Magic and mischief in Melbourne!

Melbourne Library

Tuesday 3rd September

Druk the Dragon was watching!

Our last event and before the storytelling even started we had a magical start when a unicorn arrived and the whole workshop took place under the watchful stare of Druk the Chinese dragon, suspended from the ceiling.

but was the unicorn helpful or did it just gets
its hooves and horn in the paint?

The stories that grew here had a strong fairy flavour... 

there was a tough fairy, 

fairies who lived in a fairy house, 

a troll bridge where you could only cross if you got a code from Steve and then you could cross and get 10 wishes

that unicorn is still there!

There was Turtola who could do wizard magic, 

and a King and Queen of Fairyland where if you entered their enchanted rainbow castle as a boy or a girl you would stroll out a grown-up Prince or Princess 

with many thanks to our Melbourne storytellers, artists and storymakers - 

and the Unicorn and Druk the Dragon!

Fish, mermaids and Swadlincote

Swadlincote Library

Wednesday 3rd September

September began with a story...

...and then the mermaids arrived:

wicked Devorcock who could turn people into eels

Spelleela the Mermaid Queen who could speak to those eels in their own language, "Blah, blah, blah"

there was Angladog, a fish; a Rainbow Fish and King Octapussy and Queen Fishy who lived in a Royal Castle at the end of a path of gold

And what did our storymakers think of all this strangeness?

• The storytelling was interesting and exciting
•  I enjoyed listening to the different stories and creating our own magical kingdom  (Shannon aged 7)
•  I think that it was fun and a chance to express our creativity  (Maria aged 10!)
•  Fun (Jacob aged 8)

with many thanks to our Swadlincote storytellers, artists and storymakers!

An afternoon of adventures in Chesterfield

 Chesterfield Library

Monday 1st September

...and then in the afternoon

and in the afternoon, the world grew stranger. The morning was weird enough but the carnivorous plants didn't really take root until the sun was well-risen and the swamp was well-swampy and the woods were well-woody...

An adventures grew through the afternoon. Ideas of monsters and mayhem, wild creatures and ferocious places. And we ended up with friendly little puppies....

Friendly puppies and a watchful world

there were two lovely puppies who got very excited
and wee'd on the floor

the puppies went adventuring with a girl and her giraffe

on their adventures, they met a sinister witch

and in a swamp, a dangerous plant grew

a plant at full height

but our heroes made it home, safe and, more or less, sound, all the way back to Chesterfield

and the Wingfield chickens were still clucking...

with many thanks to all our artists, storytellers, storymakers and puppeteers!

A morning of Chesterfield stories

Chesterfield Library

1st September
once upon a summer morning...

from woods with poisoned apples to
aliens with a hundred eyes and
a hundred arms and
a hundred arms and
ten hundred fingers,
you never know what you might find in Chesterfield on the first day of autumn?

a moment of wild adventure?
secrets slipped into the bookcases of the library?

The sad story of Wingfield-in-the-Middle. 
Famed once for its curly-feathered chickens, this small but pretty village disappeared suddenly one summer morning, simply vanished away leaving never a trace of its presence nor its passing on the green fields and woods between South and North Wingfields. The only survivors - or maybe the only people left behind - were a group of curly-feather chickens sitting on a wall. The descendants of these birds are to be found in the gardens of South Wingfield houses to this day

and a last look at some of the rarest (not to mention, curliest) birds all the world)

with many thanks to all our artists, storyteller, storymakers and puppeteers in Chesterfield

Last words from Wirksworth

a few extra pictures...

Bananas in Pinxton?

Pinxton Library

Tuesday 19th August

even by our adventurous standards, the story that evolved in Pinxton Library that Tuesday afternoon was strange. So strange in fact that only  3 pictures have survived to tell us the barest slippery-skin of the tale...

Banana Police?

many thanks go to the brave storymakers and artists of Pinxton 

who braved horrible dangers to get this warning to us

The Banana Police are coming!

Sunshine in South Normanton

South Normanton

Tuesday 19th August

"...and in the woods and fields of Normanton wonders unfold. You will find this land by walking  neither North nor South, East nor West. You will find the paths that lead into this place only when you stop looking and start trusting and knowing that the woods are full of secrets and the flowers in the fields know the art of soaking sunlight..."*

many thanks to all our storymakers and artists at South Normanton

* some probably not very useful advice from Cobweb, our resident Boggart