Elephant Tales
Monthly Storytelling for adults (16+)
Elephant & Castle, London
Formerly Storytelling Co-Operative
Next Elephant Tales - Sunday 5th May
Theme: Gods & Mortals
(drop us a line if tickets are ‘sold out’ - we may still have space).
Email in advance if you’d like to tell a 10 minute story.
Our storytellers
What are Elephant Tales?
We are a friendly, welcoming storytelling group in South East London. We are a mix of storytellers & story listeners, all connected by the love of a good tale and the ancient art of oral storytelling. Everyone is welcome to tell a story, or simply to listen to the wonderful tales being told.
What Happens?
It's like an open mic. Without the mic. But with lots of friendliness & support! Each month a selection of storytellers tell short stories around a pre-selected theme. The stories may be combinations of folk tales, fairy tales, myth, fictional tales and autobiographical stories. Stories are usually told from the heart, though reading from notes is OK too.
When? Where?
We meet on the 1st Sunday of each month, 3-5pm, in Pullens Centre, 184 Crampton Steet, London SE17 3AE. Look for the green door! The centre is an approx 10 min walk from Elephant & Castle tube station and the area is well served with buses.
Our storytellers are a combination of professionals, seasoned non-professionals and people telling their very first story - all levels of storytelling experience are welcome @ Elephant Tales! If you’d like to tell a story, please read our Storytellers Guidance - scroll down to ‘Questions’.
Once upon a time
In 2022 to be precise, one of this city’s leading storytellers, Vanessa Woolf of London Dreamtime, launched London’s Storytelling Co-Operative. Vanessa’s dream was to create an inclusive, welcoming, friendly and supportive storytelling space, where neither income nor level of experience would be a barrier. To this end, she organised a very successful crowdfunding campaign which fully funded the running of the Co-Operative for 18 months.
Vanessa stood back from running the Co-Operative in December 2023, and a new team stepped forward.
Meet the Herd
The Storytelling Co-Operative changed its name to Elephant Tales in January 2024, reflecting the area where we are based (London's vibrant Elephant & Castle) and a love of wonderful tales which bring us together.
Elephant Tales is currently under the stewardship of storytellers Aaron Oliver, Mary Honeybone, Jenny Doe & Emma Charlton who are committed to continuing Vanessa's ethos of inclusion, friendliness & support.
More about us...
Aaron: website & Instagram / Mary: Instagram / Emma: webpage & Instagram / Jenny: happily living an Insta-free life
Questions?
Hopefully you’ll find the answer here, if not drop us a line.
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We’d love you to tell a story!
Please read this in full before telling your first Elephant Tales story. Thank you.
We aim to be a welcoming, supportive and inclusive storytelling space, whether you’re a seasoned professional or telling your very first story. We are a diverse group and central to our ethos is that everyone who joins us should expect to feel safe and comfortable to tell a story, or to simply listen. We do not ‘vet’ or check stories in advance, nor do we ever plan to, but we do have some requests. We ask all our storytellers to…
1. Be kind! To yourself, to each other, to the audience, to the team and to your story.
2. Book your storytelling spot in advance - we have a limited number of telling slots, so booking in advance is essential (email / Instagram DM).
3. Keep your story to a maximum of 10 minutes. This is important, to ensure there is time for all booked tellers to tell their stories.
4. Please consider the origin and setting of your story. Cultural appropriation is a tricky issue which the storytelling world is grappling with - these considerations apply to stories from all areas of the UK, as well as from further afield.
We feel it is important that we can tell stories which we love, so long as our tellings are as respectful as possible to the origins and to people of the nationality, heritage, ancestry (and more) of the story.
Appropriate ways of approaching this are not fixed, but in general avoiding cultural (or other) stereotypes is recommended, as well as making it clear where your story originates from. Ultimately, please be sensitive with your story content. And enjoy telling your story!
5. Consider giving a content warning if anything in your story might be upsetting for other people to hear.
This can also be tricky to navigate. We are a group for adults (so content warnings are not relevant for most stories) and we welcome all kinds of stories, but we also like to give our listeners the opportunity to quietly excuse themselves from listening to any content which may be personally distressing for them. In particular, consider any violent, abusive or potentially distressing incidents. This may be more applicable to autobiographical (or biographical) stories, but may apply to some traditional stories too.
Thank you for reading and for your understanding. You are very welcome to talk to any of the Elephant Tales team about the above. Just drop us a line - we’re very friendly and very interested in feedback.
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Our usual venue is The Pullens Centre, 184 Crampton Street, London SE17 3AE. Look for the green door.
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No, but it is helpful if you can book on EventBrite, so that we have an idea of numbers in advance. We update EventBrite each month - access also from our Insta bio.
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There is no charge for Elephant Tales. Donations, from those that can afford it, are welcomed to help cover our running costs - our suggested donation is £3.
It is important to us that no one is put off joining us, so if you cannot afford to donate please do not worry - you are still very welcome!
Donations ideally by card.
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Our usual venue, Pullens Centre, is on the ground floor. The toilets are upstairs, however the Electric Elephant Cafe has a downstairs toilet, available before the stories begin (note that the cafe usually closes before we finish on Sundays).
Occasionally, we use an upstairs room in the Electric Elephant cafe instead of the community room. When this happens we will give advance notice.
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Our wonderful neighbour the Electric Elephant Cafe sells a wide range of hot and cold food, alongside teas, coffees and a fine range of delicious home-made cakes. Come early and grab a cuppa and cake to bring with you to the stories!
London Storytelling Events - April 2024
This is the bit where we big-up other amazing storytelling events happening here in London this month. Our founder Vanessa Woolf of London Dreamtime has made this easy for us - check out her list of London’s Top Ten Adults Storytelling Events. And yes, we’re on it!
MAY stories will be showing here soon. For now we’ve got just one to tickle your May story tastebuds!
Saturday 4th May: Calvacade (canal boat festival)
12.30pm onwards in Little Venice, London. Family stories with Shane Ibbs. This is an outdoors event.
Tuesday 9th April: Stowtellers
7.30-9.30pm @ The Welcome Centre, St Mary’s Church, London, E17 9RJ
Walthamstow’s storytelling club. We will be having a storyround so bring your stories. Take the opportunity to practise the story you always wanted to tell. Remember, there is no obligation to tell a story. Admission £7 (£6)
Wednesday 10th April: Space for Storytelling
6.30-8.30 @ The Bridge Room (downstairs in the crypt) St John’s Waterloo, 73 Waterloo Road London SE1 8TY
Free workshop this month is: ‘Discover Your Voice’, led by Giles Abbott. An immersive and transformative introductory Voice workshop perfect for storytellers, actors, speakers of any kind. You will hear yourself sounding different and you will leave knowing how to make that better voice your daily voice. Don’t forget your bottle of water! Free. Info & Book .
Wednesday 10th April: Storynight at Torriano
7.30pm @ 99 Torriano Ave NW5 2RX. Nearest tube: Tufnell Park
Hosted by Nell Phoenix.15 tellers tell 5 minute tales. The theme is open, the timing is strict, the audience must beg to hear the end of the story if the teller overruns. We love great, funny, sad, alarming, mysterious, romantic, erotic, raging stories. Contact Nell to be added to the list or for more info: nell.phoenix@blueyonder.co.uk or via Facebook/Instagram. There will be hot punch, great chats and fabulous stories. All welcome to tell or cheer. £10/8 on the door cash or card incl. 1st delicious drink. Future dates: (Each Second Wednesday of the month).
Wednesday 10th April: The Moth
7.15pm @ Rich Mix 35-47 Bethnal Green Road E1 6LA
Exciting, themed true story slam at Rich Mix. Put your name in the hat to have the chance to tell a five minute story. Book.
Saturday 16th March: The Wild Ones, Bernadette Russell
11am -12 noon @ Brookmill Park, Brookmill Road, SE8
Stories from the wild side of Deptford, for adults of all ages and children 7+. Storytelling trees, dancing foxes, wise magpies and strange and wondrous river creatures. Info & book .
Sunday 21st April: Woyengi and the Medicine Woman by Jan Blake
2.30@The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG
Crick Crack Club presents a rare slice of Nigerian myth; a story that questions what we want, who decides which path we take, and whether we ever truly take responsibility for our mistakes. Expect epic mothers, rebellious healers, wounded pride and gate-keeping cockroaches. £10/£8 concesssions and members. Info & book
Sunday 21st April: Mythic Saunas
6pm-9pm @ Sweheat Sauna, E16 1AH Stories told by Oliver Wallace in a sauna followed by tea and
chat. Tickets £35. Info & Book
Friday 26th April: Queer Tales for Queer Folks
6.30 – 9pm@Sweheat Sauna,1 Dock Road E16 1AH
Join Ariel Goodbody in the sauna for an evening of sweat, relaxation and co-created storytelling. Taking inspiration from our own lives, we will weave together uplifting, hilarious and heartbreaking stories that queer traditional narratives. The evening will consist of four 15-minute storytelling sessions in the sauna, broken up by dips in the plunge pool and ending with an opportunity to drink tea, chat and reflect. Price £24.99 Info & book. Contact: @arielgoodbody on Instagram or arielgoodbody@gmail.com
Wednesday 1st May: Tales at the Tavern
7.15pm @ London Hospital Tavern E1.
This free, monthly, friendly- and sometimes glamorous- open mic night is for new storytellers, seasoned professionals & everyone in between. Hosted by Niall Moorjani – follow them on Insta / DM for details (@niallmoorjani). Free. Note the change to the first Wednesday of the month.
Thursday 2nd May: Tongues in Trees
First Thursday of every month. 6.30 - 8.30pm @ Rangers Kindergarten site, Bethnal Green Gardens, Cornwall Ave, London E1 0HW
Tongues in Trees is a free, monthly community storytelling fire circle for adults, hosted by Richard Skrein and Adam Njenga. Come and share the stories of our ancestors, or just listen... all are welcome! Info: https://richardskrein.com/storytelling
Friday 3rd May: Story and Song
10am-4pm, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove, London, E3
Grow your confidence in song-sharing and storytelling, and come away with some new tunes and tales for all seasons. Expect a playful day of exploration on the land. We bring this workshop with the full confidence that everyone is a natural singer and storyteller, so wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome! Cost: £115 Info & Book
Finally, The Society for Storytellers promote traditional storytelling in the UK & organise National Storytelling Week (every January/February). Pippa Reid, their London rep, collates and promotes storytelling events in London, answers questions and promotes story events. Thanks Pippa! (pippasong@hotmail.com)
Final Words
The Elephant Tales team would like to thank Pullens TRA, The Electric Elephant Cafe and, of course, Vanessa Woolf.
This webpage is hosted on Emma Charlton’s therapy & storytelling website. We to plan have a dedicated, unique website in the future, at which point the URL will change…
Photography thanks to Vanessa Woolf & the Elephant Tales team
Contact us!
Email: elephant.tales.london@gmail.com
Please note that, as a collective of volunteers, it may take a few days to reply to messages. Thank you for your patience.
Instagram: @elephant.tales.london - follow us for regular updates