Derbyshire Myths and Legends: October 2014

The end of the tale?...

38 libraries and 723 people, assorted library staff and 3 somewhat mythed-out artists later and Derbyshire Myths and Legends draws to a close!

DML grew out of a desire to take the Summer Reading Challenge's broad theme (Mythical Mazes) and do something connected to the immediate environment of our libraries. The Challenge itself has been a great success this year. Through the Derbyshire Libraries, 9654 children signed up to the challenge and 6624 completed it. As a storyteller, I am assuming that those who didn't manage to complete the Challenge have been kidnapped by pirates, or have run away to join the circus, or are perhaps off playing with the Lonely Beast in a leafy green wood, or are out with The Great Explorer having their own adventures and not actually needing to read about anyone else's!

I look forward to reading those children's own stories sometime!

This has been an eventful summer and a delightful project

"I have had a lot of fun this summer working with the families who have attended my Storytelling workshops. The inventiveness and creativity that I've been party to has been inspiring. Huge thanks to everyone who took part. I've loved working with Debi, Gordon and Julie Potton. Thanks also for all the support and help of the library staff. To work in each library and see it come to life with living breathing stories has been a joy." Maria (storyteller)

“It’s been good for so many libraries, irrespective of size, or location, to experience quality, artist based workshops. Feedback from those who attended has been really positive and it’s made the Summer Reading Challenge even more fun than usual”. Julie Potton (Children's Library Service Manager)

"This has been fun! It has been a joy to work with so many young people so full of ideas and excitement and imaginations. Workshops were a real delight and so unpredictable! For "my" sessions and in our joint workshops, we could never anticipate just what would happen. We planned and outlined and hoped and then the stories we made as a group went galloping off somewhere else altogether! The team were great: I enjoyed meeting and working with Debi and Maria and echo Maria's comments about the librarians and the welcome they offered and I thank Julie deeply. We couldn't have done any of this without her!" Gordon (another storyteller)