Storytelling festival at the House of Secrets Gunsgreen House
On Saturday the 19th of October Gunsgreen house ran the second year of their Storytelling festival. The event was in association with the Scottish International Storytelling Centre and ran both morning and afternoon sessions. The Morning sessions were held in Gunsgreen House rooms and the afternoon session were held in locations such as Eyemouth museum, Maritime Centre and the hippodrome.
During the Morning sessions which ran from 10:30 until 12:20 a range of storytellers performed each with their own special skill to make the performance stand out from the others. Marie-Louise Cochrane known as Mrs Mash told stories about Lazy Jack and another about a boy with a pet dragon. Margaret Christison captured the children’s creative side with her music and paintings. Anne Pitcher made engaging stories about pirates. Anne created the engaging atmosphere by incorporating her audience into her stories by giving them character roles and giving them actions and sounds to make. In the afternoon sessions the festival continued to provide a range of interesting and captivating storytellers including ones from India and Canada.
Storyteller Anne Pitcher commented that the Audience at the Storytelling Festival were wonderful as they had been the previous year. In keeping with this years International Scottish Storytelling Festival theme “Once Upon a Journey” she based her stories on travel. She spent the morning sessions based in the Wallpaper room of Gunsgreen House telling stories including her very own Treasure Island and the well-known We`re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Anne adds that the Wallpaper room where she had been storytelling “Was packed to the gunnels” with families. Not only did she tell me about how many children visited from the local and surrounding areas Anne also says that there were also guests from abroad such as a holidaymaker from Poland who commented to her on how well her toddler sat and listened to the stories.
Storyteller Anne Pitcher concludes her comment by saying that Gunsgreen House is a fantastic venue and it positively inspires stories! And that she hopes be invited back next year to tell more stories. She felt a positive and warm welcoming from the festival guests and enjoyed the opportunity to meet and socialise with other storytellers from across the globe including the storyteller Geeta Ramanujam from India.
Despite the somewhat bad weather outside a range of guests from all around the local area and abroad enjoyed their time. Not only did I see the younger children I also caught some adults enjoying their time and getting involved with what the fantastic festival had to offer.
A copy of this article can be found on the Gunsgreen House blog. www.gunsgreenhouse.wordpress.com
James Kirkland
Founder & Owner
www.placesinnorthumberland.co.uk
Written By James Kirkland On 24 October 2013
Posted In: Visit
Tags: Eyemouth, Gunsgreen House
