Trafalgar Junior School in Twickenham invited Wendy to take part in their 10th Annual Storytelling Festival during National Storytelling Week. In previous years, renowned storytellers Taffy Thomas, MBE, and Sally Pomme Clayton have also visited their school, sharing stories with the entire school and being one of the judges for their Storytelling competition.
Wendy was thrilled to be asked to attend and the above photo shows her storytelling space for the day. It was such a wonderful atmosphere having storytelling and the love of stories as the main focus. The hall was set up with a small stage and backdrop. Every class was able to listen to Wendy tell them stories. In the evening, local schools came along and children took part in a competition with parents and friends watching all ages tell stories without books or props. Along with being the chosen Storyteller for the day, Wendy was also asked to open the evening with a story to start the festival and be one of the judges for their competition. It was extremely hard to judge each year group category for their clarity of delivery, creativity and audience engagement. They all did a marvelous job, telling their stories from memory, often looking the judges straight in the eyes, using call and response to engage the entire audience, using the stage to create shapes and movements and above all – looking as though they were enjoying it! Storyteller Ghislaine Walker, was also one of the judges, along with Tony West from independent children’s Bookshop: The Alligator’s Mouth and Kerry Assemakis, a lecturer at St Mary’s University.