In 2004 I met Brian Marshall while I was setting up a storytelling company of people with learning disabilities in Somerset. Brian, who has died aged 70, was the first to join, and his commitment never wavered. He revealed himself to be a natural and compulsive narrator with a genius for saying exactly the right words at the right time.
“The thing is …” he pronounced at the end of a show at the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey “everyone’s got a story to tell!” To the local MP at a campaign meeting against cuts in mobility allowance, he said: “You’re going to leave people with disabilities staring at walls. And that’s not right.”
He went on to co-deliver projects in schools, residential homes and day centres, and to offer remarkable staff training through telling his life story. When the company became a charity, Open Storytellers, in 2009, he joined the board as a trustee. He had a deep well of experience and wisdom that cut through bureaucracy and jargon, and grounded the organisation in the values that he exemplified – respect for others, generosity, risk-taking and fun.
Brian was born in Templecombe, Somerset, one of six children of Joan and Derek Marshall, who worked in various jobs during his childhood, including agricultural, factory and cleaning work. His early life was not easy. He was in and out of hospitals, and moved eventually to long stay institutions: first Norah Fry in Shepton Mallet, then Selwood hospital in Frome.
The residents formed deep and lasting friendships, and one of the sadnesses for Brian after the inevitable closures was the sheer difficulty of keeping in touch. This was remedied when he co-led, along with Professor Dorothy Atkinson, a leading academic in life story work by people with learning disabilities from the Open University, a funded project to collect memories from both residents and staff.
For a time Brian lived for a time in a group home in Frome and then relocated joyously to his own flat in the town, festooned with Liverpool FC memorabilia, and with a tiny yard for growing the tomatoes and sunflowers he loved. When he became too frail to cope independently, he accepted a move to residential care with his usual grace.
Well known in Frome, Brian taught those who knew him how to laugh, how to embrace change, how to treat every challenge as new learning, with great humility and self awareness; and how to be a true and lasting friend. His autobiography, Great Strides, is available at the Openstorytellers website.
Brian kept in touch with and is survived by his brother Richard, two nephews, Christopher and Lee, and niece, Justine.
