By Marian Bruce, Story Box Director
Since our launch last May last year, the Story Box Project has collected 133 stories from around Alyth which are available to hear every day of the year in the phone box in Alyth Market Square. We would like to thank all of our contributors for sharing their stories. We would also like to send a huge thank-you to the staff of the Co-op who tirelessly open the Story Box in the morning and lock it at night, keeping it safe after dark. To all our story contributors and volunteers we send our best wishes for a very happy 2018.
We are still collecting stories for the box so please get in touch if you would like to take part and record your story. New stories are downloaded about every four months so there is always something new to listen to in the Story Box. Remember, your recording can be a memory of childhood, a quirky family tale, a spooky story, a local song or poem or anything about your everyday life in Alyth now. All our stories are digitally archived with AK Bell library so this is a great way to make sure your family history is preserved for future generations to hear. We collect stories from the past, the present and even the future! Let us know what you think Alyth will be like in the years to come.
Story Box WiFi Hub
The WiFi hub at the Story Box has been a great success with young people of the town, those waiting at the bus stop and visitors. However, you may have noticed that the WiFi Hub wasn?t working for a while from November. This was due to the closure of Alyth Community Council who were the named account holder on the BT phone line contract for the Story Box. Despite Story Box project funds being available to pay the bills, after the Community Council closed BT couldn?t change the name on the account, nor could we find a way to pay them as our funds are held by the charity NEoN, who cannot pay an invoice not addressed to them. So unfortunately the line was shut down by BT. The great news is that since Christmas the line has been re-connected and the WiFi hub is now up and running again, providing a valuable free-to-use broadband internet service for everyone in the town centre. Many thanks to Alyth Development Trust who stepped in to help and have agreed to be the account holder for the BT line until the end of the project in 2019.
The Story Box and ?100 Objects?
Some of you may have been involved in and/or enjoyed one of Cateran?s Common Wealth?s sister project ?A Story of the Cateran Trail in 100 Objects? which collated community suggestions for people, landscapes and objects that tell the story of Cateran Country. The exhibition was launched in Alyth Museum last summer and broke all box office records for the Museum with over 1,000 people visiting in July, August and September. We have teamed up with the 100 Objects project to record a series of interviews with local people who suggested some of the objects. The interviewees tell the story of their ?object? and discuss its importance in the culture of our area.
These new stories will be available to hear both in the Museum, to accompany the Exhibition when it returns this summer for a second showing and in The Story Box itself. They include: willow weaver Jane Wilkinson talking about woven tatty creels; poet Jim MacKintosh talking about the enduring influence of local cultural icon Hamish Henderson; Linda Cullis talking about her family links with the artist ?Blairgowrie Girl? Jane Spindler; Ashleigh Slater talking about the inspiration and weaving of the Berries and Cherries tartan; Ian McGregor talking about the story and song collecting legacy of his traveller family including his mother Sheila and grandmother Belle Stewart; and Janey McFarlane and Ron Kirkpatrick reading poetry by 19th-century Alyth poets William Pyott and James Young Geddes.
To record your story get in touch with Marian Bruce on 07917 430200 or by email to info@driftwoodscotland.com