Who is it for and what do I know about them?
It is for local people above the age of 8. I know few personal details about them apart from them being local but if they attend they are willing to listen to storytelling but it may be their first time in attending an event. I have aimed it at friends and family as well so I know them better and they will be supportive in my work.
What are you going to do?
I am going to produce and perform a story walk around Wem. A storywalk is a walk around villages and towns which is enlivened by tales of the scenery and landmarks.
Who is part of the team and what are their different roles and responsibilities?
I am the storyteller and leader of the event. I have three stewards – Dez, Ali and Fiona – who will be ensuring people stay safe by adhering to the risk assessment.
What resources will you need and where will you get them?
I will need background information on the stories which I will research at Wem Reference Library.
Who will help you when and in what way?
Dez and Ali will help with feedback and advice on the stories and structure of my storywalk although the main decisions and ideas will be my own to develop my leadership. Dez, Ali and Fiona will help me peparing a risk assessment and implementing its findings during the storywalk as my stewards.
How will you know if the project has worked?
I will know the project has worked by the feedback I get. If it is generally positive then the storywalk has been a success.
How will you collect feedback?
I will collect feedback by creating short feedback sheets with questions like ‘What did you enjoy the most?’, ‘Any improvements needed?’ and I will hand these out at the end of the storywalk to all of the audience and to tempt a response I will offer free sweets when the feedback is handed in.
What things could go wrong? Do you have a back up plan?
The weather could mean that it is unsafe to do the walk in which case I will tell the stories in Mythstories museum with short drinks breaks in between. If there are children on the walk younger than the advertised age then they may not pay attention as the material is not appropriate to them. I have tried to avoid this by stating the age range in my publicity but if young children come then I will need to remind parents that they are responsible for their children's enjoyment, behaviour and safety. Most other safety issues will be covered by the risk assessment and I have 3 stewards who will be looking out for the audiences safety.
What else do you need to find out about or do?
I can’t think of anything else I need to find out about or do in preparation as I have tried to be as thorough as possible in my planning.
I invited a number of storytellers to my event and some replied with messages of encouragement. See below for one of these.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Joe -I'll do my best to come on your walk this Sun but in case I don't make it just wanted to send this to wish you good luck. Doing a Story Walk is a very different thing from telling stories at an inside/sit-down performance -different timing, structuring, relationship with audience etc etc and a really usefull 'other' string to add to your storytelling -good on you!
best wishes Helen East