TOM FORDE

At The Yarn, a regular storytelling night held at French’s on Robertson Street, there’s a theme for each evening. Last Thursday it was Back to School, a theme ripe with recognisable experiences, shared memories, and plenty of opportunity for humour.

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Half the stories we heard were first-person retellings of true events, which seemed particularly well suited to the format – ten-minute stories told to a bar full of people drinking red wine.

Chloe White interpreted the theme as New Beginnings, a beautifully self-reflective story about the time her baby was observed by a psychotherapist for one hour every week for the first year of its life. It moved us all greatly, tapping into rich experiences of vulnerability before school even starts.

Three of the storytellers happened to be ex-teachers; not a great reflection on rates of teacher-retention, but excellent material for the rest of us. Paul Graham’s retelling of his teacher training assessment where he cos-played as a Norman Conqueror – French accent and all – in front of an increasingly bemused class, ended with him firing a Fisher Price bow and arrow directly into the eye of his steely assessor.

For James Young, the sight of school children starting the year in shiny new uniforms prompted old memories of turning a new page himself – returning to his old neighbourhood and trying to find love despite his relentless thriftiness.

Jon Loades-Carter, Emma Joliffe, and Raven Hurste all dealt more directly with school days. Each of their stories caused me to reflect on how these experiences shaped the person in front of us, and indeed, how all our school days leave marks on us. I have been witnessing my friends’ children start school in recent weeks. What stories will they tell in the years to come?

All the stories at The Yarn were filled with humour, but many also touched on the difficulties and cruelties that seem to be an unavoidable part of growing up. The adolescent diaries of the night’s host, Helen Black, exemplified the point. Hilarious in retrospect, they were also a reminder of the cruel ways in which young girls talk to each other and, perhaps, even more painfully, to themselves.

Maybe that’s what makes school such a rich subject for storytelling. It’s one of the few experiences we can assume almost everyone in the room has shared, while knowing that no two people experienced it in quite the same way.

The Yarn, a monthly open-mic storytelling evening hosted by Hastings Writers Workshop, took place at French’s, Robertson Street, on Thursday 1 October. Catch them on Instagram  at instagram.com/the_yarn_storytelling for up-to-date details. 


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HIPUncategorizedTOM FORDE At The Yarn, a regular storytelling night held at French’s on Robertson Street, there’s a theme for each evening. Last Thursday it was Back to School, a theme ripe with recognisable experiences, shared memories, and plenty of opportunity for humour. Half the stories we heard were first-person retellings of...The Hastings & St Leonards non-profit community newspaper