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Eldon Street has a rich and diverse history and it’s, frankly, teeming with stories. So, we’re really excited to get the chance to work with storyteller and alternative game-maker, Beccy Dye from Story Trails, as part of the Eldon Street HSHAZ to create a story-card-game inspired by the stories of Eldon Street. In this guest blog Beccy tells us more about the project, and what she’s been up to so far.

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A Day On The Town

Two children working on their designs for the Eldon Beast

During October half term, the game-building began in the manner that all good community projects begin, by inviting the community to join in!

I teamed up with artists from CHOL (Lauren, Jess and Isobel) in the famous Cholavan, ready for a day of fun in front of Barnsley Library @ the Lightbox in the Glassworks Square, just off Eldon Street.

We set up tables filled with activities for children and their grown-ups to have a go at, and we invited young people to create magical hidey-holes out of cardboard, complete with bubbles to pop and play with!

A child in their magical hidey-hole den

What the Game is all About…

Our story begins when the Eldon Beast of Eldon Street goes missing; in the game that I’m building, players will go on a quest to find the missing creature. But first we need to know what the beast is like – so we asked children to tell us by drawing ‘wanted’ posters that will help us to find it.

This initial process enabled us to chat with people about the game and about Eldon Street and its incredible history. We met lots of interesting people and had lots of fun exploring the variety of ideas that the children had.

There were so many ideas, in fact, that the Cholavan was plastered in wanted posters!

The Cholovan covered with Eldon Beast artwork created by children during the day

When it was built in the 1840s, Eldon Street was an area on the edge of everything, somewhere in-between… the gateway to Barnsley! It was a progressive place with many female business owners in the Victorian era, and even a circus!

With so much variety we couldn’t help but let a little magic into our game, which follows the Eldon Beast into a fantastical Under-Market.

During our Day of Fun, children also charted hot-spots for mystical events across Barnsley on our Map of Magic. Eldon Street may be our focus, but it turns out that there’s a lot of magic all over Barnsley… not that I was surprised.

A map of Barnsley with string connecting descriptions of magical sightings across the region, including a goblin tea party in Royston. It was messy!

Game Development

The ideas collected during the day will be used to help develop the game itself, and I will be working with more young people over the next few months to create the card-game which, will be launched next year on Saturday April 8th to a fanfare of storytelling throughout the day with Story Trails, We Great Ladies and Markmark Productions!

Families will be able to find and play the game in local businesses such as cafes and pubs, the library and the market. This will be a game that is both by and for the people of Barnsley. Something that showcases our pride, our talent and our sense of fun, all focussed on the fantastic Eldon Street.

Get Involved and Find Out More

Have you seen the Eldon Beast? Do you know what it looks like? Do you know any other mystical hotspots? Would you like to know more about the game as it develops? Then email Beccy on info@storytrails.co.uk with the subject line: The Eldon Beast.

We’d love to hear from you! You can discover more about Eldon Street, its incredible history and the Heritage Action Zone project via Barnsley Museums. Read more in our Eldon Street blog.