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Michael O'Leary: Hagstone Story Teller
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Click HERE
to HEAR AND SEE Mike!, he was interviewed on SouthamptonTV
Download
a 5 Min/ 10Mb WMP file of the interview
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 "Stories,
listening to them and telling them, have been part of my life
for as long I can remember."
When in mid-life he
became a teacher, the value of sharing these stories became obvious.
He became a professional storyteller almost to his surprise, as
if that's what he'd been training for all along. He also found
that stories were needed not just by children, but by adults,
and that there was a need for a storyteller to "shorten the
road" in an incredible variety of situations.
Read here
Mikes article in the Daily Mail describing storytelling in a Southampton
secondary school (storytelling definately does not just belong
in primary schools)
"To the average parent, the news that a
'storyteller' is coming to the school won't exactly set the breakfast
table alight with expectancy. Such an event is usually seen as
a quaint optional extra, doubtless arranged to give the teachers
a chance to catch up with their marking. But at Chamberlayne Park
School, a 'challenging' inner-city comprehensive in Southampton,
the visit of storyteller Michael O'Leary is viewed very differently.
There, O'Leary's sessions play a pivotal role in the English department's
strategy to tackle children's literacy problems."
Daily Mail 13th February 2007
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 Michael
O'Leary is an experienced storyteller and teacher based in the
Southampton
and Portsmouth area, in the county of Hampshire in the UK.
He shares stories with children, teenagers and adults in homes,
gardens, schools
(both special and mainstream), colleges, universities, prisons,
pubs, clubs, forests, fields, museums, libraries, hospitals and
shopping centres.
Mike
is working with children from Mountpleasant School in Southampton,
so that they can tell their own stories on Unity
101 Community radio. Please see
their press release
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 The
Circle play area opening ceremony Tuesday 3rd October [here]
 Great
fun was had by all, especially their special guest Michael
O'Leary - The Hagstone Story Teller who had the young (and
older!) people enthralled with his unique tales.
The new play area is really popular with local children
and is also attracting visitors from further afield, it
is in a peaceful location adjoining a green and even has
its own car park!
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 "Michael
O'Leary has travelled the length and breadth of his own back garden,
and occasionally as far as the nearest pub, in his search for stories."
(more)
"Michael's storytelling style is informal, and he uses an
array of interesting sound devices and instruments to add dramatic effect
to the stories. Many of the tales he tells are ancient in origin. Spanning
the centuries to a distant and misty past, he brings the beliefs, fears,
and wishes of a people now gone back to life for a present-day audience."
Purbeck Gazette
Oct 2005
Click on a link above to learn more!
Listen to him here
(choose open) using REALPlayer (download real player here)
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See
the page on : 
Mike
is taking part in the BBC 
