APRIL 'Fabled Nights in Newport'

So … the first of the Storytelling Vic Fabled Nights in Newport has taken place. We had fun and games learning how to ‘drive’ the old Scout Hall. Padlocks and light boards proved a challenge for folks whose heads are buried in stories. We ummed and ahhed about how best to arrange the chairs and who would go where on the chalk board and puzzled about why the urn wouldn’t go on. Then we got down to the business of stories!

We scratched our heads about whether the man’s lover had directed him to open the door with the tiger behind it, or the door concealing the beautiful women. We questioned the amount of cocoa in David’s mother’s Honey Cake recipe. We unpacked the veiled meanings of nursery rhymes and meditated on the unconditional love of a dog. We experimented telling a story that really needed a musician, were regaled by an anecdote about how to make curry look appetizing on you tube and Melody and Caroline talked about how and why they chose their English names – they’re both from China.

We lit a candle and ate cake to celebrate the launch of a Storytelling Vic monthly gathering and imagined our numbers growing.

We lightly touched on the work of Frank Stockton (author of The Lady and the Tiger), Jane Yolen, Joseph Jacobs and Pu Songling.

And to return to the Honey Cake story ... behind many family recipes, there are stories. Here is David’s mother’s Honey Cake recipe… with the correct quantity of cocoa! The story? Well maybe he can be persuaded to tell us again another time.

1lb plain flour

2 eggs

2 ozs melted butter

1 lb honey (warmed)

½ teaspoon baking powder

6 ozs sugar

I teaspoon heaped bi carbonate of soda dissolved in water

3 tablespoons cocoa

½ oz mixed spices

candied peel by choice

almonds for decoration on top (split)

½ cup of strong instant coffee (1 heaped teaspoon of coffee).

Mix all ingredients 

Bake at 180 Celsius for 40 minutes

 

The next Fabled Nights in Newport

DATE: 20 May

TIME: 7.30

PLACE: Newport Scout Hall, 6 Market St Newport

COST: $5.00/$3.00 members

Please join us, the more the merrier! 

And maybe, there will be Honey Cake.

Four Vic storytellers in Ballarat: 7- 8 May

The CAFS Legacy & Research Centre

Presents

Secrets, Suburbs, Ghosts & Treasures: Over 150 years of stories

SATURDAY 7 MAY

Jackie Kerin: 3.30 pm

GOLD! A story Told 

 Based on the true story of the discovery of the ‘Blanch Barkly’. In 1857, the Kingower goldfields, four young men unearthed the first of the large nuggets to be found in Victoria. Too big for a pocket or a purse! Where could they hide it?

 Kid friendly. Entry by donation

SUNDAY 8 MAY

Simon Carroll: 10.30 am

The story of Adam Lindsay Gordon
 

 Though his time was short in Ballarat and largely ill-fated, the preservation of his Ballarat abode indicates that Adam Lindsay Gordon was someone of note. Hear some of the good, the bad and ugly of the life and work and times of the well-known character.

 Kid friendly. Entry by donation

  

Jan Wositzky: 2.30 pm

Banjo in hand: Stories and Songs

 Former Bushwaker, full-time storyteller, researcher and historian, Jan relates the tale of William Buckley alongside other stories from gold rush entertainer, Charles Thatcher

 Entry by donation

Anne E Stewart: 3.30 pm

The story of the Eureka Ghosts

 Anne is a storyteller with an international reputation but with a heart in Ballarat. Her storytelling skills are transfixing and mesmerizing. The story of the Eureka Ghosts is one of her best and most loved stories.

 Entry by donation

WHERE: CAFS Ludbrook House 115 Lydiard Street North Ballarat

More information on the weekend of celebration: HERE

 

Kim Billington tells stories in the RAW Garden 1 May 2016

Kim loves folktales from all cultures! She began telling stories as a teacher and then it became part of her counseling work with adults and children. This has included presenting workshops at conferences and also training counselors since 2012.

Kim’s Master of Narrative Therapy research thesis at The University of Melbourne was about how folktales might open doors to new possibilities in making sense of our lives and moving forwards. Kim finds folktales can recruit the imagination - expanding our horizons and depths, helping us capture unexpected solution possibilities for our own story.

Kim chooses stories which include themes such as: isolation, rejection, powerlessness, daunting hierarchies, following one’s interest, side-stepping the problem, sensing hope, seeing achievements and the unexpected coming together of events leading to identity renewal. 

Kim will be presenting a workshop at the upcoming International Storytelling Conference (NSW) 

Join Kim in the RAW Garden. Bring a story to share.

WHEN: 1 May 12.00 pm - 2.00 pm 

WHERE: RAW Garden 325 South Road Brighton

BOOKINGS AND ENQUIRIES (tix usually on sale 2 weeks prior to events): HERE

Our Dutch friends and World Storytelling Day

Our enthusiasm for celebrating World Storytelling Day has been growing and largely inspired by our friends in the Netherlands. Several Vic tellers have reached out across the globe and contributed to the Dutch initiatives, adding stories to the video channel that they set up every year. This year Victorian Suzanne Sandow contributed a story alongside Fred uit het Broek (Netherlands), Silvia Hein (Germany), Roger Jenkins (Singapore) and  Claire Muireann Murphy (Ireland). You can see the videos HERE.

Storytelling Vic was also invited to Skype into the celebrations taking place in a tiny theater in the middle of a park,  'Verhalen in het bos' -  'Stories in the Woods'.

Teena Hartnet responded to the invitation but after several crackly Skype experiments, she recorded her message. Her efforts were applauded!

'It was a pity that the live connection didn’t work, but the video message worked wonderfully. People even applauded for you as if you were actually present in the room...Thank you very much for your cooperation and maybe until next year. It was much appreciated by all people at our event.' Melanie Plag.

 

Melanie sent us some photos to share with you of the Dutch event.

From top to bottom: the musicians that played between the stories, storytellers Edith de Wit, Marius Gosschalk and Melanie Plag.

 

Please ... we invite you all to participate in World Storytelling Day next year. You're welcome to join the Vic planning team for the SAV events but we're equally excited to share member events wherever they are. This is a special time of year for us all. 

storytellingvic@live.com.au

Storytelling Australia Victoria's 'Fabled Nights' a monthly storytelling gathering

It's been a while in the pipeline, but SAV is about to start a monthly storytelling night  (actually re-start is more accurate, although it has been maybe more than a decade).

• Fabled Nights in Newport will be a welcoming space for you to meet. We want you to have a place to try out new ideas
• strut your stuff
• record and photograph yourself in action.
• celebrate the occasional ‘Featured Storyteller’
• get to know each other
• welcome the wider community and introduce them to storytelling.

THE STORIES

• we can experiment with length of stories but 7 – 10 minutes seems like a good place to start.
• if you are building a repertoire for early childhood and schools, you’re welcome to experiment at Fabled Nights.
• personal story, fable, myth or legend, fairy and folk tale – we just like stories!
• in line with the values as articulated by Storytelling Vic, we ask that kind hearts and common sense prevail - misogynist, racist and homophobic stories hurt people. Please don’t bring them to Fabled Nights. 

THE VENUE

The Scout Hall is one of those urban gems - a small, weatherboard hall loved by locals. It has a log fire, a kitchen, tables and chairs and mood lighting. There will be tea/coffee and biccies. There are food venues in nearby Mason Street. Or feel free to bring some food and wine and make yourselves comfortable. The Hall is a short walk from the Newport Station.

TIME: 7.30 – 10.00

WHEN: 3rd Friday of the month from April to September (Check SAV Calendar HERE)

DATES: April15, May 20, June 17, July 15, August 19 September 16

WHERE: Newport Scout Hall, 6 Market Street, Newport

COST: $3.00 members $5.00 non members

The Newport Fiddle and Folk Club have kindly offered to support our adventure.  This Club celebrates spoken word (storytelling and recitation) alongside music of all genres. Many visiting storytellers have been made welcome in the folk circles and at the annual Festival. For those of you who are interested in exploring collaborative projects, this is a fertile space.

* If you're feeling that Newport is not for you, be patient, we will have gatherings in the CBD.