My Life’s Journey

I was born and raised in Ballymena, Co Antrim, and grew up hoping to be a journalist. That notion was put out of my head when I was told, ‘that’s no job for a girl.’ Nevertheless I did English at Queens and never lost my love of writing. Having trained as a children’s librarian I worked in Belfast through many years of The Troubles and there came to respect the power of a good story well told.

I married at twenty one and divorced at thirty and so became a single parent with a wonderful mother who half reared my daughter as I worked to keep a roof over our heads. Always headstrong, at forty I gave up the security of a well-paid job to embark on self-employment as a professional storyteller and writer.

Since then it’s been a pretty eventful journey as I have told stories on five continents to people of all ages and abilities.  I’ve shared stories everywhere from pubs to prisons, pre-school playgroups to pensioner’s groups and have loved every minute of it. 

My current roles include being a Hostel owner, a Festival Director and a listener.

To celebrate my 70th birthday I decided to write my life story and undertake a PhD.

Who knows what the future will bring?

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 “You can never stop learning. Storytelling is not a competitive sport so I can learn from ordinary people I meet along the way. And it’s not about what people can’t do it’s about what people can do. I try to go for the positives in people. And know that they may not be able to do one thing but they can another.” 

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“My father used to trot me out on stage at concerts and I was terribly shy. And I hated every minute of it but when you are on the stage and with three hundred people looking at you, you feel you are somebody. You may not feel it inside but you are that wee girl who is singing, ‘Softly, Softly’ by Ruby Murray.”

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“I grew up with a very strong and capable mother. Quiet and capable. I had a brilliant English teacher who I am still in touch with, Anne McClean. That was during my teenage years and she considered that I could do anything I wanted to do. She still calls me Elizabeth. I still get messages from her husband and her.”

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“I was brought up with a strong moral compass. Always do the right thing. I grew up in a house with a father who had been in the Army and the Police and a Regimental Sergeant Major. He wouldn’t have let you drop a piece of paper on the ground! So I am, ‘You can’t do that!’.” 

“First of all (new storytellers) have to find their own voice. One of my tellers said she hadn’t a voice as a child and she is now finding her own voice. Everybody has been influenced by somebody but then the next step is finding that voice, telling the story your own way and putting your own interpretation on it.”

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“I thought I’d never have anything to do with children but, the first time I told a story as a student, the librarian said to me, ‘You have to tell stories’. When I told a story in Falls Road Library, and saw the open mouthed children I thought, ‘Oh, I like this’. I’ve seen the effect the stories have on people of all ages and of all abilities. A child who is hyper, an old person who is unresponsive suddenly starts to cry. It is a very powerful method.”

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“Clare, my daughter, wrote a piece for Northern Women about the three generations of very strong women, me, my mother and herself. It was a very good article and she said her mother was an entrepreneur and determined to not let anything stop her. My own mother papered, painted, cleaned chimneys, changed plugs, and did the plumbing. Her husband was away at the war, she had to do all that. Her garden was fantastic. So it’s really nice to honour her in the book (my memoir).”

 
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 “Anybody who says they are not nervous when they perform I don’t think they are telling the truth. I think you need a little edge, a little adrenaline going. For example I created a piece about World War II. I wrote it myself and I had to perform it in front of three hundred people and I’ve never been more scared in my life. I just wanted to run away. Nobody would believe that! But the show must go on. If you are on radio or TV you have to have a bit of a buzz going to get you through it.”

 
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“The most recent recognition is my MBE for my service to the arts and education. That was very gratifying to get that. Previously I got a Library Association Centenary Medal. They granted one hundred medals to Librarians all over the world.”

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“What wouldn’t you know about me on first meeting me? I’m an International Dog Show Judge. I like knitting but if I start knitting I can’t stop. I love food.  And I love singing! And what am I most proud of?  I’m proudest of my daughter. There is no question about that. She is the most important thing in my life.” 

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