Rona Barbour

Rona Barbour

Location: Altrincham | UK


Rona Barbour – The Storyteller has been described as a mesmerising and hypnotic storyteller, with a voice like warm chocolate wrapped in soft velvet. 
This description made her roar with laughter while she remembered she was at one time described as “An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove” which she thinks her family would agree, was probably much more fitting.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, one of 8 siblings to registered blind parents, Tommy, and Lizzie, she has incredible warmth and a very sharp sense of humour, mixed with the sense of the ridiculous that is indigenous to the people of that city. Coming from a long line of celebrated storytellers she has been writing and telling stories since childhood.

Awards

This year 2020, Rona has been shortlisted for a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for her Services to Storytelling which she is extremely excited about as it gives her another opportunity to get her message across and achieve her long term ambition, which is to open a Storytelling Centre for Children and Adults in the North  like the incredible Scottish Storytelling Centrein Edinburgh, Scotland, where she is a frequent visitor.

She was delighted in 2019 to be featured in Gulnaz Brennan’s book as one of the 100 Most Inspirational Women in the “100 Stories” book at the “She Inspires” Awards at their annual convention.

Rona has received many awards and acclaim over the past years including being nominated for Cheshire Woman of the Year in recognition of her work in Storytelling in the education sector with teens excluded from mainstream schools because of behavioural issues.

 While she was President of the South Manchester Public Speakers Club, which is part of the ASC (Association of Public Speaker’s Clubs) she won the 1st Susan Hayhurst Awardfor Raconteur of the Year.

As a CPD accredited and highly respected storytelling tutor she is in even greater demand as people everywhere are now waking up to the fact that effective storytelling is a necessary life skill and is the key to all other life changing skill sets. As a Consultant in Education and in her Business Workshops Rona’s delivery has been of the highest standard and her works have always resulted in excellent feedback. (See “What others” Say page)

As well as an illustrious career as a Storyteller Tutor in education and in business, Rona is also a talented writer, (and ghost writer) she has written many articles for magazines and was recently asked to contribute to a major new academic work; Creative Activity by Dr Gail Brewer and Dr Russell Hogarth, published by Palgrave Mac Millan. Written as an academic work it is housed in Universities and is now also available to buy from Amazon. 

Storytelling in Business

Throughout the time, Rona was storytelling in schools, she was successfully developing her own business in the commercial sector, Coaching Storytelling in Business. With too many to mention, these are just a few of her major clients that she has worked with over the years, that show the depth and strength of her work:

CELCIS; (Centre of excellence for looked after children in Scotland). KEYNOTE SPEAKER.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER at Annual Conferences in Glasgow in June 2014 and again in 2016.

THE AMERICAN ARTS THERAPY ASSOCIATION; Commissioned to present at the 49th Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas. July 2014

PERM STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY IN RUSSIA. Tutoring Student Teachers 2014 and 2017

ASTRA ZENECA PHARMACEUTICALS; Team Building through Story. With the A Z Legal Team.

MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB: for 15years before hanging up her boots, she worked as

MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB: for 15years before hanging up her boots she worked as Match-day Ambassador and MC in VIP Hospitality Suite at MANCHESTER UNITED’S stadium.

THE BRITISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN PERM, RUSSIA. Tutoring Storytelling Skills 2014 and 2017

SAMSUNG; (electronic giants). Sent a film crew from KOREA to film Rona delivering a workshop on the use of Back Story in Business for use in their training centres.

THE BRITISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN PERM, RUSSIA. Tutoring Storytelling Skills 2014 and 2017

The BBC: JUDGE for the BBC’s Young Storyteller – Online competition.

LIONSGATE FILMS; Was the “Prize for the Day” for their major competition.

M.O.D. The Ministry of Defence; Improving communication using storytelling skills at MOD Offices.

The Ministry of Defence; Working with teachers in M.O.D Schools Overseas.

https://www.ronabarbour.com/