Story Giants of Eden – A Transition Tale from Penrith
By Steph Bradley 13th June 2011
Last Midsummer I was walking in the north of England, and had the pleasure of staying with Nigel Jenkins of PACT – the Penrith & Eden transition group.
Last week Nigel sent me this delightful tale of tales….
“Story Giants of Eden has been unfolding as a major cultural project in Penrith & Eden over recent months. I’m pleased to announce that the final film is now available on the PACT website:
http://www.penrithact.org.uk/
As a visionary oral storytelling project, Story Giants of Eden has been all about unearthing and sharing local stories, many of which may well have survived for thousands of years.
Through these stories, 100s of children from 18 schools in Cumbria have learnt about the local people, customs and traditions of their community, and how they re-connect us with the landscape here in the Eden Valley.
The project included a series of storytelling workshops with individual schools across the District, before culminating in the mass storytelling event and parade in Penrith on May Day 2011, when the giant puppets invaded the town to spectacularly illustrate the stories being told.
The project was devised by Dawn Hurton and the storytelling has been led by local professional storyteller Dominic Kelly. The project has been administrated and supported throughout by PACT.” Nigel Jenkins / PACT, www.penrithACT.org.uk
For anyone feeling inspired, Transition Tales Totnes is organising a Big Walk for young people to collect stories of transition – piloting in Somerset, Devon & Cornwall in 2012, and countrywide from 2013, with the aim of linking up all our budding story gatherers. Contact me to get involved.