30/05/2026
I've been putting this moment off, but every story deserves a proper ending. Therefore, (with a certain melancholy) I'm letting it be known that I'm stepping back from my work as a professional storyteller.
I never dreamed that sharing a few ghost stories at a community event back in 2005 would eventually open a doorway into a world I never knew existed. I have been privileged to share space and time with some truly extraordinary people over more than a decade of tale telling and the memories of the last 14 years linger long.
But as the late great Terry Pratchett once said - "People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around." And so it is with me.
Storytelling found me... I wasn't looking for it but it picked me up, carried me, nurtured me and in a very tangible sense, led me to the role I now hold delivering the National Seagrass Action Plan here in Wales.
Whilst stories and storytelling will ever remain a part of me and what I do, the art and craft of telling stories as a professional storyteller requires an energy and focus that my current role doesn't make room for. After much soul searching and procrastination, I am finally ready to accept I can't have my cake and eat it.
The seagrass around our shores is too precious and the work ahead too important for me to even attempt to hold a split focus. I will of course continue to work with story and allow story to work through me, just with a different framing and focus.
My heartfelt thanks to all who have helped, supported and believed in me over the years and to the many who booked my services or listened. Special thanks and appreciation to Paul Andrew who has patiently endured many a half-worked wobbly story over the years as I tried to get things performance ready.
The time may yet come when a new story makes me it's puppet once more, but until that time, you'll find me juggling spreadsheets, facilitating stakeholder meetings and whenever opportunity allows, face down with a snorkel in a seagrass meadow!!
