Oh yes and there will be a fair amount of fisher folk stuff, Medieval stuff, Pictish stuff, Viking stuff and I’m really hoping we’ll get away for our usual festivals this summer.

Plenty of reasons to strut about like a Book of Deer Beastie! 😀

Just back from a great morning at Oyne Primary School – all Elfed up for the P1-4s for some Christmas stories and then the P5-7s enjoyed the death of Baldur so much * that they got a bonus Thor’s Wedding!

Now it’s time to de-Elf myself and get ready for some Tales from the Longhouse with Cathbad and Olaf with special guest Pauline Cordiner tonight!

*for the Yule/Mistletoe link

I’ve just done the first of my two sessions up in Balintore and all the classes were amazing with great engagement and questions at the end!

I told them all about Thor’s wedding and then the defeat of Pictish Chieftain Mael the Tusk by Sigurd the Mighty. (Definitely a contender for Stupid Deaths!)

Tonight I’m going to be sharing the stage at the Seaboard Hall with Andy Shanks who has been composing songs at the school with Ewan McVicar! Time for more Viking tales and fishy fables

#SISFstoryripple

Both events have been made possible due to the Scottish International Storytelling Festival’s Big Scottish Story Ripple initiative and are supported by Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Scottish Storytelling Forum (TRACS).

Loved being a Christmas Fairy yesterday for We Too SC045895! We even had a wee bit of snow on the ground to make it look festive

The old Archaeolink Hangerok (Viking apron) has had its days… so today’s work is making a new one that will reflect a reasonably well off Viking lady from the time of the first raids of the North East.

The North East of Scotland was raided or invaded numerous times by the Vikings – from the capturing in 900AD of a fortress at Dunnottar, to the 1004 invasion at Gamrie* and the invasion of Apardion (Aberdeen) in 1153 recorded by Icelandic poet Einar Skulason.

*The locals fought off the Vikings and the skulls of three of their leaders were built into the walls of the kirk! The ruins of the kirk still exist and the recesses in which the skulls lay can still be seen.

Last night was one of my Ripple events for #SISFStoryRipple!

Fizzy the Fairy and I visited the TClub – Special Needs Tuesday Club in Peterhead to tell them some tales of fishwives, fairies and sing a couple of fun songs!

We were made to feel SO welcome. Thanks Tuesday Club!

This event has been made possible due to the Scottish International Storytelling Festival‘s Big Scottish Story Ripple initiative and is supported by the Scottish Storytelling Forum (TRACS)

Two of my favourite photos by Abby Beatrice Quick taken at the weekend during the Torry Ecomuseum Project launch. – just look at those colours! We stopped off at the Torry Coo which Aberdonians know is the old fog horn.

The Tales of Torry included the Wreck of the Oscar, some incompetent grave robbers and a few fishy tales

You can find out all about the Torry Ecomuseum Project here – https://oldtorry.org.uk/tep/

I almost forgot to share these photos! Taken at Skene Square Primary School by friends of Victoria and Westburn Park who organised the event – again we had been called off by the rain which was just to heavy to be outside – although my wonderful friend Diana Peers managed to do her stories in the park in the morning.
Keep an eye on the changes at the parks – the volunteers have some great plans coming up and you can follow their Facebook page to see what’s going on 🙂

Well ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, loons and quines and abdy else… That’s Halloween over for another year. 14 events with stories for families, adults, special needs groups, Girl Guides and quite frankly I think there were a few of the undead in the audiences as well!

Yesterday (the big day itself) I started off telling stories at two sessions at Alford Ski Centre for Aberdeenshire Libraries – well done to everyone who made it despite the torrential rain!

Then it was off to Friends of Westfield Park who set up some amazing decorations for the two Halloween storytelling sessions in the afternoon! We were originally supposed to be out in the spooky woods but unfortunately the rain was lashing down – luckily we were in the Scout hall so the wonderful audience and myself were dry Some of the costumes I saw were amazing and extra bonus points to the three girls who told me about some of the old folktales they knew!

Finally in the evening I had a wonderful time as guest storyteller at the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Good Crack Club Halloween event. (Getting to listen to stories at Halloween is my favourite thing… next to telling them I suppose!)

Here are some photos 🙂

Some photos from yesterday’s session at the Aden Allotments with the Buchan Development Partnership.
There were two sessions – an earlier one for families round the fires as it grew dark, and then a second adults-only session in the dark where the stories had a much more sinister tone!