Tales in Trust
Join us for…
A Story for all Seasons
England’s first storyteller Laureate, Taffy Thomas MBE, special guest Wendy Shearer, and a hand-picked team of tellers and musicians come together for a weekend of workshops, performances and presentations to stir the heart and feed the soul.
From our earliest years, we remember our history as stories. These stories describe good and bad characters, and so helped to created our moral compass without preaching. The fact that stories inspire our imagination can enable us to consider a future that is kinder and more humane for generations to come. If you join our enthusiastic company, you with leave enriched by a wealth of folk tales, and keen for more!
The weekend is suitable for storytellers and traditional performers of whatever experience, those who would like to include storytelling in their work or anyone who just wants to relax and listen.
It will also feature the popular Storyteller’s Supper event on the Saturday evening.
Who is it for?
Tellers of all levels of experience, and those who just want to listen. Bring stories to share, instruments if you play one, or just come as audience.
“If speaking was more important that listening, we’d have two tongues and one ear”.
The Team
The team will be led by Taffy and Chrissy Thomas.
There will also be workshops and performances by special guests.
Taffy Thomas MBE, England’s first storyteller laureate. Taffy is the patron of The Society for Storytelling. Taffy received The English Folk Dance and Song Society Gold Badge award in December 2010. With Taffy’s head bursting with stories, riddles and folklore, professional storyteller Giles Abbot once commented, “when Taffy goes it will be like a library burning down.”
Wendy Shearer is a London based storyteller, oral historian and writer of Guyanese heritage. She is the author of Caribbean Folktales: Stories from the Islands and the Windrush Generation and three books for children: African and Caribbean Folktales, Myths & Legends, The Bird of A Thousand Colours and Spooky Stories of the World.
Renowned for weaving African and Caribbean diaspora histories with folklore, myths and legends, Wendy is passionate about helping cultures to connect; bringing hidden, forgotten and lesser-known stories to life with joy, intrigue and cultural sensitivity.
Wendy regularly works with cultural institutions, including schools, libraries, museums and archives across the UK. She has been a Script Consultant for the award-winning CBeebies TV show JoJo and GranGran and appeared as a Storyteller on episode: Time For a Folktale. Wendy's background is in Children’s TV Broadcasting having produced programmes for BBC, Nickeloden and PBS America. She is the Patron of 'Tall Stories Theatre Company' and Chair of 'The Society for Storytelling'.