Mead and Magic

Join Chris and Richard, regulars at the A Bit Crack open evenings, as they share the evening and take you on two very different adventures. Richard Birmingham: Tales from a Viking Longhouse Poets and story tellers were celebrated by the Vikings, filling the almost endless winters with their tales of gods and giants. But why […]

The Thorn in the King’s Foot & other Travellers Tales. Chris Bostock with The Little Big Blue Band

The Chillingham Arms 89-91 Chillingham Rd, Heaton

Join us for tales of wonders, transformation and magic, passed on from the wisest tellers in the oral tradition. If you can cope with curses, an outcast child, a conniving king, or a warring warlock, you’re welcome to wander with us down the highways and byways of stories from the past and present, with original […]

Another Crack in the Pennines

The Old Chapel, Coanwood

Richard and Jill will be welcoming Tim Ralphs, A Bit Crack and other friends to an afternoon and evening of story telling at the Old Chapel in the Pennines on Saturday 30h September. All welcome.

Nightingale – Sarah Deco

Nightingale tells the story of the migration of a Nightingale from sub-saharan Africa to southern England. The nightingale, inspiration for so many poems and stories and is now endangered in Britain. Alongside the actual story of the nightingale’s life and winding through it, runs another - The Bulbul A-Siah or The Nightingale That Speaks - a traditional Arabic  tale about miraculous reversals of […]

Cracking On

Online via Zoom

Something to look forward to: Cracking on sessions present an opportunity for a group of people to explore what a story means to them in discussion with others. The sessions are designed to be informal and relaxed. There are usually between 6 and 16 people at a session. The storytellers: Claire Randles well loved local storyteller, […]

The Hanging of a Mouse – Hugh Lupton

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi were set down on the page in the early thirteenth century. They are stories that had been told and sung by Welsh bards for centuries before they were written down. One of the central concerns of the Mabinogi is the uneasy relationship between this world and Annwn, the Otherworld. […]

Mara – Dominic Kelly

“Morten scrapes a living on the edge of Sweden’s ancient forests. Suddenly he begins to suffer nightmares and mysterious visits as he sleeps. A friend tells him he’s plagued by a Mara …” Dominic Kelly’s warm, witty and powerful storytelling style has captivated audiences around the world. Having lived in Sweden and married into a Hälsingland family, he knows intimately the landscape, […]

Open Night

The Chillingham Arms 89-91 Chillingham Rd, Heaton

Join us for a chance to share your story - as lived by you, dreamed by you or told to
you.- and listen to others as well. Help us keep oral storytelling alive.
“The tongue can paint what the eyes can’t see.” – Chinese Proverb

Heather Jane with “Tales from the River’s Tongue”

The Chillingham Arms 89-91 Chillingham Rd, Heaton

Stories inspired by old myths and years of roaming the land, researching, mulling and intuiting. These stories were born from the river walk she is still undertaking with the Little Avon River in Gloucestershire, traveling from the sources of the river to the mouth, in the river. Equipped with keen eyes and a listening ear, […]

Tales from a Viking Longhouse by Richard Birmingham

Wylam Institute Church Road, Wylam

This is part of the Wylam Winter Tales Festival Poets and story tellers were celebrated by the Vikings. In the smoky main hall of a Viking long house it was they who could light up the endless dark of winter with their tales of giants and gods. But why was it that while some of […]

Alnwick Story fest (mainly celebrating the written word)

The Alnwick Story Fest celebrates the power of stories to transform and light up our lives in this Winter festival in the heart of Northumberland. On this inspiring weekend, we will invite our community and visitors to have fun, find new friends, learn new skills, mingle and meet with writers, film makers, artists and photographers. […]

Katy Cawkwell and Lucy Lill: Wild Visions, Untamed Myth

A double helping of ancient myth that sets the women firmly centre stage. Plunge into the wild world of the goddess Artemis: an ecstatic encounter with the Dawn, a moonlit path that leads to transformation and a dilemma that maybe only the audience can solve… Then meet Kassandra, blessed with the power to see the future, cursed […]