Cadw 2010 storytelling and literacy project at Caernarfon & Chepstow

We began the 2010 Cadw storytelling and literacy project with a training day for teachers, in Chepstow castle. Teachers from Tutshill Church of England Primary school, The Dell Primary school and Pembroke Primary school took part in the training.

Michael Harvey, storyteller, and Dylan Adams, sound artist & storyteller, jointly ran the day's activities, which were delivered in English.


The day began with a very simple exercise, where each participant told a small story from their lived experience. It was interesting to see how the teachers 'relived' their experiences as they told their stories, and one participant who had spent some time in France not only told their story but acted it out, to much laughter from the rest of the group.


Having broken the ice, and with 3 stories told, we listened to Michael telling a marvellous story about Jack, who fell in love with a rather gruesome mermaid. And just when everybody was enthralled by the story, Michael stopped telling it!


Michael told the teachers they had to finish the story in their own way. The teachers had to create their own ending for the story. The ending could be happy, or sad. The group worked on this for some time, discussing the possibilities and whether to bring in new characters and locations. The group created a wonderful ending for the story, and told it to the rest of us.

The next part of the day involved going out for a 'treasure' hunt - the teachers went out into the castle grounds and asked to return with a found object of any kind as long as it was just lying on the ground. It's amazing what you can find lying around a castle....


The 4 objects the teachers returned with were a burned piece of wood, a feather, a battered 'dandelion clock', and a rather large and interestingly shaped log!


Michael asked each teacher to show their objects to the rest of us, and tell us what the object was, but also what it was REALLY in their imaginations, so the burnt wood became a deformed bear's paw, the feather became a magic quill, the log became an animal, and the dandelion clock became a magic fairy tree.... Imaginations were running wild!

The next activity was for the teachers to work in pairs to create stories using their objects as props and inspiration. We heard some wonderful stories, with magic, humiliation, happy endings - the stuff of fairy tales, in fact!

We broke for lunch and then took a short tour around parts of the castle, looking especially for litttle clues about the past. We found lots of little patches of medieval paint, and looked at fireplaces and considered how they helped us to understand the use of various rooms within the castle. Finally, we went to the Earl's Chamber and saw the beautiful re-creation of medieval style painted walls and ceiling.

We also looked at and discussed the collection of replica medieval objects now held in the 'treasure chest' at the castle, for use by visiting school groups. There are clothes, shoes, hats and bags, a medieval medical kit, crockery and cutlery, sewing and braiding items, reading and writing things, and a few 'mystery objects'.

...and a leech in a jar - essential medieval medical kit!


Enough things, in fact, to keep a class busy for half a dozen visits, which is useful for a local school, especially as there is no charge for school visits or the use of the artefacts.

Following the teacher generated stories, there was a discussion about the principles and structures of stories, and some strategies for generating stories in groups. We also discussed how storytelling could engage children, and how stories 'spilled over' into their lived experience, and could positively affect other areas of their school work & lives. Of course, this works both ways, and sometimes children's lives spill over into their stories. I'm sure we will see evidence of children's lived experience in the stories they create as part of this project.

An interesting and enjoyable day was spent by all, and everybody left with ideas about how storytelling could enhance classroom practice in terms of delivering literacy.