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Jane is a Gloucestershire based storyteller who enjoys telling both traditional and real-life tales. She has always enjoyed telling stories to whoever would listen and thinks she may even have spent her childhood living quite close to some fairy tale locations (in the middle of Greater Manchester)! Jane has worked as a teacher in both primary schools and pre-school settings, had a spell working within Gloucestershire Archaeology Service and later worked in Gloucestershire libraries.
Having always loved telling and using stories in all her work, Jane decided to make telling stories her main focus after attending the Bleddfa Week of Storytelling – a training course run by Michael Harvey and Jane Flood in 2018. It was so enjoyable she went again in 2019 and 2021! Jane has also trained with Sue Hollingsworth on a course co-run with the NHS looking at using storytelling as a form of social prescription to tackle issues around loneliness and regularly attends CPD to further develop her storytelling skills
Jane enjoys telling fairy tales, folk tales, myths and also historical stories. She has performed sets in various settings for example at Gloucester Folk Trail, Joe’s Yarns in Cheltenham, and is a regular contributor at ‘Oh Crumbs’ – a spoken word evening based in the Forest of Dean. Jane created a bespoke local history story experience for children and senior citizens in Gloucester working with Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. Jane is a member of ‘Merfolk’ currently a group of four women storytellers working together across England, Wales and Switzerland. They have completed two visits to Switzerland developing storytelling workshops and performances. Working as a member of The Storysmyths of Gloucester Jane is currently presenting storytelling afternoons for families at Discover DeCrypt in Gloucester. She is currently planning a series of creative workshops with poet Maggie Clutterbuck, bringing practical storytelling and poetry skills to people around The Forest of Dean.
In 2019, along with two other Gloucestershire storytellers, Jane co-founded Gloucester Moving Stories Café, a free pop-up open-mic storytelling evening for adults, with initial funding from Gloucester Culture Trust. in 2023, Jane and Sarah Snell-Pym and Deborah Gordon re-imagined the café to become ‘Gloucester Storytelling Café’ based at The Folk of Gloucester. The café retains it’s open-mic format alongside having guest storytellers as well. The café runs monthly -first Thursday of each month. The café encourages all comers to bring a tale to tell, from newcomers to seasoned tellers, and all kinds of stories are welcome.
Jane feels that stories are an incredibly powerful way for people to connect together and that they can nourish us all individually in many different ways, re-connecting with important elements of our lives. They bring magic and fun into our everyday world! She is keen to take her work forward both across her community and further afield.
Jane is happy to work with schools to deliver storytelling sessions for primary aged children and to deliver enjoyable storytelling daytime/evenings for families or adults. Jane has an Enhanced DBS and Public Liability Insurance (£5m). Jane can be contacted via the email contact on this page.
Email Address
jane.springhamstorytelling@outlook.com
Storytelling specialism
Early Years, Primary Schools, Youth organisations, Heritage Sector
Jane is a Gloucestershire based storyteller who enjoys telling both traditional and real-life tales. She has always enjoyed telling stories to whoever would listen and thinks she may even have spent her childhood living quite close to some fairy tale locations (in the middle of Greater Manchester)! Jane has worked as a teacher in both primary schools and pre-school settings, had a spell working within Gloucestershire Archaeology Service and later worked in Gloucestershire libraries.
Having always loved telling and using stories in all her work, Jane decided to make telling stories her main focus after attending the Bleddfa Week of Storytelling – a training course run by Michael Harvey and Jane Flood in 2018. It was so enjoyable she went again in 2019 and 2021! Jane has also trained with Sue Hollingsworth on a course co-run with the NHS looking at using storytelling as a form of social prescription to tackle issues around loneliness and regularly attends CPD to further develop her storytelling skills
Jane enjoys telling fairy tales, folk tales, myths and also historical stories. She has performed sets in various settings for example at Gloucester Folk Trail, Joe’s Yarns in Cheltenham, and is a regular contributor at ‘Oh Crumbs’ – a spoken word evening based in the Forest of Dean. Jane created a bespoke local history story experience for children and senior citizens in Gloucester working with Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. Jane is a member of 'Merfolk' currently a group of four women storytellers working together across England, Wales and Switzerland. They have completed two visits to Switzerland developing storytelling workshops and performances. Working as a member of The Storysmyths of Gloucester Jane is currently presenting storytelling afternoons for families at Discover DeCrypt in Gloucester. She is currently planning a series of creative workshops with poet Maggie Clutterbuck, bringing practical storytelling and poetry skills to people around The Forest of Dean.
In 2019, along with two other Gloucestershire storytellers, Jane co-founded Gloucester Moving Stories Café, a free pop-up open-mic storytelling evening for adults, with initial funding from Gloucester Culture Trust. in 2023, Jane and Sarah Snell-Pym and Deborah Gordon re-imagined the café to become 'Gloucester Storytelling Café' based at The Folk of Gloucester. The café retains it's open-mic format alongside having guest storytellers as well. The café runs monthly -first Thursday of each month. The café encourages all comers to bring a tale to tell, from newcomers to seasoned tellers, and all kinds of stories are welcome.
Jane feels that stories are an incredibly powerful way for people to connect together and that they can nourish us all individually in many different ways, re-connecting with important elements of our lives. They bring magic and fun into our everyday world! She is keen to take her work forward both across her community and further afield.
Jane is happy to work with schools to deliver storytelling sessions for primary aged children and to deliver enjoyable storytelling daytime/evenings for families or adults. Jane has an Enhanced DBS and Public Liability Insurance (£5m). Jane can be contacted via the email contact on this page.
