> Recruitment Workshops 2009

During the first stages of the project artists were recruited through a recruitment day held at CCC and follow up interviews and planning meetings were held at the Ascendance Rep offices in Leeds.

> Making the promotional film 2009

A promotional film was made to be shown to schools and community groups, capturing the essence of the project and interviews with the local community.

> Music Workshops, summer school 2009

A four day summer school was held as a launch event to the project. Each day involved a warm up and introduction to heritage by Ascendance Rep, a workshop with a different artist, oral history training and film and photography work including a video diary and evaluation conducted with and by the young people themselves.

Original chants were made during the music workshops, the children played instruments which the participants had made themselves out of everyday objects.

> Portrait Gallery, summer school 2009

Each member of the group was asked to bring in an object of value to them. A portrait gallery was made and exhibition displayed at the end performance and kept up in the foyer at the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre during the duration of the project. Group participants collected a series of ‘visions and memories’ from members of the public. They then used a washing line to display the pictures and words that were collated and encouraged people to add their comments on the contributions.

> Dance Workshops, summer school 2009

Basic dance moves were taught during the workshops to develop skills. Movements were developed using the objects as stimuli to create dance sequences about their personality.

> Drama Workshops, summer school 2009

Drama workshops explored making their very own garden of out scrap materials, learning to develop personal stories and devise their own characters.

> Bingley Images

A selection of old photographs of Bingley and Cottingley used to talk about the local area to project participants. Topics included the advent of the textile industry and the resulting mills in the local area, the effects of migration and the changes seen in the landscape as industrialisation took hold.

> Cottingley & Bingley Images

A selection of photographs taken in 2010 of Bingley and Cottingley to explore the present times in Cottingley. Each group member was given a scrapbook and a disposable camera, and set various weekly tasks to add more to the existing research into their local area or family background. They did this by asking questions, taking pictures, and drawing pictures. Participants would feed this back to each other every week so that they learned how to present their own findings, as well as finding out more about each other and more about their environment and the heritage of their area.

> School Workshops 2009 - 2010

The residencies provided an effective way to develop and roll out the theme and model for workshops and see how different groups and individuals would respond. Sometimes residencies involved larger and more groups than the weekly youth sessions. Working through the schools also offered an opportunity to begin to work with families and different generations.

The following questions are typical of those used each term and during residency workshops to stimulate responses and create new work:
My Bingley was …
My Bingley is …
My Bingley will be …
Conclusions were explored through a variety of creative media – creative writing, music, dance and creative movement. Original poems and songs were recorded – a soundtrack was made using participants from Cottingley Village Primary School.

> Industrial Museum Trip 2009

The term also included a trip to the Bradford Industrial Museum and a workshop based there in the October Half Term. The first outing from Cottingley Cornerstone Centre by the Telling Tales project was to Bradford Industrial Museum to see a recreation of the industries that brought Bradford all the wealth and power of the Industrial Revolution. A large part of this was concerned with the textile industry, so in the afternoon there was a practical workshop where each of the students made t-shirts inspired by their visit. These t-shirts would then be used in performances as a unique hand made uniform. Dancers worked all the spaces of the museum, responding to the motion and physical appearance of the machinery. All the movements were linked together to create a sequence for a short performance at the museum.

> Group Sessions

This first term focused on the past of Cottingley within the context of the broader area of Bradford and how/why this had developed and changed over the years. This was explored and communicated through dance and storytelling and by the end of the term the young people had developed a piece that included drama and movement based mainly around the development of mills and the textile industry, bringing in migration and journeys. It also used various materials including a map of Bradford, fabrics and people’s stories and poems.

Term two focused on the present day and explored personal lives and stories in a number of ways such as through personal objects, street names, time capsules ideas, interviews and tasks set. The group created a piece of dance/creative movement as well as other outcomes such as diaries. This term the group were also given a disposable camera each and set tasks to create a diary based on a member of their family and the local area where they live. This research task worked very well and allowed for problem solving and development work outside the sessions.

Term three focused on the development of the community group, designed for all ages, which looked at ways to involve families in dance work and related heritage themes, within the creative activity. Although the group had relatively small numbers, it managed to have three dancers from three generations in the one class. Looking towards the group contributed to the idea behind the company of all ages. Consultation on the needs of each age range was considered as well as the practical considerations of running events for all ages.

An important research project 'My Castle', funded by Arts Council England, took place in Summer 2010 which explored these issues in greater depth, utilising the skills of professional dancers to develop movement material which would later be adapted for the Telling Tales final celebration.

> Day of Dance & Finale of Telling Tales Project 2011

Ascendance Rep ran a series of 10 workshops in Cottingley, Bingley, Bradford and Shipley with the goal of celebrating the end of the Cottingley project with some of those individuals and groups who had taken part in school residencies or workshops during the past two years. The theme 'My Story', was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry. Family stories were pieced together and extracts were included in the end final dance piece.

> Marketing Telling Tales Project 2009 - 2011

News Clips, Sample Posters, Flyers, Invitations and listings for Telling Tales project.