Story Saturday
Next Event:
22nd October, 7.00pm
SADLY, DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, STORY SATURDAY ON 22ND OCTOBER HAS BEEN CANCELLED. WE APOLOGISE TO ALL OF OUR AUDIENCE MEMBERS.
​
ALL TICKET HOLDERS WILL BE INFORMED AND THE PRICE OF THEIR TICKETS REFUNDED IN FULL.
IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD YOUR TICKET REFUNDED, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH.
​
WE HOPE TO BRING YOU THIS JOYOUS EVENING OF STORY TELLING ON SOME FUTURE OCCASION.
​
Story Saturday is an evening of story telling from A Word In Your Ear. Writer-performer Clare Reddaway teams up with fellow authors to bring you a medley of their favourite stories. We promise an engrossing evening of warmth, drama and laughter with some beautiful and thought provoking stories. Held at Clifton Library in Bristol.
​
In October, Clare will be joined by Philip Douch and Pauline Masurel. Philip Douch writes and reads with wit, warmth and plenty of laughs, while Pauline Masurel is a writer whose love of gardening often takes root in her fiction. Mazzy and Philip are winners of the Gloucestershire Writers Network 2021 and 2022 short story competitions, have often read at Story Fridays in Bath and both have stories included in the anthology Stroud Short Stories Volume 3 which was published in September. Despite this they each claim that neither is stalking the other.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
On June 11th Clare returned to Clifton Library and was joined by two wonderful writers: David Mathews and Elaine Miles. Read more about them below.
​
Clare Reddaway
Clare is a Bath-based writer of short stories and plays. Her stories have been published online and in print, recorded and broadcast on the radio and on podcasts and have won and been shortlisted for many national competitions. Recent highlights include being long-listed (top 50) for the BBC National Short Story Awards 2021, short-listed for the Bridport Prize 2020 and publication of standalone short The Guts of a Mackerel by Fly on the Wall Press, 2021. Clare creates unusual and original live story events with her company A Word In Your Ear Writing.
Philip Douch
Philip is a Stroud-based writer and performer of his own short stories, which he reads at festivals, at Story Fridays in Bath and at Stroud Short Stories. He is also a playwright and actor - recently as Eddie The Eagle’s dad at The Cheltenham Everyman! He is currently setting up a mini-tour of his one man short stories show, affectionately titled ‘He Does What…?!’ Given that he has also performed on the back of a land rover, in someone’s front room and at a pirates party, he’ll happily read something or other pretty much anywhere. Find him (book him?) at www.philipdouch.org.uk
Pauline Masurel
Pauline Masurel is a gardener who lives in South Gloucestershire. Her short and tiny fictions have been included in anthologies, published online, broadcast on radio and performed at events around the Gloucestershire, Bristol and Bath areas and beyond.
Our last pre-pandemic Story Saturday was on Saturday 7th March 2020 at Clifton Library where we were guests of Foccal – Friends of Clifton Library. Clare was joined by Stephanie Weston and Stephen Tuffin, both Story Friday favourites. It was a great evening with some fabulous stories.
​
David Mathews
David was once a work psychologist, delving in other people’s trades, putting into words what it means to be a forensic psychotherapist, a receptionist, an archaeologist – anything you like. Now he writes short stories about human foolishness and heroics. On his blog he occasionally passes on the political wisdom of his good friends Sidney and Sir Arthur Whatnot, the distinguished psychiatrist. Born in Wales, David lives in Bath.
Elaine Miles
Elaine lives in Bath and is a playwright and fiction writer. She writes short stories and monologues which she performs in Bath and at other events and festivals in the South West. A number of her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol as well as on Bath Hospital Radio, where Elaine is a regular presenter. Elaine has also written extensively for the stage, and her plays have been performed in Bath, Salisbury and at the Southwark Playhouse in London. You can find out more about Elaine here.
Stephanie Weston
Stephanie Weston is a professional actress and emerging writer who has had work performed at The Rondo Theatre, Bath, Bridgwater Arts Centre, Tacchi Morris Arts Centre, Taunton, the Brass Works Theatre, Bristol and the Queen Dome, Edinburgh, amongst others. Writing competitions she has won include Pint Sized Plays, Page to Stage, Sandalles Five n’ Ten and Chorts (written). She has also contributed to comedy podcasts, has had her monologues broadcast on Radio Bristol and regularly performs with the comedy improvisation company, Instant Wit, of which she is Artistic Director.
Steve Tuffin
Steve writes working class stories and is a lecturer in creative writing for the Open University.
In October 2019 Clare was joined by Stephanie Weston and Mark Rutterford. Huge fun was had by all!
Mark Rutterford
Mark is a regular writer-performer across the South West and a Story Friday and Story Saturday veteran.
In May 2019, Clare was joined at Clifton Library by Elaine Miles and Julie Green. Julie and Elaine have been writing and reading their stories at Story Fridays for many years. This Story Saturday was an engrossing evening of warmth, drama and laughter.
Julie Green
During a career that began as nanny to Haile Selassie’s great granddaughter, Julie always enjoyed writing stories and has performed several at Story Friday. She won the Theatre Royal one act play competition with a piece later performed at Theatre Breaks Festival and was commissioned to write a short play for the Park Theatre in Islington. She has also had bits and pieces on at the Rondo and the Ustinov in Bath, but her ambition is to write a play long enough to qualify for a loo break.
In March 2019, Clare was joined at Clifton Library by Natalie and Doc Watson. THE WATSONS: Natalie and Doc Watson had a literary beginning to their relationship, meeting as they did for the first time at the British Library. Then in 2013 they discovered Story Fridays at the Burdall’s Yard, Bath and haven’t looked back since. Some of those stories were performed at Story Saturday.
Doc Watson
In 2008 Doc entered the first Pint Sized plays competition in Pembrokeshire and won with his ten minute play PUB PLAY. This competition has since become an international one and Doc has gone on to secure more winning places since. He has also had plays performed in London, Brighton, Bath and Cumbernauld as well as in the USA , Australia and New Zealand. He loves writing and performing and more information can be found on his website www.doc-watson.com.
Natalie Watson
Natalie retired from teaching in 2006 and began writing, mostly short stories. She came 2ndtwice in the Mid Somerset Festival short story writing competition and has been highly commended by Writer’s Forum magazine. She has performed for Story Fridays since 2014. She is currently writing a novel.
​
Doc and Natalie Watson have performed many of their stories at Story Fridays. If you would like a taster, you could listen to their stories in the archive. Try Doc’s story performed at Story Friday Stolen and Natalie’s story performed at Story Friday Home.
Clare’s first Story Saturday guest, in March 2018, was Philip Douch.
Philip Douch
Philip is a writer and performer from Stroud who has appeared frequently at Story Fridays in Bath and twice at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Written so that he himself can read them out loud, his stories exist not on the page but between him and his audience. With a bit of luck you’ll have as much fun listening to them as Philip does performing them.
Story Saturday Gold
In 2017 Foccal​, friends of Clifton Library, asked us to take Story Friday to Bristol! So we picked up Story Friday Gold, and took it on the road!
Stories by Mark Rutterford, Philip Douch, Clare Reddaway, June Wentland, John Barter and Tricia Wastvedt were read as part of the Clifton Village mini festival on Saturday July 8th. Clifton library is at 18 Princess Street, Bristol BS8 4BX.
​
If you’d like to hear the stories click here.
This event then became Story Saturdays, an ongoing story event at Clifton Library.