Stories don’t arrive fully formed. They surface in fragments. A moment overheard. A memory carried for decades. A life reduced, briefly, to its most human detail. So, this gathering of storytelling, from our favourite storytellers group, reminds us why “a slice of life” matters. The stories span continents, wars, kitchens, concert halls and quiet neighbourhood mishaps.

GreyMatter exists for exactly this reason: to make space for experience that doesn’t shout, but resonates. In a culture obsessed with scale and speed, these stories slow us down and bring us closer to history, place, and ultimately to each other. These stories remind us that life is never small. -Charlie

Note: Charlie couldn’t attend this meeting and so Storyteller Olga has kindly written the following extract for GreyMatter

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Storyteller Anne Fryer told the true story of Consuela Vanderbilt’s marriage. She was a very wealthy American, with a highly controlling mother who was determined to marry her daughter to an English aristocrat, for his title. She forced Consuela to marry the Duke of Marlborough, doing a deal with him by offering him $60 million, so he could renovate his 300-room palace. Consuela was forced to supervise the renovation, as well as to provide “an heir and a spare”.

Very unhappy, she finally obtained permission from the Pope for a divorce.

Storyteller Graham told us about the archer who was determined to be the greatest archer in the world. Seeking a teacher of archery, he used “Dr Who’s” time travel machine to meet Robin Hood, then Odysseus, and finally came to a forest where he saw a few trees in succession, which showed arrows exactly in the centre of their targets. He asked the farmer who’d fired these arrows to teach him to be a great archer. The farmer said “It’s simple”, and showed him– he shot some arrows at a wooden wall, then painted the target around them!

Storyteller Olga told of the birth of Kati in 1944, in Budapest, while the Allies were bombing. Her mother cared for her and her extended family as best she could, but they often went hungry. Kati was not expected to survive, but her mother took her to a friend’s farm , where the goat’s milk saved her. In 1947, Communists took over Hungary, as well as her father’s newspaper. The family left for London, where Kati (now Kathy) became a dental nurse, and did a Cordon Bleu course. She and her husband migrated to Adelaide, where she became a cooking demonstrator and teacher, joining other great chefs. She’d come a long way from being an under-nourished baby to being a recognised chef. She has now produced a book of international gourmet recipes called “A Slice of My Life”.

Storytellers Gail and Munetaka’s Kamishibai featured Kazuko Ono, a collector of Japanese folk stories. She worked for local governments who had begun this practice. She interviewed thousands of villagers and farmers for ” Stories of Long Ago”, and local Councils disseminated them. She chose just 8 interviewees, and a single story from each, to publish in her latest book “Stories of Unforgettable Japanese Storytellers”.

One example of ” A slice of life” was of Morio, whose very poor peasant parents had to leave him alone as a baby while they worked. But an even poorer friend who needed to borrow money, would often visit him, and tell him stories, as did his grandmother who later lived with them. One of the stories was about a wolf. It turns out that this also appears in Grimm’s Fairytales, and in many other countries, as do at least 50 other stories, mostly from an illiterate grandma.

Storyteller Joan, a resident of Living Choice, who grew up in Lancaster, told of her memory of the Edinburgh Festival, which her family visited regularly. In 1962, although it was during the Cold War, Shostakovich was invited, in spite of being controversial because of a possible link with Stalin. All his symphonies were to be played at the Festival. Joan was walking with her mother down the Royal Mall, when they came on guests spilling out of a concert hall. Shostakovich suddenly appeared among them and hopped into an official car right next to Joan. She promptly hopped in next to him and asked for an autograph. He signed her card, which she has always kept.

Joan wondered who to pass it onto at the end of her life, but met a lady in a bookshop who was also a fan, and now Joan knows who to bequeath it to.

Storyteller Jill told of her experience as a mother, having never felt prepared for motherhood. She married during her early days in Belfast, where she qualified as a teacher. She and her husband emigrated to Australia, and she was soon pregnant. Although they stayed with her husband’s relatives, she found they were kind but suspicious, so they soon bought their own house, in a neighborhood of young families. Her friend Helen invited her to go swimming, taking the baby in her station wagon.

On the way home, Helen invited Jill for coffee, but when Jill opened the car door to take the baby– no baby! They rushed back to the pool, and found the baby fast asleep in the cot. When her husband asked about how the baby was at the pool, Jill answered “He slept well”.

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Next gathering
8 February 2026 at 2pm includes the AGM
https://storytellingsa.org.au/

Photo by Karola G
https://www.instagram.com/kaboompics
https://www.pexels.com/photo/spiral-notepad-with-pencil-and-eyeglasses-on-gray-surface-8947772/