October’s Story Telling at Joe’s Yarns

The last Wednesday of each month is when we hold a storytelling event at Smokey Joe’s Café in Cheltenham. This event has been regularly running for over three years and still goes strong. Unlike many other storytelling events, it is not about folktales, traditional tales, myths or magic; it is about life stories, stories from your life or the lives of people you know.

The event attracts many people. There is a small core of dedicated storytellers who go along almost every month and a wider band of people who pop along every so often just to share or hear stories. The event is led by Charlie Markwick, who is a larger than life figure and a professional storyteller. 

It is Charlie who usually ‘kicks off’ each evening with one of his stories before other members are invited to share their offerings. There is no obligation to tell a story; you can, if you wish, just come along and listen. Indeed, that is what I did for the first few months before I felt the urge to get up and tell a story from my life.

Standing up and telling a story can be a very daunting task but in the environs of Smokey Joe’s and the friendliness of members, it becomes a much more friendly and easier task. One is not so much ‘telling’ a story as ‘sharing’ one. I have to say that I always feel privileged when other people share their stories.

This month’s event was a little unusual. Initially only half a dozen members turned up. So, rather than stand at a microphone and tell a story, everyone was seated around a log-burning stove (lovely and cosy) to share their stories. We were joined by four new people who arrived during the dark evening; two of whom had not even intended to come along for storytelling but had simply arrived for somewhere to eat and drink. Of course, they were all made welcome and it was not long before some of them shared their own stories.