The Story Stone

 

In preparation for the Museums at Night event which took place in East Lothian, on 18th May two young storytellers were trained in the art of character storytelling, where they performed and were received very well.

 

Historical or character storytelling is the sharing the tales belonging to a particular character, either as yourself telling their story or as a character sharing their tales (or in some cases both). In this case Maggie became a fictitious 14 year old local mining lass from around the 1800s (though based on real characters), telling of how she had to carry great creels of coal up ladders and how she waded in knee deep water. Bethan became North Berwick Red Cross Nurse Annie Young, sharing tales of WWI life and how she helped soldiers to recuperate back home.

 

 

There was also the opportunity for both to share a local legend not connected to their character. Maggie told 'Bothwell's Maid' - the tale of Lord Bothwell disguising himself as a maid for three days in Haddington while he hid from Knox's rebels. Bethan told 'The Coulston Pear', the story of a magic pear that kept the Coulston family affluent until someone took a bite.

 

 

Both girls were given training in technique and performance as well as advice on interactions and distractions. This allowed them to successfully adapt their voices and stories according to the audience that came in.  

The theme of the event was The Story Stone. It was based on one of my own stories about a piece of rock thrown from Arthur's Seat which is found by various people throughout time and history, and which is the common thread throughout the stories. Participants on the evening would come to me to hear the tale of the Story Stone, and then be given a small stone along with a clipboard of riddles to solve. Each riddle had a letter which produced a word which would awaken the young storyteller who would tell her tale. She then gave them a slightly bigger replacement story stone and went back to sleep untill awoken again.  Kids would then solve more riddles to awaken the next teller, getting an even bigger stone and finally sent to the library to solve the last set of riddles to awaken Lea Taylor who was the last storyteller for a final (take home hand size) stone and a final tale. The kids then returned to me to tell me all they'd heard and done and to draw pictures of Pictish stones, telling their own tales.

This whole event was over two hours long and though numbers were slightly low due to the horrendous weather that night, we are planning to do this again. Also the Museum Services were so impressed by the Youth Tellers that the girls were asked back to The Prestongrange Family Day Event on 24 August where they told their stories to over 100 people.

Angie Townsend
angie.townsend@tiscali.co.uk

Storytelling and Dyslexia

 

In February 2012 I launched as a freelance storyteller. As a young lad growing up in the seventies this would have been a distant if not impossible dream because I was dyslexic. Back then I was dubbed lazy and stupid and I spent much of my schooling in the remedial stream. Indeed it was my dad and mum who taught me to read, I was lucky to have parents and family who did not give up on me. I look back at school as a chamber of horrors. I went to school only to fulfill a legal obligation.

 

We moved around a lot with my dad's job and each school offered promise which very quickly evaporated. My self-esteem was shattered as a child, I was bullied by my peers and teachers. Writing, number work, were a nightmare but this was just the tip of the iceberg, riding a bike, tying my shoelaces, kicking and catching a ball all were real challenges.

 

We moved to Livingston in 1977, my new school brought no changes for me. My first year at high school was terrible, my self-confidence took a nosedive to the point that I had a mental breakdown and I was hospitalised. This was the darkest period of my life, I failed seven out of eight O Grades and only passed my O Grade in Scottish History because I had a lifelong passion for my country's history. I was on a cocktail of medication for depression and anxiety and life was a blur. When I returned to school I joined the Higher History class but I was shattered when my teacher told me I would not be submitted for the exam, so I decided to leave school.

 

This was 1982, I had no confidence and I started on the familiar cycle of job creation schemes and unemployment. Gardening, door to door surveys, a year at an adventure camp on Mull, but still no permanent job. In 1987 after a year in a community house I entered West Lothian College on a full time social care programme.

 

This was a turning point in my life, it was my first positive experience of education and I gained three O Grades in English, Psychology, Sociology, and I also won a cross-college award for determination and endeavour. It was there I dreamt of University.

 

Sadly I couldn't secure a full time post, so I threw myself into part time work as a play worker and I built up my experience by volunteering. I worked as a General Advice worker with the C A B, I was a Community Councillor and I also worked in disability rights and on the steering Group of Livingston Credit Union. As the years rolled by my confidence was still a huge issue for me, securing my independence was also a real battle and everything took so long to achieve, but at least I was moving forward.

 

Finally in 2000 I become a full time student on the Diploma programme at Newbattle Abbey College. This was the most challenging and rewarding year of my life, and I gained a Diploma in Scottish Studies and a place at Edinburgh University in 2001. In 2005 I graduated with a MA Hons in Scottish Ethnology, but after years of essays, dissertations, reading, and exams, I knew that the written word was not for me.

 

So I started working as a tour guide with Rabbies Highland Tours, telling Scotland's story was a joy. I'll never forget my first day as a tour guide with Rabbies Highland Tours, I had found storytelling and I was free for the first time in my life.

 

I then moved to the Real Mary King's Close as a character guide. It was there in my spare time that I started developing as a storyteller. After taking part in a workshop at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Joanna Bremner Smith set me on the road to developing as a Directory storyteller. It took me three years to succeed, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Harrysmuir primary School in Livingston as they gave me a platform to develop. It was there that I discovered that storytelling is great medium for helping children to enjoy learning, in particular children with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, but also dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia.

 

I can't count the number of teachers that have remarked to me after a session how I held the attention of children in the group who find it very hard to stay focussed on the task in class. Many dyslexics like me are visual thinkers, they see the story unfolding in the mind's eye. Dyslexia and storytelling go hand in hand in so many ways.

 

Storytelling is so liberating for me as I do not have to read or write, I can tell the stories of Scotland to children with a freedom I could only have dreamt of as a dyslexic child. I have also joined the Livingston speakers club, I am developing my speaking skills on the Toastmasters programme, I also have a short story slot on the Friday night show at Radio Grapevine at St John's Hospital. It has been some journey for me. I am so proud to be a storyteller, a bearer of an ancient oral tradition that does not require a pen or a script. It is so natural for me as a dyslexic to be a storyteller, as natural as breathing. When I tell to school children, I always give the chance to ask questions. I tell them that I found school difficult due to dyslexia and also about my degree and my job as a storyteller and about how with hard work and determination they can fulfil their dreams in life.

 

Colin Williamson

clouddy3@yahoo.com