The Border Readers is an association of regionally based professional actors who since 2018 have been presenting themed audio narratives in libraries, art centres, galleries, hostelries, village halls, theatres, pubs and historic houses across the English border counties and occasionally into Scotland.
AUTUMN 2025 BORDERLANDS TOUR
Shore Lines toured between 22 September – 4 December 2025. We delivered a diverse, always entertaining, line up of short stories from our brilliant writer friends Ann Cleeves, Linda Cracknell, Tony Glover and Jo Scott. Ann’s haunting crime story Mud was set in her home county of Devon, while Linda’s poignant narrative Crossing the Bar, inspired by Tennyson’s classic poem, reflected her own family’s maritime history and was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4. We were particularly proud to have commissioned the other two stories, set on the Northumberland coast. Tony Glover pennedThe Weather Gleam, narrated by Charlie, the heroine’s spirited Bedlington terrier. Jo Scott returned with another heartwarming witty tale inTouch and Go, a tale that drew on her own background as an experienced yachtswoman.
Some audience comments from library venues: ‘Wonderful – A great choice of stories and such a pleasure to be read to.’…Excellent – both readers were clear (I’m hard of hearing). Thoroughly enjoyed the evening. thank you!’…’Great – loved the ‘stage’ set too!…Very enjoyable – a different experience.’ ….’Exceptional actors. Great stories with a strong connection to the area.’ ‘Enthralled by the storylines and a sense of being in the story.’ …’A wonderful evening in a lovely venue.’…’Atmospheric set. Great stories, well read.’ ‘I love listening to a story. I like the intimate setting, the sense of place in the stories and the voices of the storytellers’. ‘Magic – what a pleasure listening’
Final stop for Shore Lines, as in previous years, was upstairs in the function room at The Pheasant Inn, Cumwhitton in Cumberland on Thursday 4th December. We enjoyed the bonus of having writer Linda Cracknell with us that night to hear Stephen read her story. A convivial village venue with a particularly receptive full house sat cabaret style round tables with drinks to end this incredibly successful tour!
So what’s next for Border Readers?…Well, for a start we’re back on the road with ‘Shore Lines’ tour extension to two superb new venues. The first will be held in the library of the Bishop’s palace in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham on Friday 13th March. The second takes us back over the Pennines to the Heron Theatre at Beetham, Westmoreland on Friday 27th March. Tickets will be on sale nearer the time and we will advertise further here then. Likewise with more details of the autumn 2026 tour once details finally settled.
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WRITERS
Ann Cleeves awards include the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, in recognition of the sustained excellence of her work. She has written distinct crime series as well as stand-alone novels, and is especially well known for her Shetland and Vera Stanhope series of police procedural novels. Her Two Rivers crime series, The Long Call, andThe Rising Tide, set in north Devon, have also been televised by ITV. http://www.anncleeves.com Some background on our story Mud – which is set on the estuary of the River Taw – in Ann’s own words:
‘We moved around a bit when I was a child so it’s hard to tell what made me. My dad was a teacher in tiny rural primary schools…. It’s hard to be the headmaster’s kid in a school of 30 pupils, most of whom have grown up together. When I was 11 we landed up in north Devon. I’d moved to the grammar school in Barnstaple and for the first time made real friends. Looking back, I remember the summers, family days on the beach, picnics and space. The hit of a good wave as I body-surfed towards the shore. I was never a sporty girl, but I loved the shock of cold, salt water, the magic of swimming in the sea.’
‘Later there were teenage parties on the beach, bonfires built below the tideline, too much cheap wine. Our parents must have driven miles over those summers to collect us and see us home safe; there was no public transport after dark. In the sixth form I fell in love with another student, a brilliant musician, and I can see him bent over his guitar, caught in the light of the fire and the setting sun. It was the early 70s and we were all hippies at heart. For a while afterwards, nothing lived up to those glorious days. We knew they were special even while they were happening, swore we’d keep in touch. In fact, one of my closest friends does come from that time and when I go to see her, the smell of salt and mud from the Taw transports me back. I’m a girl again in an uncomfortable brown uniform, a heavy satchel weighing me down, walking along the river bank to school. Happy’. https://anncleeves.com/
Linda Cracknell is a writer of fiction, non-fiction and radio drama as well as a teacher of creative writing in various settings. This includes a regular workshop in the Moroccan Sahara and courses which integrate walking and outdoor exploration with creative writing. Landscape, place and memory are key themes in her work, as embodied in the recently re-released Doubling Back: Paths trodden in memory (Saraband 2024). She moved from Devon to Scotland in 1990, and has lived in Highland Perthshire for nearly 30 years. Although her fiction often has a Scottish setting – Call of the Undertow (2013) in coastal Caithness; The Other Side of Stone (2021) in a Perthshire woollen mill. Linda’s memoir Sea Marked: Throwing a line to the mother ship has just been published. https://saraband.net/sb-title/sea-marked/ It includes this account of her seafaring ancestry in the Taw-Torridge estuary of north Devon, where our short story Crossing the Bar is set.
Linda writes: ‘Joseph Conrad refers to the pilot as ‘trustworthiness personified’, which is unsurprising when local expertise puts so many lives in his hands. This ultimate respect seems to have been in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s mind when he wrote his poem Crossing the Bar at the age of eighty-one from a room with a sea view in Salcombe. The central metaphor is a boat travelling out to sea on a fast-ebbing tide and crossing the Bar with ease, carrying the grateful narrator over the threshold to a peaceful death.
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place / The flood may bear me far, / I hope to see my Pilot face to face / When I have cross’d the bar.
When I was invited by BBC Radio to write a short story in response to a classic poem of my choice, I knew immediately it would be this, not least because my mother had recently passed on Emma Drake (née Chichester’s) leather-bound volume of Tennyson, complete with her monogram. ‘Why don’t you take it?’ she’d said when I went to replace it on the shelf. I was surprised at the time that she wouldn’t want to hold onto such a keepsake from her great-grandmother, but perhaps, it occurs to me now, there’s an age at which we lose attachment to material things and know they will mean more to a younger generation. I decided quickly to set my story around this Chichester matriarch’s homeland and the Bideford Bar, and this sharpened my focus on further visits to the area as I wandered the places close to Braunton where sea and land wrangle with each other. My imagination built upon what I found there’.
‘The main character for the story soon materialised: an elderly woman, daughter of a local pilot. She had enjoyed independent sailing here as a child with strict respect for tidal dangers and the Bar, but was now being curtailed from even minor adventure by arthritis and the cautions of her adult children. Writing a fictional story required me to fully imagine this territory somewhere between the White House, Crow Point and the Bar, between firm sand and tidal rush, life and death. Engaging with it in this way, feeling it in my bones and imagination, seemed to nurture a stronger bond with the place, as fiction writing often does. But it also gave me a greater degree of apprehension on this short literal journey from estuary-port to Bar.’ https://saraband.net/contributor/linda-cracknell/
Tony Glover is a writer and film-maker, born in Northumberland. His BBC Radio play Just a Trim won a Sony Radio Award and earned him the title of BBC North Playwright of the Year. He has also won the first Northern Echo New Novelist of the Year award. Tony has written for television and stage including Year of the Tiger (ITV), Chase Me I’m Chocolate (staged in Dartington); Slappers (Unity Theatre Liverpool) and The Stars that Surround Us (Newcastle Playhouse). His first film, Posh Monkeys, won a Royal Television Society award and the IAC International Film & Video Festival Gold Seal Award. It was promoted by the British Council at international film festivals. Irene’s Story, a documentary about bi-polar disorder, won a Millennium Award. Tony has six published crime novels, all featuring DI Kitty Lockwood; Cars Just Want to be Rust; The Luxury of Murder ; Footsteps of the Hunter ; The Hunger of Ravens ; Dark Water Dreaming ; The Wilds. The Border Readers commissioned Tony to pen us a story set on the coast and we were delighted that as a native born resident of Northumberland he set his tale – The Weather Gleam – on Holy Island. https://tonygloverwrites.co.uk/
Tony writes: ‘I’m fascinated to know where stories come from. My own writing method is quite simple. First I conjure a character. I pick a name – I can’t start until I have their name – though it may change…Then I put him or her in a setting and ask myself ‘How did they get there?’ Bit by bit the mist clears and I see them more clearly. The most important question is ‘What do they want?’ That gives me the beginning. And do they get it? Which reveals the ending. ….Of course all of this may change…At the moment a pair of Red Kites are circling above our house, hanging in the wind. They’re searching for carrion for their chicks and bits of tat to build and repair their nests. Among the sticks and twigs, feathers and bones they weave strands of white plastic into the mix. That’s the way I work. I take awkward situations and put my characters in them. I take scraps of overheard dialogue and put them in the mouths of my imaginary people. I knew a couple of friends were walking to Holy Island. I was curious about what they might say on that long walk across the sands. I believe that stories are there – lying hidden, just beneath the surface, waiting to be uncovered. Writers dig them up’. https://tonygloverwrites.co.uk/
Jo Scott studied English Language and Literature at the University of Southampton and works as a freelance heritage interpretation consultant, based in Northumberland. Jo was the first unpublished author whose work we have presented. Her previous story Leap of Faith was part of our extensive Landlines’ tour (2024/5) and was shortlisted for the prestigious Yeovil Literary Short Story Prize last year. We loved Leap of Faith so much that producer Stephen commissioned Jo to write a short story set on the coast and Touch and Go is the result.
Jo writes:’Touch and Go is a story that explores what happens when Jenny, a single woman of a certain age, starts and then stalls the sailing adventure she’s been planning all her life. Without the support network she’s convinced she needs, Jenny is stranded in Amble. Having grown up in Cornwall and later spending many years messing about in boats, it was an absolute joy to be invited to write a new story set beside the sea to fit this year’s Shorelines theme. While Touch & Go is totally fictional, I inevitably drew on my own sailing experiences to bring Jenny’s story to life – not least having lived for a year in a marina on a lovely old wooden boat called White Dolphin (with a lucky kingfisher as a regular visitor)!
Amble was the obvious location for Jenny’s hiatus, and I credit my sister’s experience of sailing around Britain for that. We caught up with her several times during the trip – including for a cracking sail from Belfast to Dublin – but my fondest memory is meeting up about half way through the trip at Amble Marina. It’s the perfect place for Jenny to be killing time, walking on the beach, exploring the coast and communing with nature.
Writing Touch & Go is also about the power of tradition and superstition in our lives, and how we look for external signs when life gets tough – a regular theme in my writing. It was great fun researching the many superstitions associated with ships and sailing to throw in poor Jenny’s path. I treated most of them with a pinch of salt back in the day but now I’m more circumspect. If I had that pinch of salt right now, I’d ward off bad luck by tossing it straight over my left shoulder. As I am sure Jenny would agree, it’s just not worth the risk, is it?’ https://joscottwriter.wordpress.com/
RESIDENT READERS
Janine Birkett Born in Northumberland and raised in Newcastle, Janine spent her early career touring with Northumberland Theatre Company before joining the Northern Stage Ensemble and performing at Theatre by the Lake; the New Vic Stoke and the Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough. In the 1990’s Janine was Byker Grove parent, Maggie Watson for three series; and she played Jenny Elliot, Billy’s mam, in the feature film of Billy Elliot. Other TV appearances include: Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Holby City, The Royal, Inspector George Gently, Vera and Coronation Street. BBC Radio drama includes the series My Uncle Freddie and the Jarrow March play, A Woman’s Walk. In the last four years Janine has narrated over 100 audio-books, including several by Vera author, Ann Cleeves.
Janine read at South Shields (Mon 22 Sept), Wooler (Tues 7 Oct), Lit & Phil (Tues 14 Oct), Seaton Sluice (Wed 15 Oct) Wingates Institute (16 Oct).
Grace Kirby Grace is an actor, director and teacher who started her career after graduating with a drama degree from Newcastle Polytechnic with Tyneside community theatre company Dodgy Clutch. Stage credits include Communicado’s award-winning Carmen: The Play and performing alongside Stanley Baxter in one of his legendary Edinburgh pantos. She performed with Hexham based Theatre sans Frontiers on their first English language play Diamonds in your Pockets by Linda France. After a short spell training at RADA, recent work includes an adaptation of Quentin Blake’s The Green Ship for Librarian Theatre and an adaptation of Nicholas Allan’s The Queen Knickers which toured to school playing fields in Cumbria. Grace recently devised and presented a solo show on rural isolation, Martha’s Orange, directed by Peter MacQueen. The play, inspired by her part-time work as an NHS delivery driver, premiered at Theatre by the Lake Keswick before touring across the north of England and Dorset last year and again this autumn. Grace read at Elsdon (Fri 26 Sept) and Cumwhitton (Thurs 4 Dec)
Wynne Potts Born and bred in Northumberland Wynne read English Literature at Cambridge, before studying musical theatre at the Royal Central and acting at Rose Bruford. TV credits include roles in Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories (BBC) and Julian Fellowes Belgravia (ITV). Roleplay work includes sessions for Interact, reading to recovering stroke patients in hospital. Theatre credits range from multirole actor/musician roles in childrens’ musical This Show Is Rubbish at Alphabetti Newcastle to Helene & Nanny in Elysium Theatre’s north-east tour of Ibsen’s A Dolls House. Wynne plays Mrs Smithson in a feature film Seeking Persephone due for release in the US next year. Other work includes regular role-play for Northumbria Police, Christmas storytelling for Weardale Heritage Railway and interactive site specific roles for the Live History Company. Wynne reads at Amble (Fri 17 Oct) Humshaugh (Fri 24 Oct) Morpeth (13 Nov) and Hexham (Thurs 20 Nov)
Stephen Tomlin Since qualifying as a specialist teacher from the Central School of Speech & Drama in 1972 until his effective retirement from full time work at the end of 2016, Stephen had performed extensively across the UK in a wide variety and number of television and theatre productions. Audio credits include commercial voiceovers and guest roles in Radio 4’s The Archers, Writing the Century and Home Front alongside many single radio dramas and serials. He has also worked professionally as a producer, director, writer/researcher, role player, teacher, lecturer, presenter and tour guide. Based in Lancaster for four decades, he produced ten indoor promenade Shakespeare as well as annual seasonal entertainments at Lancaster Castle under the Demi-paradise banner between 2000-2016. Since 2017 Stephen has been happily resettled in the Northumberland National Park where he founded, produces and reads for the Border Readers.
Stephen reads at all the venues.
GUEST READERS
Nigel Fyfe was born in North Shields and grew up in Whitley Bay. Having first worked in higher education, he trained as an actor at City Lit in Covent Garden, followed by further training in the Meisner Technique under Scott Williams at The Impulse Company. Theatre performances range from the London fringe (Three Sisters at the White Bear; Dinosaur Dreams at Etcetera Theatre); the Edinburgh Fringe (Kafka’s The Trial and Compulsion); Shakespeare productions (Hamlet at theRose Playhouse;Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Rosemary Branch Theatre; As You Like It; Theatre Space North East) and pantomime (Rapunzel, The Georgian Theatre, Richmond). Screen credits include a number of short films(Boss Kiss andThe Funeral Directors), the Instagram mockumentary Barred, and Eastenders and Casualty. Nigel is also a voice actor, recording audio books and audio dramas (The Long Player; The Necropolis Railway). Nigel made his BR debut reading The Weather Gleam at Humshaugh ( Fri 24 Oct) and at Morpeth (Thurs 13 Nov)
ROBERTA KERR Recent theatre includes The Lovesong of Alfred J Hitchcock for New Perspectives UK tour and Brits Off Broadway New York. She has toured with the National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and has played in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Quartet, The Lady-killers, Hard Times, Talking Heads, Stevie and Norman Conquests in repertory theatres around the North West. TV includes Downton Abbey, Hollyoaks, The Royal, Doctors, EastEnders, Casualty, Emmerdale, Medics & Brookside. Radio: Cottonopolis, Well of Loneliness and The Archers. Roberta is also known for her role as Wendy Crozier in Coronation Street. Roberta read at Wallington (Thurs 9 Oct), Staveley Roundhouse (Wed 12 Nov) and The Gregson (Wed 19 Nov)
Helen Longworth is an actor/musician and composer who trained at RADA. Theatre includes, Unruly Women, The Last Waltz andThe Wife of Usher’s Well (Quondam Theatre). Also Sirens at the Women of The World Festival Hull (Blazon Theatre). Helen has also appeared in Aladdin, Peter Pan, Cinderella: A Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty and Grimm Tales for The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster. She also performed on the QM2 in Much Ado about Nothing and Canterbury Tales. Helen composed the music for and appeared in Ladies That Bus, based on real life stories from users of the 555 bus, touring to great success. A second play, Ladies That Dig, toured in 2023. She plays the character of Hannah Riley in BBC Radio 4’sThe Archers. She previously worked with Demi Paradise Productions at Lancaster Castle in the site specificRichard III and having both compiled and appeared in the company’s annual Christmas show Deck The Hall on numerous happy occasions. Helen read at The Gregson, Lancaster (Wed 19 Nov).
Justin Webb is from Looe in Cornwall and first started acting at Sterts open air theatre on Bodmin Moor. His first professional contract was at the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham where he played in rep followed by work with the west country’s touring rep company, Orchard Theatre and at Plymouth Theatre Royal. He has had long standing working relationships with the Barbican Theatre Plymouth, TNT Theatre in Munich and Creation Theatre in Oxford, where he played many Shakespearean roles. Justin spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s touring theatre all over Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle and Far East. Locally he has worked at Northern Stage and toured with Northumberland Theatre Company. Justin read Crossing the Bar at Wallington (Thurs 9 Oct) and at the Lit & Phil (Tues 14 Oct)
ARCHIVE OF PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS
The readers toured Haunted, classic and contemporary ghost story readings, on and around Halloween in 2018 and again in 2019. During the Covid crisis of 2020/2021 more classic ghost stories were recorded for listening on You Tube. The Border Readers returned to live touring in Spring 2022 with a different theme – Many Deadly Returns, celebrating 21 years of Murder Squad, the north of England’s leading association of crime writers. They continued in 2023 with Murder They Write, more gripping crime stories by Murder Squad co-founders Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards and Cath Staincliffe. In autumn 2024 & spring of 2025 the readers were back on the road with Land Lines, short stories with a contemporary countryside setting, from Helen Dunmore, Deborah Moggach, Tim Pears, Adam Thorpe & Jo Scott. Our most extensive overall tour to date it played a total of 19 venues across the wider region.
Programmes 2018 – 2022 toured contemporary and classic short stories by: Chez Brenchley, Elizabeth Bowen, Amelia B Edwards, Elizabeth Gaskell, Muriel Gray, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Edith Nesbit, Christine Poulson, Muriel Spark and Oscar Wilde.
Short stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy and Cath Staincliffe
We are always open to play new venues and also welcome private bookings to suit particular requirements. Use the Contact page and Stephen will get back to you ASAP
STEPHEN TOMLIN 