Beeches Green Friendship Circle: Storyteller Fiona Eadie enthralls

OUR first meeting of the year was held on January 19 and despite the weather being very cold was reasonably well attended.

We were welcomed with a cup of tea or coffee and a wonderful array of cakes to indulge in.

Rosalind, our chairperson, was on holiday and Zita her deputy opened the meeting and wished us all a very Happy New Year.

She then went on to introduce our speaker – Fiona Eadie – a storyteller of stories that over the years had been passed on from one generation to the next usually by word of mouth.

Stories are often interpreted very differently by the listeners.

She mentioned that once she had told a story to a group of school children and when she next met them, a little girl had begged her to tell again the story of the girl with the red hair.

It took her a little while to realize which story the child meant as she had never as far as she could recall telling a story about a girl with red hair

Eventually she realised that the child’s imagination had given the girl red hair.

Fiona told us three stories and before starting each of them strummed a tune on a small Africa instrument known as a Mbira or Thumb Harp.

At the end of each story she also gave us a riddle to solve.

Fiona’s was a delight to listen to and her expressions and actions as she told the stories held us all enthralled.

She lives in Horsley and tells her stories at local museums and libraries.

She also does workshops and other events which can be viewed on her website.

Zita thanked Fiona for her wonderful talk and we were given a chance to ask questions.

We were then offered more refreshments before making our way home.

Our next meeting will be on the February 16, 2016.