Examples Of Our Projects

TRACES OF THE TUDORS (2010) - was funded by the MLA (Museums, Libraries & Archives) under their Learning Links programme and involved a Year 6 class at Holmer Lake Primary School, Telford.

The pupils were inspired by a visit to the museum and a trip with us to Moreton Corbet Castle, the ruin of a Tudor mansion and castle.

The project culminated in the making of a game which can be used by adults and children to create Tudor murder stories and modern day ghost stories. The pupils told their stories at an afterschool event and helped their parents create their own story using the model.

As part of the project Mythstories delivered storytelling skills workshops to teachers and classroom assistants. A copy of the game is now in use in the museum, and the original is used in the school as a literacy resource.


LIFE IN A BOX (2009/10) - a project funded by Heritage Lottery Fund which involved traveller teenagers researching their family history, creating ‘life stories’ and learning traditional woodworking and painting skills from skilled craftspeople within the wider traveller community.

The opening of the exhibit they created was attended by many members of their extended families and friends.

Additional funding from Shropshire Council’s Equality & Diversity Forum allowed the teenagers to work with video material about traveller evictions in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s from the Media Archive of Central England. To express their responses we travelled to The Hive Music & Media Centre in nearby Shrewsbury and spent a day in the studio with two DJ/MC’s recording rap tracks.



SENSE A STORY (2008) - was a project for the Telford Culture Zone co-ordinated by Telford & Wrekin Library Services. We worked with four schools leading classes on a morning storywalk near to their school and then helped the pupils create a story using the sights, smells and feel of the walk.

A musician from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a dancer from Dance Xchange, who’d accompanied us on the walk and witnessed the story creation then helped the children turn the story into a dance and music performance for parents.

Library staff then helped the children make a story-chest; a trunk containing all the elements of the story’s characters and landscape.

The project culminated in a two day extravaganza at Enginuity (part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust) where Mythstories storytellers led class groups of “story archaeologists” on walks to discover the story-chests and uncover their stories.


STORYSCAPE (2008) - The creation of a ‘hands on’ contemporary artwork that can be manipulated by museum visitors to ‘tell’ a traditional story, ‘Edric and Godda’, which is very firmly rooted in the Stiperstones area of Shropshire.

Four people worked on the project, Louise Frances Evans created the artwork, Xanthe Gresham performed the story and Dawn and Lydia Powell represented the potential audience of museum visitors. These project ‘partners’ lived and worked hundreds of miles distant, in Leicestershire, London and Shropshire respectively.

Close liaison was factor that set this project apart. The Storyscape and the story developed side by side. The made artwork needed to reflect the narrative created as well as interpret the spirit of the story. The narrative needed to be grounded in the Storyscape and allow museum visitors to explore the artefact without losing the thread of the story.

They shared a visit to the Stiperstones, and met for lunch and coffee. Most of the liaison was by a private on-line blog where they shared ideas and posted photographs of work-in-progress.

The blog was also used by Mythstories, to manage the project. The blog gave us confidence, so much so that Xanthe and Louise only had one 15-minute face-to-face meeting with museum staff before the Storyscape was installed.

Xanthe Gresham recorded a ten-minute version of her re-telling on CD. This is now installed in the museum alongside the Storyscape.

She also worked up a 30-minute performance piece which additionally explored aspects of mythology and folklore found within the story. This was performed in the museum on 21st August.

Louise Frances Evans created a very feminine and beautiful artefact that enhances our museum gallery