Chester care home takes part in National Storytelling Week

Jan 26 2012 Chester Chronicle

RESIDENTS in a local care home in Chester are ready to tell a tale or two as part of plans to mark National Storytelling Week which starts on Saturday.

Celebrated each year, the week aims to increase awareness of the value of sharing stories.

Crawfords Walk Nursing Home in Chester is hosting a special storytelling event on Tuesday and is inviting members of the local community along to help revive the lost art of storytelling.

Home manager Kath Webber said: “We are going to be bringing classic stories alive so everyone is welcome to join us, whether that’s to share a story or to enjoy listening to other tales and fables.

“A good read is such a valuable activity, no matter what age you are, because it inspires imaginations and brings other worlds to life. Especially for our residents, storytelling can bring back lots of childhood memories and really helps to capture these happy moments.”

More than 300 care homes are helping mark National Storytelling Week and Bupa has also launched a special poetry and short story competition to help residents share their memories.

Supporting Bupa’s plans is The Reader’s Organisation, a charity that brings people together for ‘read aloud’ sessions and which promotes the link between reading and wellbeing.

Among the stories and poems being shared, residents and visitors will also be able to read from Poems to Take Home, a collection of poems for reading out loud which have been specially chosen by members of the charity’s Get Into Reading groups.

Anybody interested in attending or taking part in a Bupa storytelling event should call 0845 600 4622 or email storytellingweek@bupa.com.