Carmel Page

Carmel Page is a Southerner by birth, but she has lived in Sheffield so long that she now uses her back-door as her front-door and has started eating her dinner at lunchtime.

Carmel and her family have a terraced house on the edge of Sheffield, but she tends to live in a world of her own. When she wakes up in the morning her head is so full of stories that she likes to lie in bed for a long time and think about them.

Some days, Carmel gets up early to go to Weston Park Museum where she teaches school children about Ancient Egyptian embalming and mummification. She is very good at demonstrating the bit where the brains are pulled out through the nose, (not her nose) (not the children’s noses either) (she uses a big doll for this.)

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is another place Carmel often visits, she teaches children how to make placards and hold demos. She also gets them to spot toilets in trees and paint with mud.

Sheffield has a storytelling club called The Story Forge which Carmel co-runs. When she is not at her club she is normally telling people stories, drawing pictures or performing with Flying Teddy Bears.

The bridge in the Loxley Valley where the Robin Hood Story begins - i.e. not in Nottinghamshire!

The Attercliffe Stupid Club was a satirical club dating from the time of the Sheffield Outrages in the 1800's.

When terrorism was rife and going on strike could get you thrown into prison, members of Attercliffe Stupid Club went fishing in empty buckets, made bunting from carrots and were frequently mentioned in the Houses of Parliament.

Very little is remembered about Attercliffe Stupid Club because the members always read their minutes backwards, rescinded them and burnt them on the fire. By collating short mentions from multiple sources the author has re-established the club's existence.

The book lists the initiation rites, formalities and rules of the club. Everything they did was jokey and pointed the finger at the exploitation of the working classes. They awarded Fibiology certificates for lying, sent jesters caps to politicians and grew funny shaped vegetables. This book is also a record of the violence of the times. It explains how terrorism eventually led to the unionisation of the work force and going on strike became legal.

Readers can award membership to anyone they consider to be stupid enough to deserve it. Full instruction for testing stupidity and blank certificates are included. There are also playful activities to promote political activism.

It is a book for people who want to know more about Sheffield history and who take politics seriously but who don't take themselves too seriously.

Carmel was delighted when the History Press asked her to write Yorkshire Folk Tales for Children. She discovered that Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans have all visited Yorkshire. Many of them loved it so much they stayed and their stories stayed with them. Over time their tales have mingled with local legends and have been influenced by the Yorkshire landscape and Yorkshire’s brave, adventurous and fun-loving people. From this rich supply of folklore Carmel has chosen the very best to share. She has also brought the characters to life with her beautiful illustrations.

This book contains a picture of Yorkshire, a taste of Yorkshire food and some of Yorkshire’s oldest stories. Find out how Robin Hood’s adventures began on the packhorse bridge in the Loxley Valley. Read about giants, wild boars, a dragon and a very drunk nun. Discover how Filey Brigg was created and, most useful of all, find out who to ask for advice about loading your dishwasher.

Little More and the Wantley Dragon.
Just North of Sheffield a dragon is eating everything in Wantley. Little More’s family try to slay it, even a knight comes to fight it but nothing works. Little More runs away, so who will slay the Dragon?

Little More and the Wantley Dragon is a picture book for 3 -6 year olds. This ancient legend has been almost forgotten but Carmel has rewritten it so that another generation can enjoy the story and appreciate the beautiful woodlands in North Sheffield.

Carmel performing Flight of the Teddy Bears