, the 2nd Wednesday of the month is fast approaching... Set your clocks for 8pm!  

Join us, on the 13th of June for a summer evening of stories.  
Come and escape the rain in the creative hotspot of the Hyde Tavern cellar... 


Who cares if the sun only features in our imagination, the welcome will be warm and the pint of stories fiery.

Hampshire Children's Centre Prepare for the Jubilee

Inside and Outside! The Centre in Havant maximised Storytelling opportunities for both its Nursery children and then it's Royal Jubilee Fun Day. With stories,  finger rhymes and songs on a royal theme I helped unlock a treasure chest of creativity and imagination. Great fun was had by children, staff , myself... and after the picnic lunch outside, parents joined in too. I'm now looking forward to more magic next week with a booking in Fareham.

World Peace, Cake and Stories in Ringwood

Last Thursday we had another wonderful night of stories at The Boston Tea Party with the New Forest Storytellers -Heads and Tales Story Cafe
The theme was War and Peace, and stories ranged from tales about building bridges, raging sea storms, a soldier and a Tinderbox, a unique story of an old lady and a German poem. To close, with magic in the air my telling of a Russian Wondertale  "The Speedy Messenger". 


It was great evening and the home baked Millionaires shortbread delicious.  Join us next month for more cakes and stories, 21st June @8pm 

Story Goose on the Loose in Dorset Schools

Plans for the East Dorset Story Festival are progressing nicely. This week schools nearby will soon be receiving promotional postcards for each child and the chance to win free tickets as part of the Golden Goose Competition 

For me, the most exciting thing is that each school will also receive an especially commissioned education pack written by myself to help teachers explore the story of the Golden Goose and oral storytelling methods. I'm very much looking forward to hearing how the promotion goes, and get feedback about the resources... 

Golden Moments of Storytelling in Winchester

Those in search of story treasures found them in abundance in the cellar of The Hyde Tavern last Wednesday evening!





We heard stories of discovering buried silver on an allotment, a handcrafted necklace made of driftwood from a beach with special memories, a childhood trip digging for fossils and finding a precious first edition of poems with a handwritten letter from the author inside... to name a few.These together with longer traditional spoken tales made for a wonderful evening.  


The thing that amazed me most was that both myself and Mike Rogers had unknowingly prepared stories about Golden Birds, and even stimulated a third story with this motif to be recalled from another's school days.

Mike's skillfully combined the classic Grimm's tale The Golden Bird , a Russian version with his own embellishments to weave the two together and my story came from Zambia, The Song Of The Golden Birds.   


Each of the wonder tales told of a youngest son in search of a golden bird or flock, and followed a classical pattern of an initial challenge, meeting supernatural helpers, further challenges, similar treasures and just when it seems all is well... a twist of sibling rivalry before the story is fully resolved.  You may be forgiven for thinking that such similarities might become too repetitive, but it was fascinating to all  how one enriched the other, allowing your mind to compare, contrast and make your own meanings. 


The stories can be read for yourself by clicking on the title links but nothing beats hearing them told orally and if you meet me one day I'll gladly tell mine...

Set your watch for 8pm at the Hyde Tavern!

In the mean time don't miss out on the chance to hear other fabulous stories next month in the cellar,  on the theme of  Flaming June... think heat, fire, spice and no more rain!!!!


Not from Hampshire? Why not look for a story club or event near you via the Society for Storytelling.