By Sheena Blackhall – My CV in Doric Poem Form !

I’ve got a couple of weeks for working on upcoming projects, working at GREC‘s Language Cafe and visiting some schools! So no public events coming up in the near future.

Instead, I’d like to share this amazing CV in Poem Form written for me by the wonderful Sheena Blackhall, fa’s praises I canna sing highly eneugh! Photie taen on the wiy tae last year’s Portsoy Haal!

Thanks Sheena! ๐Ÿ˜ƒโค

The Pauline Cordiner Rapโ€“ A Scottish Storyteller

Hae ye heard o a quine faโ€™s tales can be scary?
Wi a frien that has attitude, Fizzy the Fairy
Up at Banff Castle, sic jinkies, her ploys
Hae bubbly bairns fair kecklin wi joys

Princely puddocks, a gargoyle fas christened Marischal
Her hoose is fair hotchin, wi broonies incredible
Her hair it is reid as a Halloween flame
An a coo, contermacious whyles jynes in a game

Her events are excitin, fun an educational
Her traditional stories are verra inspirational
She can sing ye auld ballads or a cornkister
Wir you at Forvie fun day? Yeโ€™ll be sorry ye missed her

Nature tales an folklore, tho the rain did doon pelt
Adenโ€™s Fantasy Festival , her Vikin Tales telt
As an audience o littlins an drookit Alpacas
Stude in the doonpish an shook their maraccas

At the Northern Frichts, dragons heezed bi the score
At Tillydrone Librar there wir littlins galore
Fizzyโ€™s fun pairties, Rhynie wifies, a crone,
The kelpie cafรฉ aa cam intae her zone

Banchory St Ternan fair, Orkneyโ€™s Skara brae
Saw history cam alive far the stormy clouds stray
Castle Fraser, or rinnin adultsโ€™ ghaistie toors
Storytellin is oorie at the witchin oors

Dobbieโ€™s Busy Beasties, Yuletide special day
Fur siller tae help fund a bairnsโ€™ charity
Sheโ€™s run broomstick trainin skweels, fur trainee witches
An wizard hat craft โ€“ usin glue, glitter stitches

Her face peintinโ€™s legend, wi speecial tattoos
Sheโ€™ll makk the dourest bairn shakk aff the blues
She is fully insured, wi a PVG chitty
Is a member of equity, sings a mean ditty

Hereโ€™s a roll call of some of her festival showing
Cambridge and Glastonbโ€™ry, reviews are glowing
Stonehaven and Girvan, Belladrum Tartan Heart
The Wizard performance, next, Science and Art

Spectra, Across The Grain, Banffโ€™s bracin air
Strathern, Aiberdeen, an Perth Prehistory Fair
Glen Nevis, Portsoy, the Broch, Tarland as weel
The Doric Film Festival, a wide appeal

BBC Radio Scotland, an Radio fower
SHMU, Banchory Museum, the Maritime Tower
Aden , Drum, Crathes, an Fraserโ€™s stoot waas
She cams intae her ain in historal haas

Muir of Dinnet , Arbuthnott , Duff Hoose, Peterheid
Turriff, Macduff, Duthie Park, jewels indeed
An the skweels! Tullos, Scotstown, Arduthie, Kaimhill
Robert Gordons, St Margarets, Banchory Hill

Skene Square an Auld Machar, Lairhillock, Meethill
Ferryhill Primary, Bracoden, Newtonhill
Ontae Projecks an ither community wirks
Pitscurry, an Mastrick, the quine niver shirks

Maryfield West Care Hame, Albyn Rainbows
North East Sensory Services, her talent shows
Persley Castle, the Phoenix Club, Inchgarth -nae lack
Future Choices, an Hilton, they aa wint her back

Dyce Caravans, Inchgarth, an Roxburgh Hoose
The Garioch, Inchmarlo, sheโ€™s couthie an douce
Portlethen, Kinellar, an Northfieldโ€™s rainbows
Pauline an Fizzy spreid joy wi their prose

Syne thereโ€™s Grand Circle Tours, tag team tales an the jyle
The World Storytelling Cafรฉ, her stories beguile
Musica Workshops, Elphinstaneโ€™s Institute
Her sessions are thrillinโ€™s a Cadonaโ€™s shute

Peacock Visual Arts, an the Bairnsโ€™ hospital
Hogmanay at Stonehaven, this quine musical
Wi her puppets an sangs sheโ€™s performed tae the best
The Seven Incorporated Trades , wi sic zest!

Shell Uk, Charles Michies, Diageo, Drummuir
Hidden Aiberdeen; she is a whizz at a tour
James Hutton Institute, Scottish Kids Show
Standard Life, an the Stompers, sheโ€™s rarin tae go

Aiberdeenshire Geocaching โ€ฆnoo there is a thing
Sheโ€™s a haun on the pulse , fit the future micht bring
Sae dinna be blateโ€ฆye maun rin oot an book her
As fairyfowk gae, Pauline Cordinerโ€™s a looker!

May be an image of 3 people, people smiling and car

Confucius Institute of Aberdeen – Spring Family Festival

Some photos from my storytelling sessions yesterday at Confucius Institute Aberdeen‘s Spring Family Festival!

I had a couple of wonderful audiences for my sessions – I told stories about snakes – as it’s now the year of the snake and various monsters of the sea. The storytelling took place in the Duncan Rice Library at Aberdeen University who currently have an exhibition called Imagined Norths – all the weird and wonderful beasts that our medieval ancestors imagined lived in the seas and lands to the north!

Research, Confucius, Spectra and Portlethen!

It has been some time since I last posted properly!ย 
December and January have been full of staying inside, keeping warm and research, research, research!

Iโ€™ve not just been researching new stories, but have been working on a couple of projects โ€“ both of which Iโ€™ll post about soon.ย ย  But in the meantime, hereโ€™s what Iโ€™ve got coming up!

On Sunday, 2nd February, Iโ€™m going to be joining The University of Aberdeen Confucius Institute for their Spring Family Festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year!
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/about/campus/old-aberdeen/confucius-institute/events/21363/

Activities will be split across the Elphinstone Hall (Chinese calligraphy, dress up, face painting), Zoology Museum (museum open and visit from the Critter Keeper) and The Duncan Rice Library where Iโ€™ll be telling stories and you can also visit the Imagined Norths exhibition.ย  Iโ€™ll be telling stories from 11.30am to 12.30pm and again from 1.30 to 2.30pm.

Iโ€™ve been brushing up on all my favourite sea monsters โ€“ Jormungandr, The Mester Stoorwurm, Cetus and the sea serpent that attacked my g-g-grandfather in 1892!ย  So come along for some tales of Myths, Monsters and the Year of the Snake.



From Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th February Iโ€™ll be telling stories at Spectra light festival once again with my pal Lindsey Gibb.ย  The theme this year is โ€œJourneysโ€ so we have some amazing stories planned.
Weโ€™ll be in the Cowdray Hall from 6 to 10pm each night with stories starting at 6, 6.30, 7, 7.30, 8, 8.30, 9 and 9.30pm.ย  Come join us!ย  Entry will be on the corner of Schoolhill and Blackfriars Street or if you have an accessibility wristband, I expect entry will be the same as last yar – ย through the Art Gallery.ย  TBC.

Have a look at their web page –
http://www.spectrafestival.com/

Here’s a link to find out about accessibility at Spectra – http://www.spectrafestival.com/accessibility-at-spectra/

After Spectra, my next public event will be at Portlethen Library on Saturday 15th February โ€“ this will be a family storytelling session targeted at children aged 5-8 years on the theme of Space!ย  Moons, Suns, Stars and all sorts of celestial tales for all the family!

Glenbervie School Thanks!

The word "Thankyou" with coloured circles as a background.

Aww it’s always lovely to get feedback from a storytelling session – especially when it’s from a school and the pupils have put so much thought into their comments!

I received a lovely email following my #SISFStoryRipple24 Ripple visit to Glenbervie Primary School! The pupils were thinking about how a traditional storyteller uses more than just words to tell their tales – I’ll be over here in the corner with my giant heid getting big after all these wonderful compliments!! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

“You have great hand gestures. Thank you for telling your stories”

“It sounded like it was real. Thank you so much”

“You have very good expressions. Thank you for telling your stories!”

“Thankyou for telling us two amazing stories. I loved how you made different expressions for different things you said.”

“Your stories were brilliant. Your actions were great.”

“It sounded realistic. You have a beautiful voice.”

“You made us laugh”

“I could picture it in my head”

“You have great actions and wonderful expressions. The stories were awesome”

“You had lots of exciting hand actions and funny face expressions”

“It was very realistic. I could picture the stories in my head”

“Good description. Good voices. Good hand signals. In your stories there were a lot of plot twists.”

“You had good voices for different people”

Aden Music Festival 2024

A wee photo from last year’s Aden Music Festival where I was chuffed to be telling stories in the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum – right next to photos of my family!
There were also Bothy Balladeers, Poets and Pipers in the farming museum as well as a great line up in the museum’s theatre and of course the main stage.

Well it’s all happening again on Saturday 14th September so I’m looking forward to be bringing some new tales to the museum, and Wee Imp is looking forward to joining me for the bands ๐Ÿ™‚

Storytelling at Banff Castle!

Oh fit a lovely time Fizzy the Fairy and I had yesterday at Banff Castle – Banffshire!! Such a lovely audience of giggling grown ups, bubbly bairns and totty-wee toddlers who joined in with stories of daft loons, funny fairies and princely puddocks!

Thanks to Jo Edwards for the photographs!

Traditional Family Storytelling with Pauline Cordiner at Banff Castle

Traditional Family Story Telling with Pauline Cordiner – THIS SUNDAY!

Banff Castle is delighted to host a special afternoon of traditional family storytelling on Sunday 1 st September 2024, featuring the popular storyteller Pauline Cordiner.

This magical event will offer two sessions at 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm, promising to delight audiences of all ages with a rich array of Scottish tales.

Pauline Cordiner shared her excitement about the event, saying, “I’m going to be telling tales of frustrating Fairies, Lucky Loons and Contermacious Coos!”

Known for bringing a wide variety of stories to life, Paulineโ€™s storytelling repertoire includes traditional Scottish folklore, fairy tales, creation myths and her own original works. Her performances are further enriched by her passion for science, history and the environment, making them not only entertaining but also educational.

A celebrated storyteller with deep roots in the fishing and farming traditions of the North East of Scotland, Pauline is known for her engaging and interactive style. She often incorporates

traditional Scots songs and bothy ballads into her performances, using music, puppets and costumes to create a dynamic storytelling experience that encourages audience participation and leaves a lasting impression. A spokesperson for Banff Castle remarked, It’s going to be a wonderful interactive experience and we positively encourage our audience to come along dressed as their favourite fairy, wizard, or witch.”

Event Details:

Date: Sunday, 1st September 2024

Time: Sessions at 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm

Location: Banff Castle, Banff, Scotland

Tickets for this family-friendly event are on sale now and can be purchased here:

https://tinyurl.com/2ud98z7e or at the door.

Donโ€™t miss the chance to immerse yourself in the magic of traditional Scottish storytelling at Banff Castle. For media inquiries, please contact: info@banffcastle.com

About Banff Castle: Banff Castle is a historic venue located in the heart of Banff, Scotland. It hosts a variety of cultural and community events throughout the year, offering a unique setting that blends history with contemporary activities.

About Pauline Cordiner: Pauline Cordiner is a storyteller with over two decades of experience, known for her engaging and interactive performances that draw from the rich storytelling traditions

of the North East of Scotland. She is passionate about sharing tales that entertain, educate, and connect with audiences of all ages.

Forvie NNR Fun Day! Friday 12 July

Another upcoming event! ๐Ÿ™‚ Come hear some Nature Tales and local folklore at Forvie National Nature Reserve this coming Friday. I’ll be telling stories from 12.30 to 1.30pm and 2 to 3pm but there are so many other things going on! (Wee Imp is looking forward to the opening of the moth traps as always!)