Winter, Wildlife and Water Week

Winter, Wildlife and Water Week

 a few extra project events in a week of public events celebrating this cold season, the birds of the high hills and deep dales and the ancient springs and wells of the Peak District

Winter Stories

Tuesday 19th February

Capturing the cold with children's stories and traditional tales and turning the best bits of those or your favourite wintry scenes into pop-up story cards and paper sculptures

        

Where? Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Terrace Road, Buxton, SK17 6DA

When? 10 - 12 and 1 - 3, free, open public sessions for all the family (children under 8 need to bring a grown-up) no booking needed, just drop by and join in!

Raven Day

Friday 22nd February

Celebrating the crows, ravens - and other birds - of the Peaks - making bird mask, fluttering birds on sticks and even origami birds to sit on fingers or shoulders

Where? Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Terrace Road, Buxton, SK17 6DA

When? 2 sessions, 10 - 12 and 1 - 3, free, open public sessions for all the family (children under 8 need to bring a grown-up) no booking needed, just drop by and join in!

Singing the Wells

Saturday 23rd February

A chance to enjoy playing with voices, stories, ideas and instruments.  Celebrating our ancient wells by singing stories, places, landscapes and water - to sing the Holy Wells of the Hills. No experience needed - just bring a sense of adventure and the readiness to join in! Led by musician and singer Jos Razzell

The end of this workshop will coincide with the Raven Walk so that we can join the procession and visit St Anne's Well

Where: Green Man Gallery, 55 High St, Buxton, SK17 6HB

When: 1.30 - 4pm. The workshop is free but places are limited: please email or phone to reserve a place: stoneandwater@btinternet.com, 07791 096857

The Raven Walk

Saturday 23rd February

4.30 - 5.30pm, meeting at Bath Road entrance to Pavilion Gardens

Join the Stone and Water crew at the end of this week of Winter, Wildlife and Water for a walk round Pavilion Gardens. Bring Friday's Ravens or flags, hats or masks and we will salute the rich and ancient waters of the hills and  the wild and wonderful birds of our wild and wonderful winds!

if you are under 12, bring a grown-up with you so they can join in too!

Meeting points; Green Man Gallery and then the Bath Rd entrance to Pavilion Gardens, 4.30

Duration: 1 hour maybe?

celebrate the cheerful birds of the Peak District skies...

...the fiercer ones can be celebrated, too!

The apples are coming!

APPLE DAY

Sunday 7th October, 2012

relax and wait while the wildlife watches you

Dove Valley at sunset

celebrate autumn's richness with orchard investigations, apple recipes and fruit-creature-puppets stories and laughter

The last of our Exploring with Stories public events for now, Apple Day is a celebration that has become well established in the alst few years after an initial launch by Common Ground

This event offers a chance to look at orchards, to think and find out more about your own fruit trees, to taste apples and autumn recipes, to listen to some tree, wood and wildness stories and generally be creative

Where: Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle, nr Longnor, SK17 0PR

Link: www.dovevalleycentre.co.uk

Time: 11am - 3.30pm

The event is FREE

telling stories at the Dove Valley Centre

Running towards more adventures!

Run Away To Adventure

Sunday 30th September 2012

We have another of our wildly delightful "adventure" events next Sunday

What is happening: making dens deep in the woods! Stranded on a desert island? Lost in the forest? Cast away after storms at sea or on the local duckpond...we'll make the dens we'd like to survive in - woodland shelters, hidden dens, foraging, planning and telling the dreadful tales of how we got stranded here

Where: National Trust, Longshaw Estate nr Hathersage

(meeting: Moorland Discovery Centre, Longshaw Estate, 
Sheffield, Derbyshire, S11 7TZ)

Times: places can be booked on either the morning  or afternoon session

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What will we do? You'll be working with three of our workshop leaders to:

         tell the story of our adventure: did we run away to live in the woods, were we shipwrecked on a desert island, did pirates abandon us to guard their treasure?

         build our own shelters: using ropes and mats, nets and what we can find in the woods, we'll make our own shelters and weave our first useful tools to help us survive in this new adventure

         record our stories: by the end of our workshop, we'll sit down in our shelters and tell the terrible tales of the adventures that brought us to this place. We might take these tales away with us written on paper, as tiny woven baskets or as postcards….

Places are limited on "Run Away to Adventure" and need to be booked: call 07825 177355 or email stoneandwater@btinternet.com,  to reserve a place and receive further details

Running towards adventures

adventurers gather by the fire

 A week of activity! We had planned a lively week to coincide with National Family Week - but then that was cancelled but our events went ahead anyway!

In the last few days, we've had swarms of people out looking for Faeries, Trolls and Goblins in Padley Gorge near Hathersage. That was such a magical and perilous time that photos will follow later when we have determined that they are safe from spells and that to look at them will not risk enchantment and having all of you turned into frogs (not necessarily a bad thing, I hasten to say, but we have to observe some proprieties)

a fire for burning biscuits

making baskets

Wednesday was flooded. The woods where we hoped to go Into the Woods were waterfalls, and rivulets and our heroic artists dripped within minutes. Visitors had more sense and stayed at home. We surrendered the day to the rain and its thunder

cooperation helps when
building dens

But to-day people gathered to Run Away to Adventure and in Grinlow Woods we heard the tale of the dragon who, after killing the crabs, chased the girls who had been looking in rockpools off the beach  and into the woods where they built a den that was so well-hidden no dragon could see it.

a tiny lamp lights a small corner

Then there were the family who were on a holiday sailing down the Nile when their boat was overturned and abandoned by search parties, they made a camp on the banks of the river. Braving crocodiles and hippos, they caught fish in the river and made friends with local people

moss for pillows

The stories span on, watchtowers on the heights, the nutriritonal value of toasted biscuits, a branch polished smooth and pale that looked suspiciously like a giant's thigh-bone, baskets to collect fruit in, the best ways of cooking rabbits (especially oens made of moss and bark!), wet clay lamps to light the dark, wild nights, the relative merits of logs and bracken as bedding,…….

all modern conveniences,
even a basin for washing....

on the banks of the Nile (use your imagination!)

Books we used

Places we went to for ideas in planning these sessions

Into the Woods:

TH White, The Sword in the Stone

East, Maddern & Marks, The Spirit of the Forest

Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo

Jane Gifford, The Wisdom of Trees

JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Dragon Girl tells her tale

Run Away To Adventure

BB, Brendon Chase

JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit

Michael Morpurgo, Kensuke's Kingdom

Ray Mears, Essential Bushcraft

Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins

Swiss Family Robinson

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

watchers on the hilltop

Family events in August

EVENTS FOR AUGUST

a sample folded puppet theatre.....

August has begun with some exciting activities. We were at the National PlayDay celebrations in Leek (well done, Erica and the Staffordshire Moorlands team!). Making little folded puppet theatres and new stories to tell in these, we worked with more than 100 people over the day. Today, (Thursday 2nd) I worked with visitors to SureStart centres in Buxton, using similar activities and rummaging around in flowerbeds to find bits and things to help us tell stories which ended up with sneezing heroes, a flying carpet, a knight looking for flowers and a hero who had a quiet and peaceful time in the woods!

Knights, monsters and encampments hidden in the woods....

Mums and Dads made their own theatres and stories

a fairy and her palace

1. Tuesday  28th August 2012

Away with the Faeries, Goblins and Trolls

Where: Padley Gorge on the National Trust's Longshaw 

Estate near Hathersage

Meet at the Granby Barn Interpretation Centre on the B6521

Times: 11 am - 1pm or 2pm - 4pm

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

No booking is needed: just turn up and join in

What is happening: we'll explore the atmospheric landscapes of Padley gorge, looking for secret places, troll baths and goblin houses. We'll make puppets, build faerie homes and monster lairs and invent stories to tell each other

who knows what we'll find in the woods

2. Wednesday 29th August 2012

Into the woods

Where: Buxton Country Park, Poole's Cavern, Green Lane, Buxton SK17 9DH

Times: 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 3.30

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What is happening: as explorers, naturalists and storytellers, we'll explore the woods: identifying trees, finding the animals that live there, using art and science and stories to understand the secret lives of trees

3. Friday 31st August 2012

Run Away To Adventure

Where: Buxton Country Park, Poole's Cavern, Green Lane, Buxton, SK17 9DH

Times: morning  and afternoon sessions

Costs: no cost for activities, car parking charges may apply

What is happening: making dens deep in the woods! Stranded on a desert island? Lost in the forest? Cast away…we'll make the dens we'd like to surivive in - woodland shelters, hidden dens, foraging, planning and telling the dreadful tales of how we got stranded here

Places are limited on "Run Away to Adventure" and need to be booked: call 07791 096857 or email stoneandwater@btinternet.com,  to reserve a place and receive further details

Pirates!

Once there was a girl who...

We are in the middle of a number of workshops for small groups, rather than our big public events now. Today, I was in Buxton Library making up stories with visitors. Together we designed our a hero, sent her off through our town and up the hill towards Solomon's Temple. There our ideas diverged and people went off to find clues as to just what might have happened....The notes that follow came from just a few of our new tales
Gordon, Creeping Toad - storyteller for the session

A girl went for a walk on a sunny summer afternoon. She had rolled her trousers up to her knees and was wearing a wide-brimmed sunhat, sandals, and a T-shirt. She had binoculars round her neck, a basket in one hand, a fishing net in the other and a rucsac on her back.

As she walked up the hill to Solomon's Temple……

the woods on Grin Low

Story 1:            she saw a giant standing in the trees in front of her. She was so terrified she couldn't move and the giant reached out a huge hand to grab her. Then Sarah swung her fist and hit the giant in the face so hard his head fell off!  She picked up the head to put in her basket and take it home. But realised that the giant wasn't dead and was very scared because his head and body weren't joined together any more.  Sarah helped the giant put his head back on his shoulders. It was very wobbly so she got lots of sticks and stuck them in round the join so that the giant's head didn't wobble any more. Then she discovered that this was a very important giant because every day he took one of the shining golden yellow flowers that grew on the bushes along the path and threw it high into the sky. The flowers would stick to the sky and shine down on everyone all day, but by the evening the flower would have shrivelled up and night would swallow the world. Sarah became the only person who knows the secret of sunshine and the only friend the Sunshine Giant every had

a flower of the sun

Story 2            she met a witch looking for the last ingredient for the most difficult potion she had ever made. The girl offered to help and learned that the missing ingredient was a lock of hair from an adventurer's head. She offered some of her own hair but wasn't sure if she was adventurous enough. The witch stirred the girl's hair into the potion and they both waited to see what would happen. Nothing changed. The girl took a sip of the potion and at once disappeared from the Grin Low woods. She found herself far from home, in the middle of a jungle and felt the power of the potion inside her and knew that she could wish herself home again any time she wanted. She was an adventurer after all!

Story 3            she slipped in some mud, fell in a stream and rolled all the way down the stream, down a river, out to sea where a boat rescued her. But a storm came and waves as big as mountains threw the boat all over the place and the girl fell out and into the shark-filled sea. At once the sharks started chasing her and the girl swam away. She swam so fast her shoes slipped off (and the sharks munched them up). She swam so fast her hat flew off (and the sharks munched it up). She swam as fast as a dolphin (shark teeth were snapping), as fast as barracuda (shark jaws were open wide) but the sharks got closer and closer with their sharp, snapping teeth. But just as they were going to pounce, a wonderful golden fish slipped through the waves beside the girl and grabbing hold of its fins, she was pulled through the water and away to safety. They left the sharks far behind and beautiful green turtles kept them company until they reached the river. Then the fish swam the girl up the river, up the stream and flicked her back onto the mud where her adventure started. She went home, covered with mud and no-one ever believed her!

Then there were

 the girl who found a mouse's party bits all wrapped up in a leaf

the girl who just went for a lovely walk, finding beautiful flowers on the way

the girl who found a wild horse on the hills

and of course

the boy who eaten by the sharks and came home as a ghost and never had to go to school again

Grin Low woods and Solomon's Temple are great places for adventures!

Thanks to storytellers Andrew, Holly, Angus and Iona

(these aren't our own photos, so apologies to people who've posted these images on the web and thanks for putting these images out there where the rest of us can appreciate them!)

"Exploring" events - the list

Exploring with Stories

~ out, about and investigating with stories, books and exciting activities

~ all events will combine storytelling with art and discovery activities and offer ideas of things you could do yourself when out for a walk…

June

Friday 8th, Ancient Adventures, life and excitement in prehistoric Buxton

 with stories, model houses and pop-up caves! Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Terrace Rd, SK17 6DA, 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 3.30

Sunday 10th: Biodiversity Day: the great bird, beast and bug hunt: nature detectives making boxes of natural treasures, experimenting, investigating... Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle, near Longnor, SK17 0PR 11am - 4pm

July

Sunday 1st: Exploring with Stories: a workshop for adults: looking at the wildlife of fields, woods, and ponds, listening to old stories, telling new stories. Relax and enjoy. Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle, near Longnor, SK17 0P, 11 - 4. Please book a place: 01298 77964

Tuesday 24th: Away with the Faeries, Goblins and Trolls! magical storywalks, inventing tales, making strange puppets, the hidden creatures of Buxton! Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, SK17 6BE, 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 3.30, meet by the Bandstand in front of the Pavilion

August

Wednesday 1st: National Playday in Leek: drop in and join in at our stall with the Borderland Voices team: make a Secret Leek storybook, tell a terrible tale! Leek Leisure Centre, Brough Park,Leek, 10am - 3pm

Tuesday 28th: Tuesday 24th: Away with the Faeries, Goblins and Trolls! magical storywalks, inventing tales, making strange puppets, the hidden creatures of Padley Gorge, 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 3.30, meet by Granby Barn Interpretation Centre on the B6521 near the National Trust Longshaw Estate

Wednesday 29th: Into the Woods: the secret life of trees: animals, stories, spells and books, Buxton Country Park, 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 2.30, meet by the Poole's Cavern Visitor Centre, Green Lane, Buxton, SK17 9DH   Car parking charges apply

Friday 31st: Run away to adventure: stranded on a desert island? lost in the woods? come and make the den you'd like to live in…..Buxton Country Park, morning and afternoon sessions, spaces strictly limited, please 'phone or email to reserve a place. Other details sent with confirmation

September

Another event to come in September at the National Trust at Ilam

Sunday 30th: Run away to adventure: stranded on a desert island? lost in the woods? come and make the den you'd like to live in….National Trust., Longshaw Estate, Hathersage, morning and afternoon sessions, spaces strictly limited, please 'phone or email to reserve a place. Other details sent with confirmation

October

Sunday 7th: Apple Day: celebrate autumn's richness with orchard investigations, apple recipes, wild fruit-creature-puppets, stories and laughter. Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle near Longnor, SK17 0PR 11am - 4pm

Activities are free but car parking charges may apply at some venues

Unless otherwise stated, events do not need to be booked: just turn up and join in!

Biodiversity Day: the Big Bird, Beast and Botany Hunt

Sunday 10th June at the Dove Valley Centre

And the day dawned dry! After a week of incessant rain, the sunrise was welcomed and the sun's continuing attention celebrated as we set up for this event

Our role was to explore "natural treasures" encouraging people to go foraging and thinking. Large treasures were to be considered for the beautiful basket that grew during the day under the expert guidance of Rachel Evans. Smaller treasures could be added to Small Treasure Boxes. And we told stories of trees and animals, reminding people that there are adventures everywhere, you just have to go looking...

a basket woven of sheep's wool and willow, hazel, hawthorn and elm twigs, slender birch fingers and plaited rushes

Other activities led by other groups included pond and river dipping, wildflower and bird walks (we sent people out on these with card and pencils to draw and note additions to their treasure boxes). A Barn Owl project (Barn owls nest on the farm) and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust were there as well - leading walks and running stalls, and helping people tease open owl-pellets

A day of excitements indeed!

Next Exploring event:

Sunday 1st July: Exploring with Stories: a workshop for adults: looking at the wildlife of fields, woods, and ponds, listening to old stories, telling new stories. Relax and enjoy. 

Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle near Longnor, SK17 0PR 11am - 4pm. Please book a place: 01298 77964

Ancient Adventures follow-up

Buxton Museum, 8th June 2012

How many people: 60

From our fur-rugged storycave, we ventured out to weave stories of children in caves and of life in Bronze Age round-houses

In these worlds, mammoths still roamed the hills of Derbyshire and dragon guarded treasures and deceived treasure-hunters with false delights

mammoth cave

In more settled times of mud-stone walls and thatched roofs, people herded cattle and sheep and found chickens roosting on their rooftops.

Life was not all gentleness and pastoral tranquillity as the settlement who had fought off an attack demonstrated. To reinforce the point, they had chopped the heads off their attackers and set them on stakes round the homestead……

The next Exploring event will be

Sunday 1st July: Exploring with Stories: a workshop for adults: looking at the wildlife of fields, woods, and ponds, listening to old stories, telling new stories. Relax and enjoy. Dove Valley Centre, Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle near Longnor, SK17 0PR 11am - 4pm. Please book a place: 01298 77964