FAMILY HISTORY THROUGH STORYTELLING

Parents and grandparents will have a unique opportunity to share their family history and traditions with children and other family members by attending storytelling workshops at the Clearview Library in Windsor on Tuesday night, January 21st from 6:30- 7:30 pm. Diane Campbell (Windsor), Mike Forney and Phil Murphy (both from Fort Collins) are the members of Spellbinders Oral Storytellers of Larimer County who will conduct the free one-hour program.  

“They will learn how to share family history and strengthen relationships through storytelling,” Spellbinder’s chairperson Diane Campbell said.  “We’ll show how easy it is to find stories from everyday experiences, family lore and even from the children themselves,” she said.

Stories are better and more compelling if they have a simple structure, including an interesting opening statement, conflict, challenge or danger, and interesting details.  The stories should flow easily with a few key points in mind. Memorization stifles the creativity and unnecessarily burdens the teller, Campbell said. 

Last school year volunteer Spellbinders storytellers visited 379 classrooms in 56 schools in the Poudre, Thompson and Weld school districts.  The 68 storytellers in the Larimer County chapter typically visit kindergarten through fifth grade classes once a month in 30-minute story sessions.  They also volunteer at various community events, senior centers and independent living communities.  

“We’re always looking for more storytelling volunteers,” Campbell said. “We hope some of those attending the workshops will join our group,” she said.   The chapter conducts training sessions twice a year. 

For more information contact Diane Campbell at 970-290-6254 or [email protected] or Jennifer Bradley, 970-686-5603  [email protected]