Shropshire folk tales get international award

So one Bishop's Castle author was astonished when her book of Shropshire Folk Tales received an honour in the international Storytelling World Awards - coming second to best-selling fantasy author Philip Pullman.

Amy Douglas has been telling stories since she was 14. The mother-of-two, now 38, was one of the founders of Tales at the Edge, one of the first storytelling clubs in the country which originally based at Much Wenlock and is now at Bridgnorth. She also helped set up the Festival at the Edge annual storytelling weekend.

It is not the first time she has received an award from USA-based awards, but she was surprised at the success of the age-old Shropshire tales across the pond.

She said: "The Storytelling World Awards is based in America but open to any storytelling resources that are published in the English language in the last three years.

"The last book I wrote on English folk tales was overall winner, but Shropshire folk tales I didn't expect to get anywhere. I thought Americans probably wouldn't even know where it is and I don't know if they'll get these.

"But the stories really capture the imagination, even if you don't know the landscape.

"This time I have just got honours, but then the winner was Philip Pullman (author of fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials) with his collection of Grimms fairytales - coming second to Philip Pullman is fine!" she said.

She said writing down ancient stories from her home county was a dream project.

"I've done books of reminiscence I've gathered with the History Press before, and it was them who approached me to do a book on Shropshire folk tales. I bit their arm off really, as it was something I was thinking of doing anyway.

"It was nice to do some work on them, to dig a bit deeper.

"There are some that people will have heard of - you can't miss out the devil and the Stiperstones and the Wrekin giant.

"But the story of Asrai, for example, nobody's really heard of. It's a medieval romance and very much a Robin Hood story. He was outlawed and fought the crown.

"There's old mother fox who found the treasure at Wroxeter.

"There's Nellie, who was a hen wife at Wem market, who liked a tipple and outwitted all of the lads from Clive.

"There are quite a few strong women in these stories, there's ghosts and there's stories about the civil war - such as the women of Wem, who dressed up like soldiers, died their petticoats red and got out all their pots and pans, to scare of the cavaliers."

She said Shropshire folk tales had something unique about them.

"There are some stories that you hear versions of everywhere, but a lot of them are very much based in the Shropshire landscape and have their own flavour that is shaped by that and the people who have lived here."

Shropshire Folk Tales by Amy Douglas is a collection of 30 traditional tales published by The History Press.

Festival at the Edge will take place this year at Stokes Barn, Much Wenlock from July 18 to 20.