Christmas at Barrington court by Bradley

Open storytellers Performed  for members of the National Trust  at Barring ton court
on Saturday the 3rd of December.
 We did 2 performances- 4 shows. We did  Silent night twice, the boy and the dead wren, father Christmas and the little donkey.

A member of the audience was really interested in our storytelling work-
and said they learned more of Silent night  from watching us perform.
 They learned the story of silent night- the story behind the song.

with Silent night we used a kavad, an  Indian storytelling  storyboard box
to help the audience understand the story.

A Child  from the Audience was really interested helping opening and closing the doors on the kavad,
she was fascinated with the story board and Jem our group leader  let the child help him with the kavad.

Barrington court is a good place to perform  for shows and gigs like storytelling.
The storytelling group performed in the great hall at Barring ton court.
Last Christmas at Barrington court  with storytelling gig  the story we peformed,
 the  character role I was doing had a bit of street dancing role in the story.


The room is suitable for all shows and gigs and myself and other members of open storytellers have enjoyed previous storytelling gigs there in the great hall at Barrington court.

Important disability campaigner passes away

On the 20th August 2016 Lord Brian Rix died.
 He was 92 years old he was a disability campaigner.
Lord Rix's oldest daughter was born in 1951 with Downs syndrome. He had campaigned for disabled rights ever since.
He became a member of the House of lords and helped to change the laws to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
Lord Rixs work was very important to Openstorytellers with his work as a campaigner .

Performance King of the Goblins at South Petherton

On Friday 11th  November 2016, Katie , Tim , Bradley, and Jem
went to South Petherton To "getting the ball rolling".
 We performed the king of the goblins in front  of different organisations . The company  who organised it was called Take  Art. Viv Gorden read  a poem that she  wrote and  told us about  the dance show she organised.
   We  all joined in a discussion  how the  other people perform  in different ways than   we perform. The event held at St David s chapel everyone enjoyed listening to our story  it was great event  and Sarah said thank you  to   Open StoryTellers    for coming.

By Katie branch 17.11.2016

BARDIC CHAIR WINNER

BARDIC CHAIR NIGHT;


WHERE IT WAS AT ROOK LANE CHAPEL FROME

WHEN 20TH OCTOBER

WHO WENT? OPENSTORYTELLERS AND OTHER STORYTELLERS

HOW DID IT GO? WENT VERY WELL THE CHAPEL IS LOVELY AND THE STORIES I HEARD WERE FANTASTIC I THOUGHT THE NIGHT WAS GREAT TAFFY THOMAS OUR FRIEND INTRODUCED THE STORYTELLERS AND OPENSTORYTELLERS GROUP, TAFFY'S STORIES WERE GOOD ALL THE STORIES WENT WELL EVEN TIM LUMLEY SMITH'S STORY WAS GREAT TOO.

BEST BITS WERE TIM'S STORY THE GOLDIE LOCK PICKER AND THE BEAR BURGERS WHAT A STORY IT WAS EVERYONE LOVED IT WAS GREAT I ALSO LIKED SHARON'S STORY ABOUT THE PRAWN FUNNY STORY I THOUGHT EVERYONE ENJOYED ALL THE STORIES. THERE WERE A FEW DIFFERENT KIND OF STORIES SOME WERE FUNNY, AND SOME WERE TRADITIONAL AND THE STORY WE PERFORMED WAS CALLED UWANGELEMA IT'S ABOUT A WISE PERSON THAT LIVES ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN AND SOME AFRICAN ANIMALS ALL THEY WANTED IS WATER AND FOOD WAS A FUNNY STORY US STORYTELLERS PRETENDED WE WERE ANIMALS THINK EVERYONE LIKED OUR STORY WE GOT A GOOD LAUGH ANY WAY.

WHO WON? A LOVELY MAN CALLED DRIFT SNOW BARGER WHAT A SAD BUT GOOD STORY ALSO HE TOLD IT SO WELL IT MADE ME LAUGH I WAS HAPPY THAT HE WON THE BARDIC CHAIR THOUGHT HE DONE GREAT.  

Paralympics 2016

Paralympics 2016.
Team GB did really well at the 2016 Paralympics . They were second in the medal table finishing behind China.

Dame Sarah Story won a record 14 medals in Rio.Team GB won 147 medals -64 of them gold.

Athletes with intellectual disabilities have been allowed to compete since 1996 but scandal in Sydney in 2000 meant that some athletes were stopped from competing - Some Spanish basketball players tricked people into believing they had a disability but they didn't . They were stripped of their medals.
Because of this it was only in 2009 that a new system was put in place -This meant that it was only in 2012 that people with intellectual disabilities could compete again .

Its great to see people with learning disabilities being treated equally in the Paralympics again.

Storytelling at the Sailsbury arts centre.

On Saturday 17th September Robin, Tim and Jem from Openstorytellers did a performance at the Salisbury arts centre. In the first half we told stories on the environment like Uwangalema, and The Twelve months and everyone enjoyed the stories.
After dinner in the Secord half we told stories like The little green man, Silly Jack and Goldilockpicker and the three bears.
 It went very well with some good comedy from the two sea gulls- they liked Silly Jack, hearing about the donkey on his shoulders and Openstorytellers laughed with joy!
There was loads of entertainments like The two sea gulls and the Jungle explorers, plus The pig farmers. We also performed with Salisbury group Mind the Gap, and Musicians from the Salisbury art centre.
Open storytellers did very well with this gig on Saturday.


              

Summer Fair Connections Radsock

On  Friday 19th  August Katie Bradley and Jem  went to the  Connections Centre  in Radstock to do Six stories  for people with People with Learning with disabilities and Carers and parents.

We told 3 stories 11-11.30 then told the other 3 stories  11.30 to 12.00pm. Everyone  really enjoyed our stories and one of the service users asked if we could come back to visit them to do some more stories, one of the staff asked us how long does it take us to rehearse the stories. We said about 6 weeks .

They invited us to stay to join them for a bbq outside but due to the bad weather we had it in the hall.  It was lovely lunch ,thank you to the connection centre for having us to share our stories with them and the bbq.

 

BRIAN'S BOOK LAUNCH

Brian's book launch was at Forward Space in Frome and it was on Monday, the 5th of September.
 Brian's book launch went very well. And there where lots of people there including the Mayor of Frome.
 I sang Brian's song for dear Brian with Tim,Robin, and Andy Hardy. Andy Hardy organised the music and I organised the way they all played the music while I was singing I thought that worked very well.
 Brian signed a few of his books for people to take on, and he looked very proud how everything went. It was a very great Successful night and Brian will be signing copies on Saturday 10th of September at Hunting Raven Book Shop In Frome. 

Artist work at Rook Lane Chapel in Frome by Robin

Last Tuesday Simon and Robin went to Rook Lane Chapel to look at some artwork. Simon took a picture of me with some stained glass wings and then we went in to look at the artwork.

Robin "with wings" at Rook Lane Chapel

The artist called Julia Osborne told us about the material she used in the paintings. Simon took some pictures of the paintings and Robin talked about the artwork. We talked about marketing artwork and how to buy and sell artwork in galleries and online. Then after lunch in the Black Swan office Robin and Simon tried out some paint ink pencils and pens in a Tate modern art-book and had a really good time drawing Tim from Openstorytellers!    

Robin's comments:  Based on one of my favourite fantasies. Character in the background with animals. Very magical. Piano player at the front 

Robin's comments: Pathway with water, next to it a building or a caravan. Someone had ice cream or mayonnaise and wiped their hands on it - breakfast by the bright sea

Outside In Publicity Day.

         

On Wednesday Robin and Pete Le Grys went to Bristol to see the M shed to visit Outside In to bring in some artwork, First I showed them my artwork then they showed me how to use the camera to take some pictures of my artwork. Then after I took some pictures I then updated the Outside In web page and put my pictures on and gave them some captions, then I looked at the pictures on the Outside In website and got a new password to access the website page. Then we looked at The story of children's television exhibition and looked at the CBBC and CITV plus the CBEEBIES from 1946 to 2016 A.D and saw Sooty the bear and Blue Peter. We walked across the docks and saw the Tudor Matthew ship from the Bristol boat show.  We had a business dinner at the Zazabazaar and tried lots of exotic food and really enjoyed the day.

This is my drawing of Norah Fry's fish and chip night

www.outsidein.org.uk/robin-meader

Storytelling at the Millfield school taster day by Robin and Tim

Tim telling a story at Millfield School

On the last Saturday of June we took part in an open day for Millfield school led by Mencap and had a storytelling stand. We waited for the first group and no-one came see us do storytelling! because we weren't announced and there were no signs to find the storytelling group. When the second group arrived, we told King of the Goblins, Silly Jack and the Legend of Thor. Then after lunch we told King of the Goblins again! the Sword in the Stone and the watershed Goldilocks and the Three Bears which featured the three bear burgers at Glastonbury festival and the air-rifles of Shepton Mallett shooting grounds! and we had lots of feedback that was very good and gave out loads of membership forms for new members to join our Openstorytellers workshops in the south-west.


       

Legends of Frome work with Openstorytellers!

On Thursday we had a visit from Edventure project Legends of Frome.  They took some pictures of Robin's artwork and made a sound recording of the Silly Jack story from Openstorytellers Storytelling Company.

Robin is  being recorded 

 Legends of Frome are leading a community storytelling event in Frome on Sunday 3th, Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th of July, as part of Frome Festival.

Openstorytellers are really pleased to be working with Edventure and sharing stories together!

Katie is telling a story 

http://www.edventurefrome.org/legends/

Learning Disability Day at Salisbury

On Tuesday 21st June Katie and Clemma met our colleague Emma Brown at the Openstorytellers office in Frome and travelled to Salisbury Guildhall.

We saw other charity stalls there and had lunch which was provided by Mencap.  We ate different sandwiches and there was a pop-up cafe selling cream teas . We both did a presentation about what we do at Openstorytelllers and we told a story called Uwongalema.
We thought the presentation went really well. Everyone really enjoyed the day. It was successful and we were grateful to South Wiltshire Mencap for inviting us along to Salisbury.

Katie and Clemma  telling a story

Blog done by Clemma and Katie

Work Skills Film Premieres at The Black Swan

I liked the  film  premiere  because  it  was a good experience for  me.  I  was  responsible for getting  the room ready,  lay out  all the chairs and give out the feedback sheets to  our guests.  I welcomed  every one  at  the  beginning  of  the premier. I  enjoyed  getting  every one  to sign  in and told them where to  go if there  was a fire. I  did not feel nervous and watching  the  film  was  fantastic  I felt  proud  of our group. Thank you Emma from the Black Swan for letting us use  the gallery.

By Peter Hurle

Peter at the Black Swan talking to the crowds.

Our Film Premiere

On Wednesday 15th June we did our film premiere of all of us. On the film I was talking about my job in the cafe. At the end I spoke to everybody about about my job at Tesco. I felt excited and it felt alright talking in front of people. The best bit was seeing everyone, I like them as friends. I gave then all hot drinks, biscuits, crisps and grapes. Thanks everyone who came. 

By Charlotte from the Work Skills Group.

STORYTELLING AT THE LAWRENCE CENTRE. By Clemma Fleat

We were all invited to the Lawrence Centre at Wells. And we all told a couple of stories, one story was called Silly Jack, it's a story about someone who has a disability and lives with his mother. In the end Jack finds his own way in his life. 

The 2nd story was called King of the Goblins, all about a Woodcutter, a Baker and Goblins. What a good story it is, every resident liked our stories, we all had good feedback, they said our stories were very good.

Robin and Jem told a story on their own, we all watched and listened to them, it's about a priest and a little mouse chewing all the bellows of the organ. The story came from Germany, it  was Christmas eve and they had a midnight service, and the organist realised the organ wasn't working so the vicar wrote the silent night song for the guitar.

Katie was in the audience and she really enjoyed our stories. And thought the audience were all engaged and comfortable while listening.  She thought that the storytellers did extremely well, remembering different stories by heart and the audience were amazed by how much went into it.  She said, "I was proud of my work colleagues."