Telling our Stories: This project’s final report evidenced the positive impact of this ‘triple coded’ approach in education, but concluded that more work needed to be done on the practicability of the approach within today’s schools strictures. Both the report and a short documentary film are available on-line and both were emailed to the teams at the newly re-organised Museums Development Service as well as schools and academy trusts within the areas of the pilot project.

The project storyteller, Dawn Powell, continues to work with a small group of Year 5 pupils at one of the schools, Mount Pleasant Primary in Shrewsbury, as they refresh and re-display their mini museum.

During the year we successfully applied to Arts Council England for a grant to help progress both the exploratory work with schools and Mythstories’ on-line presence. This Imaginal project will see two different storytellers deliver CPD for staff of both pilot schools, suggesting starting points for the use of the artefacts. It also enables Mythstories to participate in the Arts UK / Bloomberg Philanthropies ‘Bloomberg Connects’ project by engaging a freelance app developer. This programme will develop apps. for museum users and the developer will produce an app which highlights aspects of the website, bringing to the fore sections on environmental links and videos made by and of young people telling traditional tales.

During the year volunteers completed the ‘Museum’ section of the website, ensuring there is a complete record of the collection of physical artefacts that have been dispersed. And Mythstories was pleased to learn that the Flying Donkeys Screen was displayed at the Get A Word in Edgeways festival in Much Wenlock in October 2023, while the Edric & Godda storyscape, owned by the Titterstone Clee Trust, was used by a storyteller at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival in August 2023 and at Bishop’s Castle Arts Festival in February 2024.

From October through to December Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery featured the painting “The Disappearing City” in their exhibition about Viriconium, Wroxeter Roman City.

After year end we were contacted by the University of Chester who told us they had arranged to vacate their Shrewsbury campus at The Guildhall at the end of the 2023/24 academic year. As part of that arrangement they had agreed to transfer ownership of the Gilgamesh tablets and paintings to Shropshire Council so they may remain on public display in the courtyard and building.

We are grateful to Shropshire Council, who have agreed Mythstories can maintain a postal address at The Guildhall.