Vancouver storyteller Norma Cameron keeps her family history alive in the McMillan Arts Centre’s Tales for the Telling Jan. 22 with her one-woman show, Coal Mines, Council Houses and Corsets: The Life and Times of a Scottish Granny.
Audience members will be invited to walk down memory lane to a time when religious segregation, clan wars and class structure were alive and well in the small coal-mining town of Cambusnethan, in the lowlands of Scotland. They will discover how Helen Jamieson, born in 1900 into poverty, manages to carve out a life full of love, laughter and adventure.
With one foot firmly planted in Cambusnethan as the wife of a coal miner and the other in the land of wonderment, she shared this world with her granddaughter through her incredible gift as a storyteller.
Engage your own imagination and, through stories, visit Granny Jamieson’s council house and mining community; taste the fish and chips from the chippie on the corner and a shandy from the local miners’ pub.
Travel with Granny to Rio de Janeiro, Africa and other far-flung places. Visit Buckingham Palace and learn about Granny’s role in helping the Queen Mum … and so much more.
When her Granny Jamieson died in 1994, Cameron decided to honour her legacy and she, too, became a storyteller. Born just outside Glasgow, Cameron has been a writer, actor and lover of stories for as long as she can remember.
She has performed across Canada, the USA, England, Scotland and Ireland. She has served as the president of the Storytellers of Canada, and teaches storytelling to individuals and organizations through her business, The Narrative Company.
Tales for the Telling, Storytelling for Adults, begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12, or $10 for MAC members. Storytelling evenings at the McMillan Centre have proven very popular and guests are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance at the McMillan Arts Centre, 133 McMillan Street. The Arts Centre is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
For more information contact Marva Blackmore at 250-594-3221 or storyteller.marva@shaw.ca.
— Submitted by The MAC
