Thor and the lost hammer- by Bradley

 Bardic Chair Storytelling competition 19/10/17
Openstoryellers went to Rook lane chapel lane to watch the Bardic chair.
Different storytellers from different areas perform different stories. I performed "Thor the God of Thunder and his lost Hammer".
Unlike what I'm used to doing when performing It was a big difference for me.
I thought  if I can do
open mic nights
Open deck nights
and perform shows with openstorytellers
 or be part of other shows and events,
then  I can tell an solo story to the public.
I said to myself on the day before walking on to the stage "If I can do my other shows then I can do this"
 Telling a solo  story at the Bardic chair was one of my goals that I have been wanting to do since I've been storytelling with open story tellers-  it was like a dream come true.


One of the storytellers that performed
on the night told a modern day story.
The modern day story is interesting  and different -I thought all Storytellers only told traditional  stories.

Actors bring stories to life with your eyes,

storytellers bring stories to life using imagination.

When I was a Child I had this fantasy world.   when I tell traditional stories, solo or with open story tellers,  I am once again living in that world through telling traditional stories. This has brought that world to life through stories and I don't have keep this world to myself anymore- I can share  that fantasy world
with open story tellers and the public.
from Bradley Lloyd

The Big mix-Fromes disability diversity day by Katie and Sue

It was Sunday 29th of the October at the Hub nub centre in Frome.

We joined in different  activities like the talent show,  Film making , looked at the  pop up  pictures and listened to  Brian's story, and joined in  Jane Flood Storytelling work shop- it was great fun.
Katie, Sue, Clemma, Bradley and Jem did two different stories, King of goblins and silly Jack. People enjoyed our stories -we had to use a microphone  due to the loud environment. Everyone told us how we all  remembered the stories well . We all enjoyed ourselves.

Clemma f said: I liked Big mix- because my boyfriend came and supported me and told me I was brilliant- my poems and my storytelling.

Sue-   I enjoyed helping and it was fun.

Katie-  I enjoyed it and storytelling.

Robin- I liked the Big mix, I did a big launch of art work for NHS.

Brad- it was good event with bunch of different actives I enjoyed that day storytelling, rapping and watching, listening to other people perform

By Katie and Sue.

OUR BUSY PERFORMANCES IN BRISTOL By Clemma

Accentuate at Mshed Bristol

Brave poor things: Reclaiming Bristol's Disability History Conference


On the 19th of October Nicola and Myself talked and acted about Fanny Fust. She was a lady from the 18th century who was very wealthy. She was a heiress with lots of money, but she also had a disability. She was taken by Henry Bowerman a part time solider to trick her into marring him, then he would get all her money. Nicola and I sang a song from the 18th Century called Lillibullero . And we acted out a scene from the court case that proved that Fanny was not able to make her own decision to marry Henry Bowerman and other important things. 

The 23rd and 24th of October 2017, Openstorytellers took part in the Brigstow show case in Bristol, we were all doing the Fanny Fust story and sang the Ballad song and we all acted out some scenes. We did some fan making and made masks, we had music in every room we went into to- Lillibullero and the Ballad song. 

Sue said "- I liked Brigstow because I liked all the fun and when I got Abducted by Henry Bowerman!" 
Katie said I "liked Brigstow - the dancing on the main stage and I enjoyed sharing a room with all the ladies in the youth hostel" 
Tim said "Brigstow was the biggest challenge we have had it was a great achievement" Robin said "Me, Bradley, David and Nicola played the best bad guys in Wells and Bristol. I really enjoyed the dance of the Ballad of Fanny Fust and I enjoyed doing the plotting and the Abduction of Fanny Fust. Jade played a horse and carriage with wheels made from willow."

Fanny Fust show case at Bristol.

Fanny Fust show case at Bristol.
Roll up Roll up! Come and see a showcase of Fanny Fust on Tuesday 24.10.17 at the Brigstow event  at The Station Silver Street in Bristol.
It is an 18th century story about a young lady with a learning disability who was taken to France by a greedy man who was after her money, but she ends up back with her mother after a long legal battle....
We have been to Bath costume museum and Bath  theatrical costume hire to prepare and
we have been busy preparing lots of activities and 18th century songs to bring the story to life.

                            

                                                                   

BARDIC CHAIR BY BRADLEY

	STORY TELLING AT THE BARDIC                                 CHAIR

 

                                                                      

                                                                              Bradley Lloyd (B m B)

I Have been practicing and getting ready

To tell the Thor and the lost Hammer Story

This is one of my Favourite Stories

On Thursday 19^th of October at the Bardic Chair

Competition at rook lane Chapel

If you want to be part of the

Competition or come and watch me and the

Open storytellers please contact

Mrrooksseakeasy@gmail.com

  

BATH THEATRICAL COSTUME HIRE FROME

On Thursday 14th of September we all visited Bath Theatrical Costume Hire in Frome
We found costumes for Fanny and Henry for our story about Fanny Fust, We're going to use them
For our showcase at the Brigstow which is  on the 24th of October in Bristol, where we will show some scenes from the story as well as some songs and Activities from the 18th Century.

Handling Session

Bath Fashion 
Museum Handling session
Tracey, Katie, Susie, Jade and Leah went to the Fashion Museum to
research costume in detail on Friday 8th September.

We arrived at the Fashion Museum. We went upstairs to a room with loads
upon loads of books. Fleur Johnson was great and worked with us all day.
We learned such a lot.Fleur got out some corsets. The dress we saw was
absolutely exquisite, amazing
I’m amazed because they had to hand sew the dresses, and a girl who did
this would have made herself go blind, sewing by candlelight.

Flour said that the clothes we tried on are designed for us to try on,
but the ones we went to see were originals and very delicate.

The shoes were silk so on a rainy day they would get damaged.  They
would wear cloaks and put  hoods over our heads.  They would only walk
short distances.  So either you did not go out, or the carriage would
take you right to the front door of where you were going.  Poor people
wore leather shoes. A bonnet kept you warm in the winter.

I thought Oh a bonnet! and I was just about to try it on, but she said
no.  Hairspray and perfume and grease and sweat will damage them. Light
and warmth do too.

In the 18th C they would put on a petticoat, then a corset, then a
dress, then some fascinators, like a scarf then gloves then wig, then
bonnet, then cloak.  I said “Cor Fleur, I would have to be up at 4
o’clock in the morning to get all this gear on!” I was really
gobsmacked. They wore different clothes for different occasions.  

Alice hopes to revisit the museum to look at all the books. 

Fanny Fust Progess so far

I n  July 10th.We went to the Bath Fashion  museum and  and looked at 18th century clothes that Fanny Fust might have worn. We  tried  on some of the clothes. We also visited the Royal Cresent - it showed us about life in 18th century -Women and Men had separate rooms. We also got other trip booked  to visit Bath fashion museum to handle the clothes.

In September 4th  We have also been  learning  18th century  dance with Ann Hinchcliff and Caroline David  with  the songs  to  lillibullero and over the  hills.

We also have been researching 18th century buildings in own  homes, flowing work colleges guide line and looked in the Frome museum and the Frome Library.

24th October we  are showing our work on Fanny Fust at Brigstow  institute showcase in Bristol.

funny fust news from Tracey

For our Funny Fust Project we are finding out about life in the 18th century.
We are looking for 18th century buildings and stories where we live.
We all live in different places. I decided to make a information sheet to help everyone.
18th century buildings had triangular roofs shapes with Pillars. These are called Porticos.
I found some pictures on the internet of these types of buildings. Jade and I thought we could find stories at local Libraries and local Museums. 
Here is what l put together.  

Heartbeats done fundraising for openstorytellers

On  Thursday 27th  July 2017 Heartbeats held a music workshop at the Hub Nub  for 2 hrs with a refreshment break  for anyone to join in and make music  with Jane and Russ  who runs  the heartbeats group. People who came    included me Bradley and mark who are the Heart beats members,we show other people how we start the session, warm up saying their names ,split into groups make our own piece  of music.  Then shared with other groups  what we have made  .there  were 16 of us came to the fundraising  music workshop,   to the music workshop we went around the circle  saying what we enjoyed  had fabulous evening .





by Katie Branch

NEWS FROM TIM

In April open storytellers moved into the Hubnub centre in Frome and said goodbye to the Black swan.
We have applied for and won a grant from the heritage lottery fund to explore the story of 'Fanny Fust', a girl with learning disabilities who lived in the 18th century.

On Mondays we are working on Fanny Fust story and music from the 18th century, as well as practicing 'Gareth of Orkney'

On the 2nd of July we performed at the Giant jam.

On the 10th of July we went to Bath to look at buildings from the 18th century
We had our AGM at the HubNub, I did a power point on my life story.

The Village Storytelling centre, Gasglow

On Thursday  7th July 2017 ,
Nicola and I  attended  Glasgow Village  Storytelling  Festival  at  the Centre for Contemporary  Arts.
I  enjoyed  seeing the evening  performances  which was the talking hands group with  interpreters  telling their life stories ., It made me feel with different emotions happy, sad  and also like joining  in signing  the song Amazing Grace . I found it very interesting and I  would to  take those skills to use in my storytelling.  I  enjoyed watching     Carl Cough  and Tony Evans     doing a few stories,   "The Old Moll"- the lady of the lake  with  Tony Evans  miming  the stories  including   the stone cutter. Tony was miming to Carl he wanted to tell a story , Carl said you couldn't tell a story without  wearing a waistcoat  so he dug it out  got it on I  found it was  very funny.


Our  performance  of Jack Review went very well  Nicola was  happy with what I remembered  of the stories , fortunately we only had a small audience of five people and in our workshop  we had 10 people joining us  they enjoyed the workshop and  joined in and told a quick story of Cariwens  Cauldron , I  enjoyed their  meals they gave us on Thursday and brought my self some earrings .
I would  like to visit and be part of the village  storytelling  centre again .


Katie Branch  

Creative Histories

We went to Bristol Zoo Gardens on the 19th July 2017 for the Creative Histories Meeting in the Clifton Pavilion. The first talk was with Daphne Knott and Ghislaine Peart called Threads of Time which was about The Travelling Case of John Radcliffe I thought their tapestries were great. Then the Secord talk was run by Creative Wiltshire and it was about Collecting Cultures and we looked at arts and crafts plus performances. Then it was us Open storytellers we did a talk about Fanny Fust we got the audience involved in making fans and acting out the court case and they enjoyed it. We had a celebration and I show my artwork and looked at some artwork on display.

     

storytellers at the giant jam.

Openstorytellers went along to the Giant Jam at  Ammerdown centre at Rad stock.
We told two stories at the event which were Knight and Days in the Kitchen and King of the Goblins. The audience enjoyed our Saturday night fever dancing and being goblins.
I thought the day went really well and everybody performed brilliantly, plus I watched three live music bands and took part in a ukulele music workshop. Everyone enjoy the refreshments in the garden on a nice day and enjoy our storytelling. We thought the jammy dodgers were the best.

 
The people said we were the best storytellers they had ever seen.        
Robin

Bradley I enjoyed the Big Giant Jam being part of all the events and
telling stories with Open Story Tellers performing to the public.
I also enjoyed loops disco and and being part of the hearts beats Workshop
I recorded some of the music Hearts beats made .
I went home and remixed the hearts beats with other music
The event was funded by the National Lottery

Alice's Fanny Fust Research

Alice’s Fanny Fust Research

I became interested in the research of Fanny Fust because of my parents doing research about our family tree. Because of my parents doing the research, I had an idea of what to do and what to look for and how to go about doing the research. I was interested to learn more about how Fanny lived and what the conditions were like back then for people who were disabled.

Registry office

Me and dad drove to Bristol to meet up with Andy at the registry office. We looked on the microfiche to find the date of birth of Fanny Fust and we found it! While we were looking for it, it made us feel ill, this was because of the way that the screen moved and the writing was very small. You had to move something about to find the bit we were looking for. I went home early with dad, became unwell because I had a cold anyway. I was happy with how it was all starting off and excited to find out more about Fanny Fust.

Tour of Bristol

We went on a tour round Clifton in Bristol to see the houses that Fanny would have grown up in. They were terraced houses, I was expecting it be more grand. We went to where the Ostrich used to be – that’s where Fanny went to have strawberries and cream – it is now a care home. What went around in my head was if the trees could talk, I wonder what tale they would tell. There were still some big trees there – the bigger the tree trunk, the older the tree is. Andy had brought along some old maps of the site, which showed us the circle of trees. We also went in the church that Fanny’s parents got married in, this was up a steep hill in the centre of Bristol. I’m really enjoying the research and everything that we’ve done with Fanny Fust.

Georgian House Museum

We went round the Georgian House and we saw what it would have been like growing up at that time. We learnt that the men had their rooms that they went into and the ladies had their rooms to go into. Andy carried my manual wheelchair up and down the stairs. We also learnt that the son of the family who lived in the house (in the 18^th century) had a learning disability, and was carted off to live on a farm outside of Bristol. I wonder if the family sent him off because he was disabled and would have brought shame on the family, or the family may have thought he would have had a better life on the farm.

Research in Frome at Openstorytellers

I came to the Openstorytellers for the first time and we read the story of Fanny Fust and the kidnapping that Simon Jarrett had shared. 

Storytelling on world book day at Fosseway school.

On Thursday 2nd of March Bradley and Robin  from Openstorytellers went to fosseway School and
did a storytelling of Uwangalema.
Uwangalema is a story of African  animals  that include a zebra, a lion, a Rhino and a Tortoise.
The story starts off with all the animals in a valley in Africa. Over the last few days the animals started to forget the name of the magic tree in the valley of Africa.  On the hills of  the valley lived a god, the god knew the name of the magic tree. During the day animals took turns to go up the hill and find out the name of the tree.

We thought the 2 groups we performed to were very good listeners and they took part in all the discussion of the story. The first group was post 16 and the second was primary, the story was suitable for both and they all enjoyed it.
We would like to go back and work with Fosseway school in the future on new projects or a workshop.

.STORYTELLING IN A CARE HOME

Critchill Court Care Home in Frome, this is a home for the Elderly and some of them have Dementia. 

We did a storytelling performance and told the” Wassail story” which is a story about Somerset apples and people wassailing all over the town.

Everything went very well, we enjoyed telling the story and they enjoyed the joy and laughter of the story and singing.

CLEMMA FLEAT, KATIE BRANCH, AND NICOLA GROVE

We were invited to do a story for national story week, but sadly we couldn’t make it then. But we were able to go back today 2^nd of March on the national book day, to do a performance with a sing song too. The Audience liked the story and they joined in with the singing.

MONEY MONEY MONEY. It bought a sparkle and joy to them all, we enjoyed it too and hope hope to go back soon and perform again.

BY CLEMMA AND KATIE 2^ND MARCH 2017

Katie and Clemma telling stories at the children's festival

Open Storytellers Work Skills Group are commissioned to write an easy read leaflet for the town

 Our Work Skills group - Mike, Peter, Charlotte, Tracey and Katie have been working with Kate Hellard from Frome Town Council to create an easy read leaflet all about the town.  

We met up with the 5 town rangers and with Chris Stringer the Environment Manager. We asked them lots of questions about their work with open spaces, parks and rivers. We also met two Town councillors Sheila Gore and Peter Macfadyen. They told us that they are there to help people and listen.  We all went to see the offices on Palmer Street and saw there were lots of stairs and it was very small. It is so good that they are moving to the new Town Hall. We met lots of people who work there and they were really excited about the leaflet.

The last final few weeks have been really difficult as it has been a challenge to make all the information into easy read language.  We have achieved so much and its built our confidence. We have been doing lots of teamwork and the leaflet is now almost finished.  Soon people will be able to sample the leaflet and give us some feedback.

WATCH THIS SPACE! 

By the Mike Bulmer (BOND 009) Work Skills Group

Arts Hand Book By Katie Branch

I am working  on  arts  hand book  for the Mondays story telling group. which  got information who"s in the group and what we do with pictures, and everyone in the pds group    are  involved are working with me  to put information in it. For people who wants to join our group will know what we do and we will help them to get to our standard. I am in joining working on the arts hand book  and putting in the pictures in the arts hand book.