Our history

Snail Tales was the brainchild of Amy Robinson, who enlisted Chip Colquhoun to help her begin telling stories professionally in July 2007. Their reputation in the region spread fast, and before the end of their first year they had performed or workshopped with nearly 5,000 children and 200 adults.

In July 2009, Snail Tales' second birthday saw them performing for a third time on Cambridge's Parker's Piece - on behalf of the City Council for the Children's Festival.

That same year saw Snail Tales onstage at local theatres for the first time, as part of an Arts Council supported production entitled A Little Bird Told Me. The show adapted stories created by East Anglian children through a special workshop programme, and thus emphasised the core passion at the heart of all Snail Tales' work - namely, giving children reason to be proud of their creativity. The workshop programme, Little Birds, was so successful that it is planned to continue for the foreseeable future.

In 2009, Snail Tales' influence is even being felt across the globe, as Chip flew out to Romania to teach the skills of storytelling in a country where professional storytelling was previously virtually unheard of.

The Snail Tales storytelling style is rooted in traditional methods, adapted with a fresh, hip and quirky energy, and they occasionally blend in their mutual passions such as performance poetry, magic, puppetry, and the creative use of everyday objects like roller window blinds.

As Snail Tales has grown and developed, Chip and Amy have several personal mentors to thank for their input. These have included US storyteller and children's author Bob Hartman, storyteller and clown John Hardwick, and esteemed traditional storytellers Ashley Ramsden, Duncan Mackintosh, John Row, Graham Langley and, most recently, Mary Medlicott.

Chip and Amy are the Cambridgeshire network's regional co-ordinators for the Society for Storytelling.

Click here to find out more about Snail Tales' mission statement and policies.