Story Box

A Bream Community Library project to record the work of local storytellers.
Click the below images next to the authors to read their work.

Phil Jones

I’ve been writing short stories since I met Cheryl (of Dean Writer's Circle) in the woods. We were both walking our dogs and we struck up a conversation. Cheryl invited me along to Dean Writers Circle where I got the writing bug. I’ve had a couple of tales published in anthologies and I won an international competition organised by the publisher, Hammond House.

I have two grown up children and five grandchildren who have enjoyed or endured my instant “Little Green Man” stories for forty years. These stories, told before bedtime, sometimes involving neighbours’ or friends’ children, usually had the effect of winding the kids into a frenzy rather than making them sleepy. I suspect that I was not always popular with the parents.

I live in the Forest of Dean with my partner Sharon, a talented artist, and one day I’ll persuade her to illustrate one of my stories.

I enjoy writing, although I hesitate to call myself a writer. I hope you enjoy my stories and I thank Bream Community Library for giving me the opportunity “put them out there.”

Click below for Phil's Stories ...

'Quiet Resilience'
Written and read by Phil

CC BY-NC

Cheryl Burman

Cheryl Burman hails from Australia – an Adelaide girl originally before going off to university. She moved to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, UK via Switzerland and Surrey, in 2008. She’s glad she did! The Forest has inspired writers, including Tolkien, for generations. It’s still doing so.

Her first novel is Guardians of the Forest, a fantasy trilogy. Theoretically for the nine to early teens market, the books have found a wide fan base, from 9-year-olds to 80-year-olds and all ages in between.

She now writes historical fiction for grown ups. Keepers, her historical women’s fiction (with more than a touch of romance) was released in April 2021.

Cheryl is married with two grown children, and is slave to a border collie who has published his own book, Sammy’s Walks – highly rated by locals and visitors to the Forest alike, and their dogs.

Click below for Cheryl's stories and visit Cheryl's website here ...
'The Orchard Kingdom'
Written and read by Cheryl Burnam

CC BY-NC

'Dragon Dish'

Written and read by Cheryl Burnam

CC BY-NC

Darren Hoskins

Darren Hoskins, forest born, Storyteller, shepherd and artist. Performed in theatres, circuses, castles and zoos (dressed as endangered species) around the country for 30 years. Now part of “Oh Crumbs” Spoken word night (live in Bream, but currently on zoom) and Jolter’s Barrel of Laughs Online, comedy night.

Click below for Darren's Stories ...

'The Boy, the Rabbit & the Very Big House'

Written and read by Darren Hoskins

Paul Stephens-Wood

Paul volunteers at Bream Community Library. Sometimes he writes poems and stories.

Click below for Paul's Stories ...

'The Lay of Welland'

An Anglo-Saxon Story of greed, treachery & revenge
(Note: Contains violence)

A re-telling of an ancient tale by Paul Stephens-Wood

CC BY-NC


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