Lakeland Folk Tales for Children
Did you know that if you look closely around Scafell Pike in the winter you might find a great dragon? Or that hidden in the forest around Egremont you might catch a glimpse of the fabled fairy folk? What, you don’t believe me? Read these tales then take a look for yourself. This collection is full of stories that Taffy has told over the years, and that children love to hear time and again. Including a gang of smugglers and an ugly face-pulling competition, not only will children love to read them, or listen to them being read, the tales will also stimulate an interest in the area, and help children engage with their own surroundings wherever they live.
Taffy Thomas has been living in Grasmere for well over thirty years. He was the founder of legendary ’70s folk theatre company Magic Lantern, who used shadow puppets and storytelling to illustrate folk tales. After surviving a major stroke in 1985 he used oral storytelling as speech therapy, which led him to find a new career working as a storyteller. He set up the Storyteller’s Garden and the Northern Centre for Storytelling at Church Stile in Grasmere, Cumbria. He was asked to become patron of the Society for Storytelling and was awarded an MBE for Services to Storytelling and Charity in the Millennium honours list.