Save Our Stories imagines a future where all our stories have disappeared and it’s up to the children and young people of Blackpool and Wyre – from east to west, north to south – to get them back. It’s an imaginative and vibrant approach to storytelling and story-sharing and offers a surprising yet accessible opportunity to engage in literacy.
We save our stories with the S.O.S RescueShip, it’s a stunning, startling, story-gathering voyager which will travel to festivals, schools, coastlines, estates, and communities throughout the region with one simple message – help us save our stories. Designed by artist Andy Hazel and gleaming in red and chrome, it is both a call-to-arms, and a creative space where new stories are created and stored. Gradually, as the S.O.S RescueShip travels up and down the coastline, the library/archive within will become fuller and richer, and the vehicle will gradually become owned and marked by those who have used it.
Our Vision is to give every child a voice and the skills and confidence to express their ideas through stories.
Our Mission: We believe that every child has the right to experience the magic of stories and explore the world of the imagination. Save Our Stories will work with children, young people, their families and teachers, encouraging them to experiment with their writing and creativity, helping them acquire the literacy skills they need to take them on their own magical storytelling journeys.
Our News: throughout June and July the S.O.S RescueShip has been very busy helping to save stories. We have visited Baines Endowed, Christ the King, Devonshire Academy, Our Lady of the Assumption RC, Revoe, St Kentigern, Stanley, Unity Academy Primary Schools as part of Wordpool School’s programme creating and saving new stories about the Pirate Story Stealers with storytellers Dan Worsley and Louise Fazackerley and sculpting large Pirate heads for Wordpool’s Big Friendly Family Day with artists Vanessa Card and Pete Flowers.
Save Our Stories also worked with young people from South Shore and Unity Academies to create short films and creative dance performances for Wordpool’s TimeHop Young Adult Fiction Festival. The work was inspired by extracts from the books Black Arts by Prentice and Weil and Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner. Filmmakers Soup Collective, writer Louise Fazackerley and dance artist Sarah Gough led the sessions in school and all three authors appeared at the festival at the Grand Theatre on Thursday 7th July 2016.
Save Our Stories attracted crowds of story saving families, who helped the mysterious Dr New solve the mystery of the Seafaring Story Stealers at Wordpool’s Big Friendly Family Day in Stanley Park on July 2nd and at Fleetwood Spare Parts Festival on July 17.07.16. S.O.S also took part in the Blackpool Pride Parade and were filmed for the BBC’s DIY SOS young carers project. It has been a very busy summer term for our brand new project and we’ll be on the road again saving stories and supporting children’s literacy in the early autumn. If you would like to book a visit and to find out more about Save Our Stories
email: hello@saveourstories.co.uk
Blackpool Cultural Education Hub 