A select audience at Lanark Museum for Doors Open Day, September 2025.
Dumbreck Marsh Nature Reserve, August 2025 - Nice marquee, lovely people and their dogs!
Over 50 members of East Kilbride’s U3A turned up in the middle of Storm Floris on the 4th of August, for an afternoon of local folktales.
What a great group of people. Thank you for inviting me to share local folklore and for braving the wild weather. Telling Tibbie’s tale from Lanarkshire Folktales about the hurricane that devastated Kilbride Village in 1780 seemed appropriate!
East Kilbride Arts Centre Summer Fair July 2025. Monkeys in Hats is always a favourite story with the discerning families at the best summer fair in Central Scotland.
21st of June, the Summer Solstice of 2025! Jennifer Horan from Inverclyde Libraries invited me to visit Newark Castle in Port Glasgow to share local legends with families. Here we are in the Great Hall: a GREAT audience and what a fantastic setting for medieval Folktales from the Clyde Coast. Thank you, Jennifer and Billy, the Castle Manager, and to all the lovely children and the grown-ups :)
I presented a storytelling technique workshop at the Oral History Society’s & Scottish Oral History Centre’s annual conference - WHOSE VOICES? 2025.
What a pleasure to meet and talk with so many talented and passionate oral historians and researchers. Having Professor Margaret Bennett, Dr. Valentina Bold, Dr. Erin Farley, and Dr. Yvonne McFadden, among other esteemed academics, in my workshop was incredible!
Photos of various talks about oral history projects at the Whose Voices Conference, Glasgow, June 2025.
It’s June 2025!
At last, summer and long days filled with sunlight. The excellent UK National Association for Environmental Education have included my adaptation of the Cherokee Legend of The First Strawberry in their blog this month. Please have a look at their fabulous Environmental Lunacy Project. It is so good! June’s moon is designated as the ‘Strawberry Rose Moon.’ And you can find a link here :
Well it’s the last day of May 2025 and I just came across this video of me telling the story, Michael Scot & His Industrious Imps. It was recorded for Transgressive North’s Map of Stories. Take a look; there are many good tales and tellers to listen to here.
Nature Scotland Week in May was all about trees and stick art. Keep Scotland Beautiful asked me back for my third Live Lesson with them. I’ll put the link to the Live Lesson below, and you can watch me tell the Estonian Folktale, Mikku and the Trees, LIVE, to 1055 pupils in 41 Scottish school classes!
Nicola Davidson the Education and Learning Officer from Keep Scotland Beautiful, sent me this :
‘‘We had the following lovely feedback on your lesson, which I thought you would like to see'':
From teachers:
I loved the story element and it really engaged my class, it was great for all ages as with a composite it can be tricky to engage both sets of learners. The timing was also perfect for little learners.
The Class loved the story about the Trees and the interaction. We loved our challenge for the Nature Guardians. We cannot wait to learn more about our local trees and create guardians in the community.
Fabulous story teller! My class were so engaged. A wonderful story that had not been heard before and a super stimulus to our end of term trees topic while also linking to various other aspects of sustainability and climate explored throughout the session.
From pupils:
I like it because the author showed us things from the story and she included us.
'I liked how we got to say STOP and join in. i liked the nature guardians and we made one with my friend and used lots of leaves to guard our new plum tree. we called him plumy.
'"This was the best story I have heard", "I didn't know trees were alive", "I have learnt to care for trees, if I do they will care for me, they give us clean air"
It was my first time at The Boswell Book Festival in May 2025.
I was in heaven working in the Outdoor Classroom and woodlands at Dumfries House in Ayrshire. I organised story walks & stick nature craft activities, as well as leading Family Forest Bathing sessions. Many gorgeous children and their accompanying adults joined me. Their nature fairies and tree guardians were stunning. Have a look at the pictures!
Also in May, I went to The Children’s Wood in Glasgow to tell Spring stories for the Celtic Festival of Beltane. I had a riot with children and their families - see picture. Spot my Spring Lamb puppet! :)
The highlights of April 2025, apart from my birthday! Were storytelling at Dumbreck Marsh’s Spring event (hopefully pictures will follow soon)
And telling grown-up stories at Lanark U3A. I told two tales from my book, Lanarkshire Folk Tales, The Black Clydesdale, my friend Charlotte Howat’s true story about Queenie, one of her father’s horses. Sadly, Charlotte is no longer with us, but her family are around and rightly proud of their family and farming heritage. Also, The Wraiths of Clydesdale, a fantastic tale about William Wallace and the Carlin Stane in the River Clyde. The U3A audience was magnificent - I learn plenty of local history and folklore when invited to their events.
March 2025 was Intergenerational Libraries Month for me. West Lothian Council invited me to three of their libraries: Blackburn, Fauldhouse and Linlithgow. Working with the librarians and their communities to deliver intergenerational sessions was terrific. Bringing different generations together is one of my BIG LOVES. From 2008 to 2015, I devised over fifteen intergenerational projects and workshops in and around Glasgow.
Inntergeneartional story-sharing creates an atmosphere and synergy like no other!
January and February are cold and quiet months in Scotland. In January 2025, I joined the Lanark Wheel at the Crown Inn for a lively evening. They provided dinner, and I told local stories about Lanark’s wild and colourful past. The Dalserf Girl’s Brigade invited me to their hall in February for nature-inspired stories (part of the Storytelling Festival’s Big Ripple). Those girls are feisty and fabulous fun!
I held the last of my Scottish Book Trust Writing Residency sessions in March 2025. Then, the hard-working Primary 7 classes and their teachers treated me to a performance of their play based on the stories shared during my residency. It was magnificent! The sheer volume of work and effort that went into their performance brought tears to my eyes - the entire audience had tissues up to their faces! I can’t share photos of the children, but here is some of their artwork. I ran two Professional Development sessions for the teaching team at Wallyford Primary School. The teachers wrote their responses to my workshops on post-its - see the picture. I think they enjoyed the practical, give-it-a-go approach to storytelling :)
October has always been my busiest month, and 2024 was no exception. I was at The National Museum of Rural Life telling stories about soil and spiders during the School’s October Week. Then, there was the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, where I spent a day leading story walks at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, and three FAB Go Local events: two at The Wild Goose Festival in Dumfries and one at Lanark Library with the talented storyteller Beverley Casebow—see photos below.
From October to December, I was busy with an Author Residency at Wallyford Primary School in East Lothian—I’ll share pictures when we finish in spring 2025. Also, there were three exciting Big Storytelling Ripples, a SISF festival initiative, and lots of fantastic Live Literature, Scottish Book Trust, sessions at The Children’s Wood in Glasgow. Big Ripples at Aidrie Library, Lanark Library and with Lanark Girl Guides at Castlebank Park.
Family Storytelling Workshop at Lanark Library
September 2024 was marvellous. I told stories at Busby Arts Festival, East Kilbride Active Family Fun Day at Calderglen, and Blackwood Rural. I’m sure there are many photos of my storytelling antics this month, but I don’t have any! However, the highlight of my month was presenting at the Folklore Society’s Water in Myth and Legend, 18th Legendary Weekend. See the photos below.
I presented my talk and slides on River Mermaids and Miracles from the River Clyde at the Water in Legend and Tradition, 18th Watery Weekend. The Folklore Society organised this, and you can see me (1st & 3rd photos) in the fantastic venue - St Peter’s by the Waterfront in Ipswich, England. Also, the Greenock Mermaid (2nd photo) on a gable end in Greenock, Scotland - I told her tale. There’s a picture of Jeremy Harte, who organised the event and gave a world-class presentation. And last but not least a photo of Katie Marland, by the lion carved font - Katie is an artist extrodinaire and researcher in myth and legend; her presentation on the Dobhar-Chu was excellent. (It’s a big devil-otter creature)
August 2024 is the Kirkintilloch Canal Festival month - it is always a pleasure storytelling on the canal!
I was privileged to work with Strathclyde University’s Oral History Centre once more on the Re-Discovering Airdrie consultation project; I attended two sessions in Airdrie Library, telling stories and helping people to share their memories about the town. I can honestly say I now have a big soft spot for Airdrie and Ardironians :)
July 2024: East Kilbride Arts Centre has its fabulous Summer Fair - that’s me in the White Horse Yurt with the King & Queen of the Fairies.
I also worked with Homestart families at the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre and Glasgow.
I was delighted to facilitate story-collecting workshops again for Strathclyde University and NHS Lanarkshire's prestigious project, Recounting the Untold Stories of Breast Cancer. It was inspirational to work with researchers, science innovators, consultants, and brave men and women recovering from breast cancer.
Here’s what I was up to in June 2024
I led a storytelling workshop for families as part of Glasgow’s West End Festival. As you can see, it was intergenerational and FUN! Thank you, Halo Arts, for inviting me.
My Storytelling Tipi was at the Eden Festival. Justin Illusion provided the magical stick workshop to complement the local folktales & Legends from Dumfriesshire.
The highlight of the farming year is the Royal Highland Show. Here I am with other marvellous performers and conservationists. Spot the Woolly Pet, my favourite storytelling puppet.
It was with great honour, I told stories of the Clan Galbraith & Scottish folktales, in May, to the Clan Galbraith, at their Scottish Gathering, 2024, in The Lodge at Loch Lomond.
Clan Galbraith Gathering at The Lodge, Loch Lomond 2024.
It is always a pleasure to tell stories at Birkhill House plc, Earlston, on their open day in May. There are no pictures of me this time, but here are the alpacas getting a refreshing hose down :)
Family Storytelling: The Big Red Hen & Friends at The National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride, Scotland. Easter Holidays 2024.
My Family Storytelling Show, as part of the J F Campbell of Islay Exhibition, at The National Library of Scotland, April 2024.
Family Storytelling at The National Library of Scotland, Easter 2024.
The Well At The Worlds End.
The Woolly Pet
Stories from J F Campbell of Islay's Collection at the NLS.
The Blacksmith's Son & the Fairies.
Swiftly over the forest of thorns.
Half-Term at The National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride, Scotland. February 12th to 14th, 2024.
Storytelling for families in the museum's theatre. A Scottish folktale, How to Flummox a Fairy, from Funny Folk Tales for Children, by Allison Galbraith (2023, History Press -see Books)
Happily, our Whispers from the Woods & Wilds, multi-agency wildlife & badgers project won this prestigious award!
I had a lot of fun storytelling and working with different groups at the Falls of Clyde Wildlife Reserve in South Lanarkshire.
Delighted to announce that we WON the Health & Wellbeing Category at last night's #NatureofScotland Awards in Edinburgh! Whispers from the Woods & Wilds was a great partnership project with Scottish Wildlife Trust, Operation Play Outdoors & Lanarkshire Folk Tales, working with Glasgow's refugee and asylum seeking community and supported by the Community Stories Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland.
I enjoyed writing these book reviews for Shepherd.com - Check them out: The best world folktales for reading to everyone age six plus (shepherd.com)
You might also enjoy The best folklore books (picked by 9,000+ authors) (shepherd.com)
I worked with Dr Yvonne McFadden and Dr Arthur Mcivor on The Lost Villages Project in Dalmellington and Auchinleck, East Ayrshire, in May and June 2023. A fantastic look at the coal mining villages, the people (and a horse called Darkie) who lived and worked there. You can learn more about Strathclyde Univerity’s Oral History Centre and The Lost Villages project here: The Lost Villages | An Oral History of Miners' Rows and Deindustrialisation in East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Working with Keep Scotland Beautiful & The Scottish Book Trust in May 2023 for their School’s Live Lesson Week - Scotland’s Nature. Here’s a link to a video of my lesson for Early Years & Primary Schools: Allison tells the story Magpie’s Nest from Dancing With Trees, Eco-tales from the British Isles (2017 History Press) Live Lesson