A Bit Crack Storytelling promotes and celebrates oral storytelling for adult audiences in the north-east of England. Run by storytellers Chris Bostock, Malcolm Green and Pat Renton to share our delight in stories. Through regular storytelling events, projects and workshops we create platforms for audiences to enjoy the wonder of listening to a story well told.

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Upcoming events

“The Gods Are All Here” Phil Okwendy

The Chillingham Arms, 89-91 Chillingham Rd
Heaton, NE6 5XL
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£8.00

When clearing his mother’s house, storyteller Phil Okwedy made an astonishing discovery of a series of love letters from his father to his mother... Charting the time of life when children are said to view their parents as gods, Phil considers if his parents were, in fact, the gods he had believed them to be…

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07 April 2023 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Northumberland Folk Tales by Malcolm Green

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These folk tales reflect the wild and secret character of between two countries and two worlds. The book other magical characters such as the Netherwitton worm who guards a secret well and the Hedley Kow that plays audacious tricks on humans. Accompanying these, there is the sound of human feet; saints seek refuge, ancient kings fight for land and salvation, and border folk pit themselves against one another with both wit and sword. Illustrated with thirty beautiful and evocative drawings by Rachel Edwards, this panoply of characters, together with ghosts, witches and the land itself, is brought to life by professional storyteller Malcolm Green.

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A Story Picnic with Asylum Seekers

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A Bit Crack invited members of the Newcastle Conversation Class for a picnic with stories at Burnlaw on Saturday 2nd July.

The conversation class is a place where asylum seekers and refugees can meet to socialise and improve their English. A place where Pat regularly helps out and made the invitation.

In the event 10 people from the class (including people from Syria, Iran, Eritrea, Sudan, China and Poland) joined together with 4 storytellers and another 4 residents from Burnlaw to form a big, beautiful international gathering.

We walked, we told stories, we sang, we ate, we chatted and we laughed a lot. The weather was kind to us and rain only fell when we were looking at it through a window.

We walked through the land, we sang in the temple in the woods, we circled the grandmother ash and wished her well. We made our way through flocks of recently-released pheasants and climbed high into the treehouse, from which those with lither bodies descended via a fireman’s pole.

We had stories of a woman becoming a leopard, a girl dancing with a tree, a boy who became a girl and bees literally buzzing. Two of the Burnlaw girls sang while we were entranced by the voice of the flute.

We finished tying ourselves in knots of friendship and laughing some more.

Thanks to everyone, the community and the beautiful land for a wonderful, heart-warming day.

May we meet again. ABC_web_breaker_06