Family day of magic and fairytales coming to Wicklow woodland

Irish Independent

2 days ago

There, you can join storytellers Shane Ibbs and Helena Byrne around the campfire for enchanting tales that children, and even the adults, will enjoy.
Shane Ibbs is an oral storyteller from the UK often described as a 'physical', and 'very engaging storyteller', with a 'storyteller's voice'. He is a dab hand at the outdoor tales, since he has told stories in places as varied as a Swedish Bushcamp in winter, a theatre canal boat and even on an ex-pirate radio ship.
A native of Suffolk, in East Anglia, the oldest of six children, Shane grew up in a house where his father would tell folk and fairy tales, also hearing them at school. Shane carried the tradition on with his own children.
A magical moment happened to Shane on the storytelling path in 1996, where he was given a unique invitation to attend a Gathering of Indigenous Metis people in Winnipeg, Canada. Stories were used as part of their healing ceremony, Shane was invited to share a story, he was so moved by this powerful and healing use of story, that it inspired him to use applied storytelling for more than two decades in his then work, as a social worker and latterly as a psychotherapist.
Shane eventually got the urge to tell stories to audiences and undertook some performance training. Since then Shane's storytelling career has taken off, leading him to tell stories in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Morocco, Sweden, Holland and Sri Lanka.
As you can expect, nowadays you will often find Shane sharing stories in a wood or a field.
Meanwhile, over the past 10 years, renowned Irish singer and storyteller Helena Byrne has combined her passion of music and singing with her love of Irish folklore.
Helena performs regularly across the Atlantic, as she interweaves tales of Irish folklore and history, with traditional Irish songs and wonderful insights into an Ireland of days gone by. She has also released four studio albums.
Helena grew up in Ballyhale, County Kilkenny, surrounded by music of all kinds, from Irish folk songs to blues, country and pop. As a young singer/songwriter, she quickly established herself in Ireland playing as a support act for James Taylor, Katie Melua and Bob Geldof at the Source Festival, Kilkenny and Glenstall Abbey Sanctuary Concert alongside renowned Irish singers Moya Brennan and Cara O'Sullivan.
The event is curated by Fionnuala Brabazon and Team, in collaboration with artistic partners Me + the MOON and YARN – Bray's Festival of Stories and Song.