Mark P. Henderson

Emerging from solitude to perform in public

On 2nd June I went to deliver a one-hour storytelling session in Ashton-under-Lyne, and when I arrived I discovered that the organization that had invited me was the Catholic Women’s Fellowship. Fortunately, I have a fairly wide repertoire of Peak District folktales, so I was able to censor those that would have been unsuitable for the audience and to regale the ladies with acceptably church-centred or clergy-centred stories from our moors and valleys – some amusing, some sad, some spooky, some simply charming. Evidently my selection was successful because I’ve been invited to return; and I contrived to sell copies of Folktales of the Peak District plus my new CD.

Yes, Amberley Publishing has yielded to my plea to re-issue the book, the first printing having sold out, and I did at last manage to make CDs: stories professionally recorded at a studio in Lancashire, and labels and covers made by an excellent printer in Buxton. I now have plenty of CDs and books in stock for sale at forthcoming performances, of which there are now several in my diary.

Apart from the regular storytelling session in Buxton on Sunday 14th, I’ll probably go down to the Cromford Book Festival on the weekend of the 20th and 21st, a soiree in Derby on the 24th (hosted by my storytelling mentor, Sophie Snell), and Matlock Storytelling Cafe on 3rd July, at which I’ll probably do a ten-minute floor spot. In between times I have another solo gig at Droylsden public library on the morning of Wednesday 1st July – and a “Meet The Authors” session at the Oakwood, Glossop, at 7.15 p.m. on Wednesday 23rd of the current month.

For “Meet The Authors” I’ve teamed up with two other local writers, Margaret Holbrook and Pamela Turton, and the three of us are planning further outings, for instance on the 15th and 21st of July; more about those in a future blog. We’re advertizing on various websites, and this poster (with large coloured lettering!) has been displayed around the town:

MEET THE AUTHORS

(Pamela Turton, Mark Henderson and Margaret Holbrook)

at

The Oakwood

George Street/High Street West, Glossop

on

Tuesday 23^rd June, 7.30-9.00 p.m.

Tickets (£3, redeemable against purchase of a book or CD) from Bay Tree Books, High Street West, Glossop (or at the door)

Margaret, Mark and Pam will read from their varied work and talk about it (20 minutes each), and there will be time for questions and answers afterwards – so get your questions ready!

This is a new venture for all of us. We shall see how it goes. But with this and the other forthcoming outings, I hope my stock of books and CDs will dwindle during the coming few weeks!