Food fads

"Mochyn brwnt! Or messy pig as my mother reiterated time and time again. But I liked eating with my fingers. Caught you mum! You do too.

I liked getting food everywhere, even after being told before visiting relatives not to dunk my biscuits.

One day, to finally instill manners in me, they stuck me in the shed along with the dinner

Door closing

I sat and cried into my food. I wished I was having lunch at my grandfather's.

He was creative with food like me.

When we visited, he always put a bit of roast potato underneath the horse ornament. We always believed it had done something.

Meals were fun. My grandfather really appreciated food. Of course, in the war there were times when he went without.

After dropping a prized find - a loaf of bread - in a cow pat, he and his compatriots scraped the dung off and proceeded to enjoy their first meal in ages.

Shortly after that, he found these photographs. I wonder where their next meal came from or if their parents ever stuck them in the shed.

My eating habits are still being commented on by family and friends. But if you can do this... and this...

Scream - jumping out of a plane with a parachute

...and this...

sound - eating chips with tomato ketchup

...and this...

jumping out of a plane again.

...who needs table manners?"

It's a really quirky little story, where did you get the idea?
Well I was going to do a film about climbing because I enjoy climbing, but after attending the open evening I realised people were doing a lot more personal stories. Then when we discussed memories I thought about being put in the shed when I was a child for eating messily. Then I wasn't sure where to go to with the story, whether to focus on my family and make a more serious story or to concentrate more on my grandfather and the unusual album he found in the second world war and the fact I have had no idea who these provoking photographs belong to.

Were you able to develop your thought in the Storytelling workshop?
Yes, we were talking about food and someone suggested doing food fads. I started thinking about how when I lived in Malaysia (my Dad was working there), I survived on tomato soup because I wouldn't touch any foreign food. I thought it could be funny to do something about eating habits, which affects everyone really. The storytelling circle in the workshop was the best part of the process for me because I went in there without a script and came out with something to say.

And you did a parachute jump for the RNLI? Were you scared?
Oh...sweaty palms, total fear. And the girl next to me was just looking out of the window going ooh, wow isn't that pretty? I was just trying to focus. It didn't help that the jump master was this mad South African guy with a manic grin. Then all of a sudden I was out of the plane, I'm sure they just tipped me out. But it was total bliss when the parachute opened. Three minutes feels like ten. It's just that first bit that gets you.

What did you think of the workshop?
I now feel that I am fully equipped to make another digital story from scratch to finish on my own. I learnt a lot, but it was fun aswell.