Fireside Stories with Margaret Bennett

Fireside Stories with Margaret Bennett: Tales from Newfoundland & Scotland

Thursday, October 4th
8:00 – 9:30 pm
Signal Hill Interpretation Centre, Annex Room (wheelchair accessible)
$15 cash at the door

Scottish storyteller Margaret Bennett is a folklorist, writer, singer and broadcaster. She was brought up in a family of tradition bearers, Gaelic on her mother’s side (from Skye) and Lowland Scots on her father’s. In 1968 she became a student in MUN Folklore Department, and began recording traditions in the Codroy Valley, where there were families of Gaelic-speakers, including an outstanding story-teller, singer, piper and dancer, Allan MacArthur. Though she returned to Scotland in 1976, Margaret regards Newfoundland as home from home. Join here for a warm, wonderful night of stories expressed by this charismatic teller, with fanciful interludes by the demonstration team from the St. John’s Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

ABOUT MARGARET BENNETT

As a storyteller, singer, folklorist and writer, Margaret Bennett credits her family upbringing amid Gaelic and Scots tradition bearers with her lifelong enthusiasm for traditional folk culture. Her other greatest influence was Professor Herbert Halpert, founder of the Folklore Department , who was her graduate studies mentor at  Memorial University of Newfoundland. She returned to Scotland in 1976 and is widely regarded as “Scotland’s foremost folklorist”. Nevertheless, she “wears her scholarship lightly,” lecturing, singing and storytelling and on both sides of the Atlantic. Scottish Arts critic Judy Moir wrote it’s “rare to witness such a charismatic and fascinating raconteur.” Prize-winning author with 15 books to her credit, she received the 1998 Master Music Maker Award “(USA) in celebration of a lifetime of musicianship and teaching” and Celtic Women International 2003 award for “lifelong service to Scottish and Celtic Culture” as well as other awards throughout  her career.

ABOUT THE DEMONSTRATION TEAM FROM THE ST. JOHN’S BRANCH OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE SOCIETY

The Scottish country dance group has existed in St. John’s since the 1970s and became a full branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in 1991. The demonstration team has existed – with changes in membership – since almost the beginning. The team performs regularly at the St. Andrews Society’s annual Burns Supper in January, and has participated in festivals all over the province, from Fortune to Fogo. In July, the team danced at the “Party in the Park” in Bowring Park and at the Tombolo Festival at the Arts and Culture Centre. We also dance at extended care homes and other venues.