Athlone storytelling group celebrates its fifth birthday

A storytelling group which meets in Flannery's pub in Athlone recently celebrated a significant milestone.

Shannon Storytellers marked its fifth birthday at a meeting in the Sean Costello Street venue on Thursday, March 21.

The administrator of the group, Brian McClean, said it provides a "non-critical" space in which people can share pieces of creative writing or oral storytelling.

"It's friendly and non-judgemental, and people of all abilities are welcome to come along. If people just want to sit and listen that's fine too," he said.

The group meets at 8pm on the third Thursday of each month.

"Our meetings are always held with the permission of (publican) Ann Flannery. Ann is in charge, and we have to respect the rules of the house!" Brian said.

The group was founded by members of the Poetry in the Park collective and was previously coordinated by Monksland resident Karen Goode, who remains a participant.

Brian became involved with Shannon Storytellers after seeing an anthology of its stories which was published in 2016.

He said being part of the group "forces me to write" because he wants to be able to bring a new story to the meetings every month.

Brian categorised his own tales as "Athlone noir", and said there was a great contrast and variety in the styles and themes of the stories the regular participants bring to the group.

"People get great encouragement from taking part in it," he said.

In a recent profile interview with this paper, Karen Goode said it had been great to watch the ways in which contributions to the group evolve over time.

"You can see people’s confidence growing and how they kind of blossom from one month to the next when they’re bringing in the next piece that they’ve written," she said.

"It’s wonderful. It’s great for adults to have these outlets where they can socialise and be creative at the same time. You never come away from (the group's meetings) without tears in your eyes from laughing."

For more details, see the 'Shannon Storytellers' group on Facebook, or come along to one of the monthly meetings on the third Thursday of each month at 8pm.