That means that if you want to sign up, you’d be best advised to come back in a few days when we’ve moved it all to the new server. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Kate Kellaway has written about her experience telling a story at last month’s True Stories Told Live in today’s Observer. Our first event of the new year is on January 19th. If you’d like to come you have to make sure you add your email address on the right. A week before the event we send out invitations and then compile a guest list based on the responses. Because we are always trying to widen our reach we do tend to favour people who haven’t been before.

If you’d like to know more about the events or feel you could take part please get in touch via truestoriestoldlive@googlemail.com.

(From left) David Ford, Joel Bennathan, Kerry Shale, Sally Gardner, Andy Afford and Sandy Balfour.

Since we introduced our “bring along somebody who hasn’t been before” policy, I’m delighted to say that we’ve managed to extend TSTL’s reach, both in terms of audience and turns. Last night’s event was a big success for this policy.

Sandy Balfour, an author and programme maker who has also done time as a crossword compiler, told the story about how two handprints left by a small boy on a freshly painted car in South Africa in the 60s were still visible on a TV report on that country’s famous election in 1994 and how it made him feel connected to the land of his birth. Andy Afford came next. Our first speaker who’s had experience as a professional sportsman, he described what it was like as a young cricketer to attempt to bowl at the imperious Viv Richards, one of the greatest players to ever pick up a bat. It illustrates the dangers of getting the opposition cross. Andy is now the editor of All Out Cricket. Our musical turn was the estimable David Ford. David’s made three albums, the latest of which is “Let The Hard Times Roll”. The song he sang, “Stephen”, is about Stephen Carroll, the Northern Irish policeman killed by gunmen in 2009.

We’re always looking for storytellers who can talk about their work and Joel Bennathan is a classic case. A QC, he has defended in many of the major terrorist trials of recent years. For TSTL he told his story about spending a week in the British Embassy in Kabul, seeking evidence in the Stansted hijacking case. Finally, Sally Gardner, the children’s writer and illustrator, talked about her time as a theatrical designer and how her search for the perfect distressed leather jacket led to her fighting with a waste disposal unit outside the Royal Court.

Thanks to all of them and thanks to everyone who turned up. For news of the next True Stories Told Live, keep it here and follow @truestorieslive on Twitter.

Maggie Steed, Boo Hewerdine, Trevor Dann, Meg Rosoff, Paul Moriarty and Kerry Shale.

We had our first no-show at last night’s True Stories which meant there were some fairly frantic consultations during the interval to see if anyone could step into their shoes. Maggie Steed bravely volunteered to fill the breach with her story of how a con man managed to convince her and a number of other actors that he was a striking miner during the 80s dispute. Before that we’d had Paul Moriarty, a primary school head teacher and Millwall supporter, talking about his father, who came from a generation that believed in observing certain sartorial standards at football, particularly when going to away matches.

The first half was kicked off by author Meg Rosoff, who’s also been our first guest curator. She talked about the hat she bought in New York before moving to London and the part it played in her meeting her husband. (Meg has a corking blog here.) She was followed by Trevor Dann, who told a sadly true story of murder which could only come from the strange world of local radio, and the first half was finished by Boo Hewerdine who told the story of innocently misinterpreting what Steve Earle was up to in his hotel room, and sang “Honey Be Good”. Boo’s terrific latest album is “God Bless The Pretty Things”.

Thanks to everyone who took part and everyone who came. Please add your name to the mailing list on the right if you’d like to be invited to the next one, which is on November 17th. When you register your name you’ll get an auto-reply which you’ll need to confirm to make sure you’re on the list. Nothing sinister. It’s just an anti-spam measure. If you think you could tell a story please get in touch at mail@truestoriestoldlive.com.