MUM-OF-TWO Susanna Meese has a few tales to tell.

And for the last year the Slaithwaite woman has been doing just that.

Susanna has turned her passion for spinning a yarn into a viable business – engaging the imagination of over 4,500 primary school pupils across the region through her range of storytelling workshops.

Susanna, who has five-year-old son Jonah and a six-year-old daughter Polly, came up with the idea for her business TellingTales-uk after taking time out from her acting career to look after the children.

The 40-year-old said: “My children found an old CD of stories that I had recorded 10 years earlier through my acting and we played it in the car on holiday and after that they always wanted it on.

“I have been writing for the past 10 years and I thought it was really something I could do and I could also make it into something that is performance-based and educational for the children.

“I surprised myself when I came up with the idea because I never thought I’d be capable of setting up a viable business, but everything seemed to come together at the right time to make it possible.

“I knew I could tell stories, and I have years of experience running workshops with children, but being responsible for everything else that comes with running a business was a bit daunting.”

Susanna said she owes a lot of her success to Loca, a Kirklees Arts and Regeneration Agency.

The agency, based in Redbrick Mill in Batley, used to offer advice and support to creative people setting up their own arts-based businesses.

Susanna took advantage of the advice to start her new storytelling business – unfortunately that branch of the agency was recently shut down due to funding cuts.

Since she began TellingTales-uk Susanna has visited 25 schools in Kirklees, Oldham, Rochdale and Calderdale, telling traditional tales and original stories that support social and emotional aspects of learning.

She recently enlisted the help of her husband Robin Simpson, an actor, for a storytelling performance of The Snow Queen which they performed at 13 schools including Littletown Junior Infant and Nursery School in Liversedge and Staincliffe CE Junior School in Batley.

Susanna said: “It went really well – some of the schools had already met me through smaller storytelling workshops and some of the schools were new and have since re-booked me.

“The Snow Queen was a bigger performance than I usually do, we used a few props and the harp and whistle to evoke the children’s imaginations alongside traditional storytelling techniques.”

Susanna was apprehensive about starting a business during the economic downturn but it has worked to her advantage.

She said headteachers are keen to book her to come into school because it is often cheaper than taking a group of pupils to the theatre.

“There is such a resurgence in storytelling and the benefits in the classroom are huge,” said Susanna.

“I’ve had so many comments from teachers who have been surprised at how engaged their pupils have been with such a simple art form and how even those children who find it difficult to concentrate have been transfixed from beginning to end.

“And of course if you can get pupils interested in listening to stories, you can get them interested in telling stories, reading stories and writing stories. This makes me believe I am doing something really worthwhile.”

For more information visit www.tellingtales-uk.com