Spring is a good time to come back to story. The days are lengthening, the Yorkshire Dales are shaking off the grey, and here at Settle Stories, April is packed with things worth showing up for. Whether you’re someone who’s always felt they have a story to tell but never quite found the words, a teacher looking for something genuinely transformative, or simply someone who loves an evening of tales well told, this month has something that’s made for you. Here are four April events at Settle Stories that deserve a place in your diary.
How to Find and Tell Your Story – 7th April | Online (Hybrid) | £12
Most of us carry stories around with us for years – half-finished, shapeless, not quite ready to be told. This two-hour workshop, running on Tuesday 7th April from 2–4pm, is for anyone who’s ever gone blank when asked to share an experience, talked in circles without quite arriving anywhere, or wondered what it is that actually makes a story worth telling. In a practical, warm, and surprisingly revelatory session, you’ll learn how to spot the moments in your own life that hold real stories, how to shape them using a simple structure that works every time, and how to open a story in a way that makes people genuinely want to listen.
Previous attendees have called it “solid gold” and said it unlocked things they’d been blocked on for a very long time. Teachers, therapists, managers, job-seekers, parents – honestly, anyone who needs to hold someone’s attention – will find something here that stays with them. No experience needed. Just turn up and see what you’ve been sitting on all this time.
Beguiling for Beginners: An Evening of Trickster Tales with Dave Tonge – 9th April | The Joinery, Settle | £16 (also online, £5)
There’s a figure on the road. Sometimes in robes, sometimes in rags. Selling pots one day, pardons the next. Everything for sale. Nothing quite true. On Thursday 9th April at 7pm, the Yarnsmith of Norwich, storyteller Dave Tonge, arrives at The Joinery to conjure the tricksters, rogues, and cunning folk who walked England’s roads and worked their craft upon the foolish, the greedy, and the gullible. These are not gentle stories. They’re sharp-edged, irreverent, and alive with the kind of wit that gets passed between people who’ve had to live by their wits because nothing else was on offer.
Dave performs regularly for English Heritage and national museums, and has written three books on folk tales, but what makes him extraordinary is his refusal to sanitise. He honours the edge, the humour, and the philosophy buried inside the profane. Audiences have described evenings with him as spellbinding, mirth-filled, and utterly compelling. If you love history, storytelling, or simply a tale told by someone who really knows their craft, this one’s not to be missed. Can’t make it in person? There’s an online ticket too, for just £5.
Book your in-person ticket here
StoryLab: Craft Your Story in Six Weeks – Begins 15th April | Online | £217
If you’ve been thinking about getting serious with your storytelling, StoryLab is the programme that will do it. Starting on Wednesday 15th April at 7pm, this six-week online course takes you from a vague idea to a shaped, polished, performed story, giving you the tools, the structure, and the community to see it through. It’s designed for people who are ready to commit: to the craft, to the process, and to the particular courage it takes to bring your own story into a room and make it land.
Whether you’re a performer, a writer, an educator, or someone who simply knows they have something important to say and wants to say it properly, StoryLab gives you the framework to make it happen. The investment is £217, and it genuinely is an investment in how you communicate, connect, and create for years to come. Spaces are limited, so if this is calling to you, it’s worth moving on it.
👉 Find out more and book your place here
The Village of Two Rivers: Earth Day Event for KS2 – 22nd April | Online | Free
Some of the most important stories we can tell are the ones about how we share the world. On Earth Day, Wednesday 22nd April at 1:30pm, Settle Stories brings a live, online storytelling event to KS2 classrooms, entirely free of charge. The Village of Two Rivers is an evocative tale rooted in the natural world, designed to spark conversation, imagination, and wonder in children aged seven to eleven.
It’s the kind of story that travels with young people long after the session ends, the kind that opens up questions about community, environment, and how we treat the world we all live in. For teachers looking for a meaningful way to mark Earth Day that goes beyond a worksheet, this is it: a living story, told with warmth and skill, that invites children to think and feel at the same time. Book your class in before places fill up.
Register your class here – it’s free.
Don’t Miss April at Settle Stories
From personal storytelling workshops to trickster tales in a beautiful Yorkshire venue, from a six-week creative deep dive to a free live event for primary schools, April at Settle Stories has the range and the heart you’d expect from the home of adventurous storytelling. Every one of these April events is a chance to connect with something that matters: your own voice, your community, your curiosity about the world.
Head to settlestories.org.uk/events/whats-on to see the full what’s on, and don’t wait too long – these will fill up fast.
