Will you look at this lineup?
Cannae wait! The Rhynie Wifies and I are going to be at The Fisherfolk Festival up at the Hilton of Cadboll Seaboard Centre in just a few weeks time!
I’ve got my fishwife costume all ready and the Pictish kit is already all packed and prepared.
If you’re in the area (or fancy a wee stravaig up north!) come and see us! 
Today is a day of organising!
Getting costumes ready… getting puppets ready and of course getting stories ready!
Next Tuesday Fizzy and I are going to be telling stories for our wonderful friends at HANDSS – Fizzy’s all excited about that of course!
And then on Sunday 15th we’re going to be telling stories and haen a wee shottie on the Moray’s Got Talent Stage at Gordon Castle Highland Games !
Cannae wait!
Why manic? It’s going to be so busy!
With May fast approaching, I’m having a look at my calendar and getting organised for the month ahead.
On the 30th of April and the 1st of May, two of our wonderful Rhynie Wifies, my Wee Imp and myself will be joining Historic Saltire at Spynie Palace for their annual Medieval Weekend. Visitors will be able to “Hear about Robert the Bruce’s campaign in the north and wander through the living history camp to experience what life was like in medieval times.”
On the 10th May I’m going to be back telling stories at HANDSS. HANDSS is an Aberdeen/shire crafts & activities club for children aged 5 to 15 years, who receive support for learning, or have additional support needs. My Wee Imp and I always love going there – it’s so much fun and we are always made to feel so welcome!
On the 15th May you’ll find me at Gordon Castle Highland Games and Country Fair where I’ll be telling a few Scottish tales near the Tower and appearing on the Moray’s Got Talent Stage.
Then the following week, I’ll be doing the third of three beginners storytelling workshops for the Grampian Association of Storytellers. The theme of my workshop will be “Pacing Your Story” and you can book your place on the workshop by emailing gas_story@hotmail.com
And finally, the Rhynie Wifies and I will be taking part in the annual Fisherfolk Festival in Ballintore. I’m storytelling for schools, at concerts and at St Mary’s Chapel – both as a fishwife and as a Pict! And the Wifies will be demonstrating Pictish life. Watch this space for the event poster!
So a Manic May is fast approaching. (And after that? a Jubilant June followed by Jumping July!)
Well what a great event that was! On Saturday I travelled down to beautiful Perth and the sun shone the whole way – I had a super audience of children and their adults at North Inch Community Library and told the children some of my favourite Scottish stories which included some of my favourite Scots words!
(Bosies! Oxters! Furligorums! Heilstergowdy!)
Fizzy and Fuzzy the fairies were very popular of course and took home a beautiful picture drawn by one of the audience.
Afterwards I took them for a walk up Kinnoull Hill. For most of my life I have stared up at the tower from the A92… Wondering why it was in such a distant lonely place, who lived in it – a lonesome princess perhaps? Well finally I had time to pech up the hill to see for myself before heading back home to Aberdeen. What a beautiful view! Of course when I got there I learned there was an easier route… but isn’t that always the case!?
This week’s project is dusting off the knitting needles to make a more authentic shawl for my fishwife’s costume. It has been a fair while since I picked up any knitting – I used to knit when I was a student (before it was trendy) to chill out and to make myself chunky jumpers that weren’t in the shops… but it was only ever knit, purl or rib. Then I went through a phase in the early noughties when hand made gifts, floofy wool and knitting in the pub were en vogue. (My apologies to anyone who received a squinty knobbly scarf that probably went up in flames when merely in the same room as a candle!)
Now that I’m happy with my Pictish, Viking and the prospect of making my own Medieval clothing… I was unhappy with my rather modern Fishwife’s shawl which you can see in the photo below.
After a fair amount of peering at old photos of fishwives (including one of my g-g-grandmother Mary Ann McConnell) and finding that there was nothing in the charity shops or available online that looked like what I needed, I decided the best thing to do would be to learn a few new stitches and knit my own!
Watch this space! 😀
(The apron isn’t correct for the North East of Scotland. Photos from our coast tend to show a dark cloth with some texture… but it’s what people imagine when they think of Scottish fishwives – the big colourful aprons worn by the Newhaven Fishwives – so I decided to go with that for my storytelling costume! I’ve already got a fantastic pair of (much mended) Victorian style boots too. )
A few photos from my visit to Leslie Castle last night with Fizzy the Fairy. What an amazingly beautifully restored medieval fortification with wonderfully friendly staff who told me a bit of the history of the place! (And the supper smelled amazing too!)
Yesterday my daughter and I had a brilliant time at St Andrews Castle with our amazing friend Nick. We were there to talk about the Picts for our friends at History Matters Limited and Historic Environment Scotland.
Although the castle itself is temporarily out of bounds to visitors (it needs masonry checks after the recent storms), they could still learn a chunk of Scottish history and see some replica items from ancient times.
History Matters have loads of reenactors visiting HES properties throughout the summer and October holidays and you can find out more by going to their
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/historymattersltd
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/historymattersltd/
Webpage – http://www.historymattersltd.com/
You can find out which HES properties have visits from their many characters by going to Historic Environment Scotland’s Events page and filtering the results by “Living History” – but here’s a handy link that will do all that for you! 🙂
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/whats-on/?event_type=4
The Easter holidays are fair knipin on!
I’m still going to fit in a Pictish visit to St Andrews Castle with Nick of History Matters Ltd and a storytelling session for a family at Leslie Castle (which is the castle in the photo below for them that dinna ken).
(I do love a #story and a #castle) #ys2022#TalesOfScotland#yearofstories2022
Yesterday was a day of Unexpected Heroes with two storytelling sessions at Turriff Library. My Wee Imp and I were fair taen wi this intriguing painting of “Letter Jean” who looks right like a photo I have of my great great grandmother. I bet there’s an interesting story there!
It was really nice to be given some feedback by those attending the session (remember folks – feedback means funding!)
“I really liked boath storys”
“Storytelling was very good, thankyou”
“So engaging – fantastic storyteller. Thoroughly enjoyed it”
“Thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling. Thank you!”
“Very enjoyable. Great storytelling and expression and tales we have not heard before. Would come again. Would like to learn about story writing too. Thank you.”
“We really enjoyed Storytelling with Pauline Cordiner and would love to hear more. Thank you for 2 new stories we get to share”
“I really liked the storys I can’t wait for next time”
“Thankyou for telling a story. I liked the first one.”
*Picture of a smiley face*
“Thank you so much for the brilliant storytelling. I enjoyed the farting story the best. More storys @Turriff please!”
“I loved the storrys. I’ve never heard the one about the old lady and the Vikings. (smiley face)”
“My daughter really enjoyed the stories, which she had not heard before. Would definitely take her back and recommend to family and friends”
“Fantastic stories, daughter really enjoyed it. Would come again of course. Loved the comedic aspect of stories with real meanings & doesn’t shy away from death.”Â
I’ve got two storytelling sessions at Turriff Library this coming Tuesday – tales of Unexpected Heroes!
It looks like the earlier session for 5-8 year olds is already booked up, but there are still a couple of tickets for the 9-12 year olds!
(The image is my favourite depiction of my favourite hero by saskiadekorte!)
Pauline Cordiner - Scottish Storyteller 