The Gathering of the Trees

Be swept away, as Storyteller Lindy Mitchell-Nilsson and International Lyre player, John Billing,
take you on an epic journey from Ancient Greece to Historical Port Arthur, to a mother's bedside.
Myth, music and personal stories are seamlessly woven together in an exploration of love, loss and
our mystical connection with the trees.

The trees gathered at the edge of the site, there was young Cypress and old oak, gentle linden and beech, graceful willow, ash, birch and elm, and the eucalyptus, blue gum and stringy bark. They draped their soft green foliage over the man-made misery. I stood witness of the breathtaking beauty of the trees, my tears fell, oh god, such majesty, so achingly beautiful I thought my heart would burst.

In that moment it seemed to me that the trees mourned with us, they stood with us in our pain. They did not judge our ugliness, our cruelty. The trees breathed in all our suffering and breathed out compassion and beauty so profound, it was a balm for my heart and music to my soul.
And it awakened within me, the memory of another time, another place, another story from eons ago where trees gathered.

​John Billing is an International Lyre Player with 40 years experience. John has produced 7 albums and written countless compositions for for lyre. John regularly performs and teaches lyre in the UK, Japan, China, Australia and Europe. www.johnlyre.co.uk

Lindy Mitchell-Nilsson is a storyteller, author and celebrant. Lindy has performed in England, Wales, India and Australia. She has written two books and is currently President of the Australian Storytelling Guild, NSW.