Newport Folk Festival Program 2- 4 July

The Folk are counting the days - 5 more sleeps until the Newport Festival. It just gets better every year.

This festival is planned and managed by a team of volunteers who welcome ideas, encourage and support local and visiting musicians, writers, artists, dancers and cakemakers ... It has become a regular party with something for everyone. The people of Newport roll up their sleeves, don aprons and rubber gloves, man the chalk boards and open mics, race around with whiteboards and markers for the w/shops. Most events are free as the creatives involved donate their skills and their time.

Quite frankly it's awesome what can be achieved when the Folk decide to put on a party.

For those interested in the Spoken Word - Saturday 3 July The Bowling Club is the place to be. Ten writers, reciters, songwriters and storytellers will step up to the mic. I'll be there wearing my Folk Club and Storytelling id and supporting our guests on the stage. Click on the program to enlarge. For more details go to the Club website , the link is at listed on this blog. See you there!

Work continues on a digital story about a Lyrebird

The Lyrebird is the greatest songbird and mimic in the world. With film maker Malcolm McKinnon, I spent the day photographing ferny gullies and tall Blackwood trees around Olinda in the the Dandenongs. The bird spotting was not disappointing either. We heard kookaburras and whipbirds and got up close and personal with yellow robins, crimson rosellas, currawongs and scrub wrens. We heard that the Lyrebirds were about but didn't see any. I have no doubts that they saw us!

Being mid winter the flower gardens are dormant. The exotic collections of rhododendrons and magnolias are full of promise - covered with fleshy buds. The indigenous Mountain Ash, mostly regrowth since the 1962 bushfires, are looking awesome. We'll be back!

With a bit of luck - the result of the this project will be on our websites for you to see in a few months. Slow, steady and meticulous - that's us.

WORDS WORDS WORDS. Newport Folk Festival July 2 -4

Newport Bowling Club 11.45 - 2.00. Market Street Newport.

The Newport Fiddle and Folk Club put on a party once a year for the people of Newport and beyond. Club members and friends throw their energies into organising a three day program of concerts, workshops, lunches, dinners and brunches. Wearing my storytellers hat and with the support of the Storytelling Guild of Victoria and Club volunteers, I coordinate the spoken word event that we call WORDS WORDS WORDS. Our aim is to invite as many reader, writers, reciters and storytellers to the mic that we can within two hours over a delicious lunch - a celebration of language and stories. This year we will have haiku, folk tale, Henry Lawson and Ada Cambridge. Bush poets, urban poets and more. For more information on the Festival Program click on the Folk Club link at the end of this page.

No bookings required. Lunch includes vegetarian options. Hope to see you there!

click to enlarge poster

The Colours of Hope. June 19 Emerald

The Victorian storytellers have been busy. There will be storytelling events throughout winter. Walk the line from Emerald to Daylesford and there will be folk gathering to share stories somewhere along the way .

Beginning with THE COLOURS OF HOPE. Five storytellers from the Hills and one musician combine their skills for a night of stories to warm the soul. Cora Zon, John Sheills, Imelda Evans, Hendre Roelink and Ciny-Lee Hunter-Harper are all seasoned professional storytellers. Kath Connelly will be accompany the stories on her beautiful Celtic Harp. This promises to be a night to remember.

Performance Skills Workshop

The Newport Fiddle and Folk Club runs workshops every year as part of the build up to the Folk Festival July 2-4. Workshops in yodelling, ukulele, mandolin have all been on offer. (I'm still hoping we'll have spoon playing and tap dancing one day. I'm up for the challenge!) The stagecraft workshop will be relaxed and fun and participants will take away some new ideas on how to prepare for performance and engage their audience.

The weather has turned cold and wet. The Scout Hall has a log fire - it's workshop time of year!

click to enlarge poster

Malcolm McKinnon: Film maker.

Serious work has begun! This is the first time I have been involved in collaboration of this type. Film maker and artist Malcolm McKinnon is taking my version of the story of Edith's Lyrebird and transforming it into a digital story for Lilydale Musem. Today began in the State Library of Victoria in the Heritage Reading Room photographing a copy of The Age newspaper, February 13th 1932. We were particularly interested in the article 'The Miracle of the Dandenongs' by Ambrose Pratt. It was in this article that Mr Pratt first described the relationship between Mrs Edith Wilkinson and a remarkable Lyrebird. Mission accomplished - we then headed down to ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) and viewed some footage from 1934 of a male Lyrebird in display. Well!!! ..... you could have knocked me over with a feather!! It was our man! Edith's Lyrebird.

The joy of this kind of research is indescribable. Tracking down a story to its roots, touching and seeing the very beginning of a tale from the past and pulling into the present.

Brimbank Family Day Care Conference

Childcare workers were treated to a full and exhausting day of workshops. Organised by the Brimbank City Council, Early Childhood Services and held in the the fantastic Convention Centre at Vic Uni in Sunshine. My task was to facilitate a 90 min intensive practical session on the Art of Storytelling to pre schoolers. The participants came from a range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds and the children they care for add to the richness of the mix. These women, as well as raising their own families, care for children from backgrounds as diverse as Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, Maori, Samoan and more besides! Some of the children they care for are as young as two months old. Despite the w/shop taking place at the end of a long day, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of these women. They are professional, dedicated and passionate about their work. An inspiration.