Pupils celebrate the magic of storytelling at special library event

Schoolchildren in Buckingham brought stories to life this spring at a special library event to celebrate their local area.

Year 5 pupils from George Grenville Academy took part in the storytelling day at Buckingham Library, led by storyteller and founder of local company Red Phoenix Stories, Terrie Howey, alongside a host of organisations.

The theme of the event was the history of Buckingham and students had the chance to work with Terrie in preparation for the big day.

Pupils carried out their own research on the town and took walks to well-known landmarks to get inspiration for their stories, before letting their imaginations run wild and being guided through the process of how to create their own magical tales.

The children all got the chance to perform their stories to a panel of judges and the most well-developed stories were chosen and performed on the day in front of an audience of parents, pupils, teachers and residents at Buckingham Library. 

The storytellers donned costumes to add to the drama and music also played a part, with the pupils performing a special song they had written about the legend of St Rumbold.

The song was accompanied by flute music performed by local musician and employee at the University of Buckingham Heidi Stopps, with extra flute by Charles Liu, a second year Medical Student from the university.

And the wonder of words didn’t stop there, with a poem read aloud by former Bard of Buckingham Dean Jones, and a performance of a specially commissioned story by Terrie Howey.

To help bring their stories to life, the students were also able to see a display of photos depicting life in historic Buckingham.

Dean Jones, who is also Trustee of the Friends of the Library and helped to organise the event said:

“After two years of lockdowns and isolation, it was great to see primary school pupils and residents from across the community come together in the library, to celebrate the stories and the history of our town. The library is the perfect location for this kind of cross generational community activity. It was lovely to watch the children perform and see our more senior residents from local care homes enjoying their performances too.”

Terrie Howey said: “As a storyteller I am keenly aware of how local stories make sense of the world around us, connecting people and places by shaping our identities through our relationship to our landscapes and heritage. It was amazing to hear how the children developed a sense of age and heritage of Buckingham, which they did not have before.”

Emma Killick, Headteacher at George Grenville Academy said, “We were so privileged to be part of this local event. Terrie’s inspired storytelling instilled a deeper confidence in our pupils that I have not previously seen. Watching them perform was extremely moving.”

The event closed with a final word from Chair of Friends of the Library, Roger Edwards. Roger said “It was such a pleasure to see and hear the children perform and it served to confirm just what talented young people there are in Buckingham. It was great to see the library being used in this way - our library is such an important asset for the community and to see it coming back to life after the last couple of years is brilliant.”

  It is hoped that the event will become a regular fixture and continue and be expanded to include other schools in the future.