The Storyteller Laureate, Taffy Thomas, will be performing at the Museum of English Rural Life on March 20th.

 The Museum (MERL), which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will be welcoming Taffy Thomas as the first guest of local folk singer Hilary James in her ‘Song, stories and traditions’ folk series.

 In this fourth series, Hilary James continues to invite friends from across the folk scene to perform alongside her and mandolinist, Simon Mayor, exploring English music and poems, stories and traditions.

Currently artistic director of Tales in Trust, the Northern Centre for Storytelling, Taffy Thomas has also been awarded the MBE for services to storytelling and charity. Inspired by Justin Partyka’s striking photographs of East Anglia currently on display in the Museum, Taffy will take guests on a journey round the region, telling tall tales of tall ships and landlubbers.  He will be accompanied by songs from Hilary and additional music by mandolin and fiddle maestro Simon Mayor.

Hilary James says ‘Taffy Thomas lived for some time on a farm in Suffolk near the places featured by the writer George Ewart Evans in his book “Ask the Fellows Who Follow the Plough”. Taffy also fished out of Aldeburgh, so his “Tales of Land and Sea” have a genuine taste of East Anglia about them, even if the teller does have a Welsh name and the remnants of a Somerset accent!”

The concert series is supported by the University of Reading Arts Committee and the West Berkshire Brewery, who supply the beer for the bar.

Tickets cost £15 or £12 (concessions) and are available in advance or on the door. For further details visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl call 0118 378 8660 or email merlevents@reading.ac.uk