Following 8 weeks of Story and Play sessions for under 5s at the Old School in Warrington, we have created a Parenting Playbook to support Parents and Carers with establishing play at home.
Thanks to funding from Cheshire Community Foundation, you can download your own copy to support play with the little ones in your life.
Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well
Add the food colouring to the water and then add the vegetable oil and water and food colouring to a large pan and mix together.
Add the dry ingredients and mix well
Cook over a low to medium heat until the dough starts to form and becomes dry.
Once all the dough has formed a ball, remove from heat and let cool.
Once cooled, knead the dough for 5 minutes to soften. If the dough is still sticky, put back in pan and heat for a few more minutes.
Wrap in clingfilm and store in air tight container and keep in fridge for 1 week.
Dilute the White Vinegar – 2 parts water to 1 part White Vinegar
In a Zip lock freezer bag, add a cup of rice, a tablespoon of diluted white vinegar and a few drops of food colouring.
Seal the bag shut, ensuring all air is out of the bag and spread the food colouring across the rice
Once throuroughly mixed, empty the bag onto a baking tray and leave to dry for a couple of hours.
Store in an air tight container for up to a year.
Want to download a free copy of our Parenting Playbook – A guide to support play at home? Follow this link
For Families who speak English as a Second Language who have been driven to Warrington by circumstance
At our Story Makers group we aim to support families who have arrived in Warrington through diverse circumstances by offering accessible, arts-based activities that encourage expression, community connection and celebrate our cultures, with support for ESOL learners.
Children, parents and grandparents are all welcome to come together to share stories, play and learn English.
Everyone’s story matters. Everyone is welcome.
Day & Time: Tuesdays 4.00-5.30, from 13th January 2026
Location: The Old School, Warrington, WA1 3AJ
Email: hello@storystitchers.co.uk to book your place or find out more
We have secured funding to run this group until June 2026. At the end of the project we may produce some kind of creative outcome like an exhibition or a book. This will be decided by the group in a process of co production.
No. You can join even if you only speak a little English. We help each other. We use pictures, words, and art to communicate.
Your family. All art materials are provided
It is free. These sessions are funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
Tuesdays, 4 – 5.30pm, upstairs at The Old School, Warrington, WA1 3AJ
Flick Barry is a CELTA qualified ESOL teacher and has been a community artist for 20 years. She is experienced at storytelling work with all ages, including working with ESOL students and refugee families. She is British born and throughout her life is lucky to have worked and travelled around the world. Flick is supported by friendly staff and volunteers to ensure that your experience is a positive one.
Please send an email to hello@storystitchers.co.uk to sign up or find out more.
Please feel free to download and share our poster with anyone who you think might be interested in coming.
Fee: £50 per 90-minute session (+ 30 minutes setup/pack down)
Location: The Old School, Warrington
Discipline: Open to all art forms (Storytelling, visual arts, music, movement, writing, performance, etc.)
Commitment: Regular sessions over the project period (November to June)- afternoons, evening and weekends (schedule TBC)
Requirements: Public Liability Insurance, DBS Check, and two references
Deadline for applications: 5th November
Workshop Interview: 11th November, 1.30-4.30
We are looking for an Apprentice to support a creative community space in Warrington, engaging three community groups:
Building on the success of a pilot project with ND families, this new initiative funded by Lotteries Community Fund, will expand our Story Stitchers approach to foster confidence, creativity and connection through regular arts-based sessions.
Our listening-led, storytelling and co-creation method helps participants express themselves, share stories and build a sense of identity, belonging and wellbeing in a safe, inclusive environment. You can read more about what this looks like in practice here.
As an Apprentice Facilitator, you will work alongside an experienced lead artist to:
This is an opportunity for an emerging artist interested in developing community facilitation skills and working with diverse groups. You will gain hands-on experience in socially engaged practice and learn how to deliver inclusive, participant-led creative sessions.
We welcome applications from emerging artists working in any creative discipline who:
We are particularly keen to hear from artists who have cultural understanding relevant to the communities we are engaging with.
Date: 11th November
Time: 1.30-4.30
Location: The Old School, Warrington
We will host a workshop interview in the afternoon. In this workshop we will share more about the project and invite you to lead a 15 minute activity relevant to your creative discipline. Applicants will need to be available for the duration of the workshop and expected to join in the session.
Please email your application to hello@storystitchers.co.uk by 9am, 5th November including the following:
We look forward to hearing from you.
A big, big thank you! Over the last 6 months you have helped us build Stitch from an idea in our heads to something that we can all share in. From creative challenges, to audio tales and our first Story Circle, you have made this possible through generous donations via Ko-fi and participating in our work.
We continue to grow our story store and continue to add to our catalogue of stories. We have added the Tell Me A Story of...collection to our website. You can see this here
We have put together a mixture of events, creative challenges and workshops over the next few months. If you would like to sign up, please fill in the form at the bottom of this page.
Join Flick on a three part course exploring the story structure, character and setting through this practical course to kick start your writing. 8 spaces available
In this playful workshop, Flick will help you explore the potential of your voice to add colour and animation to your storytelling. 8 spaces available.
Explore the stories of the wild, from your own home! Come and join Tom as he guides you and your family through a nature based folktale. Bugs become beasts, bushes grow into jungles and puddles can be sailed for miles. You will then create your own characters, events and environments from the story. For families with children aged 4-8. Spaces for 6 families
Come gather round our virtual fire as we trade tales.
Want to share your story? We have space for up to 6 people to tell a 5 minute tale. Email us to book your slot.
Want to listen? Sit back and relax. Just let us know you want to come and join us.
Come and test your improvisation skills as we look at how Storytellers play and adapt to different styles, spaces and audiences. 8 spaces available.
We are really pleased to have launched our next creative challenge:
We will be curating an online gallery of all your amazing responses. If you would like to join in, please fill in the form below for the Brief Sheet.
Hey,
We are Tom and Flick. We are storytellers, writers and community artists with over a decade of experience in working creatively with schools, families, young people and older adults. We usually work in museums, art galleries, heritage sites and arts centres. Then Covid 19 hit and the UK went into lockdown, and all our usual storytelling venues shut up shop.
So we ate some chocolate, and we had a little panic and we scratched our heads and we may have cried and we told some stories and some people told us their stories and that is where we discovered Stitch. It had been there the whole time.
So we went about setting creative challenges and silly videos and creative writing prompts and we told people tales about two idiot story scientists and dandelions and woodlice and people told us stories about space and friendship and journeys and kindness and together we started creating a story store.
Together we took the stories we heard and we stitched them into a Patchwork, an Easter Sunday, and an Intergalactic Space Mission. And the best part is. We are not done. Because we all need to tell and hear stories. So the story store continues to expand, unravelling yarns and revealing thousands of opportunities for stories to be spun.
It looks fairly likely that we will not be able to walk back into our usual places to tell and listen for a while. We miss that so much. Amongst the debris of a crumbling arts sector, we are doing something so incredibly forward and un-british. We are asking you to buy us a coffee. We love coffee. By buying us a coffee you allow us to keep going. Keep helping people tell their stories and hear the stories of others.
Wild Wonder is a podcast for families brought to you by Stitch. We explore the outdoors and share stories about what we discover. We curate the podcast involving our children as we believe that if children hear others speaking, it makes them feel powerful with their own voice.
Each episode includes a walk about with our children, followed by a story inspired by what we discovered on our walk. This current series of podcast is being made at a time when the UK is under lock down due to the Corona Virus. The conversations happen within walking distance of our house and were part of our daily outing. We found these conversations with our children allowed us to hit the reset button. We felt more connected to each other and the habitat that surrounds us (which maybe at a better time, we would have taken for granted.)
You can find the most recent activities posted on Facebook or Instagram.
We have also created some activity sheets to accompany each story. These will be added below when a new episode drops.
We also have an account for Wild Wonder on Instagram where you can enjoy the photos of things we have found.
Hey you!
Patchwork Tales is a project that brings people together to get creative and celebrate community.
While we may have to physically isolate due to the Corona Virus, we believe this does not mean we
have to self isolate.
We hope that you will creatively respond to the ideas below and share online.
We hope you will ring your Granny and ask her thoughts on the ideas below.
We hope you will sit with your family and share ideas.
We hope you write letters, draw pictures and tell tales together.
We are all individuals, bright, vivid, wonderful people.
Let’s all come together and create a vibrant community patchwork.
All our love and best wishes,
Tom and Flick, Stitch HQ
P is for People, we carry their hearts gently in our hands.
A is for Appetite to always find out more.
T is for Tales tipping trippingly off the tongue. With twists and turns and taking the wrong path through the woods.
C is for Community, Creativity and Celebration from small village halls to nation after nation.
H is for Humour from little tickling giggles to big barrel belly laughs.
W is for Words, whittling and weaving, winding and wonder.
O is for Oracy -raising the voice of many by developing the voice of the individual.
R is for Reading, books, screens, a room or an audience.
K is for Kindness where we begin and we end.
We know that not everyone does not have access to social media, so we have made this project downloadable. Please feel free download and send to someone who you think would love to join in.
If you are on social media, please share your pieces with us on social media.
Story Stitchers 