Treasure Tales - Clare Viner

“Once long ago there was a hero who set out in a boat made of rowan wood. It was made of rowan wood to protect the boat and the crew from enchantments. They were going to fight a dragon, to save the hero’s sister, and restore order to the land…”


Storytelling is about communication.

Communication with others, with the world around us and communication with ourselves. Through story we can start to know others and ourselves better.

In day to day living we communicate spontaneously, we don’t have a script. The words we speak simply flow through us. Most of us tell personal stories everyday without noticing what we are doing.
Everyone needs to communicate. It is part of being human.


Storytelling, story making and story listening are relevant to children, business people, the elderly, people with SEN, minority groups, teachers and so on.

Working with story is about finding better ways to communicate and finding the pictures and symbols which sing to our hearts – this is what we will remember.

A story is a vulnerable thing which is protected by its own structure. We can say ‘This is not about me, it’s just a story’. Yet, if the story holds a truth everyone listening will sense it. The images and pictures held within a story speak to us in ways that we cannot fully understand – yet our lives are richer.

When we listen to, or tell, a story of a far off and magical land – we are able to journey inward – into the far off land of our own hearts. We can rest there for a while before returning to the busy practical world – where affairs of the heart are mostly buried. But like a treasure, once you know it is there, it is never forgotten.

So the Rowan tree can become a trigger, a symbol to remind the heart of a journey, a ship and a dragon. We love the treasure in our heart, which is the story – and with it we love the rowan tree, it becomes a part of our own, personal treasure.

Contact Clare at; clareviner@googlemail.com or 01363 774273