A night of Adventure and Misadventure
To celebrate our ninth birthday and recognise our team of incredible volunteers, Ministry of Stories hosted a very special night of extraordinary true tales and compelling confessions.
An open-mic night with a twist in the style of The Moth StorySLAM, the floor was free to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the theme of Adventure and Misadventure; the only condition – it had to be true.
We travelled from Australia door-to-door selling with author and poet Joe Dunthorne, to Indiana with writer and Ministry of Stories Writing Programme Leader Sandra. Volunteer Yvonne shared the harsh realities and heartbreaking challenges that refugees face when seeking better lives for themselves and their families, while Ministry of Stories Co-Founder, First Minister and author Nick Hornby regaled us with an occasion in a past life when his quest for adventure almost resulted in misguided misadventure and a spectacular own goal. Don’t worry, he won 2-1.
We gleaned some valuable life advice from a half in focus volunteer Alice – namely, whatever happens in life it’s always a good idea to get on a train to Glasgow – and explored the foibles of accents with American/Anglo-Japanese volunteer Alicia. In time for Christmas, our Trading and Administration Manager Emily advised us of the heave-inducing perils of conspicuous consumption, and we were thankful for a roll of brown mohair fabric, without which our volunteer Steve might never have been.
From a hospital asylum in Europe, we journeyed with volunteer Eva through the epicentre of an earthquake on the other side of the world and our night of truly remarkable stories ended closer to home with wild card tale teller and volunteer Jane’s rap on the adventures and misadventures of deafness.
Those guests that didn’t speak were still able to divulge their anecdotes of adventure in the form of anonymous confessions, which proved both illuminating and enlightening in equal measure…
We would like to thank all our fearless speakers for bravely sharing their stories with us, and above all our team of valiant volunteers, whose support enables us to help the children and young people we work with share their stories with the world.
If you would like to help us inspire the next generation of storytellers, why not volunteer as a writing mentor?
