Tag: oral history
Beautifully chaotic oral history interview with Amanda Owen
During the course of my work I get to interview some wonderful people and get an intimate but short-lived window into their lives. My beautifully chaotic interview with the ‘Yorkshire Shepherdess’, Amanda Owen, has to rank as one of my favourites.
Driving to the Yorkshire Dales on a crisp early autumn morning brought back lovely memories of my time working on a moorland restoration project in the early 2000s. The uplands have a unique smell – a mix of fresh air, vegetation and peat – and my destination today was in the heart of the Upper Swaledale.
Amanda Owen, watched by millions on ITV’s The Dales, met me at the door with babe on hip and two young smiling toddlers in tow. She and her young family live a life that has almost gone in today’s modern world, a life ruled by her … Read More »
MK Trails: Wolverton app – Milton Keynes
How do you learn about the world’s first railway town that has now been absorbed by the 1960s new town of Milton Keynes? Why, download the MK Trails app of course!
“Imagine a geometric pattern of raw, red brick, made up of long straight streets of terraced houses criss-crossing each other…the whole plumped down in the middle of gently undulating green fields and cornlands…and you have a rough bird’s eye view of my home town, Wolverton”
Greta Barker, Buckinghamshire Born
A town of modest red brick terraces, Wolverton is nevertheless unique as the world’s first ‘railway town’. It was built by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in the 1830s to house its workshops and workers.
Welcome To…Milton Keynes
Working with Milton Keynes Living Archive and Wolverton and Greenleys Town Council, Audio Trails have developed a smartphone app based upon their Welcome To…Native app software. The MK Trails: Wolverton app guides visitors and locals around some … Read More »
Heart of Teesdale app
A location-aware (iOS & Android) app taking you to the sites that inspired the creative talents of revered artists such as JW Turner and Sir Walter Scott.
The Heart of Teesdale (HoT) Landscape Partnership is a Heritage Lottery funded (HLF) project based in Barnard Castle in Teesdale and hosted by Durham County Council.
Features
Audio Trails was commissioned to develop an app that showcases:
– the cultural heritage of local artists, such as Turner and Cotman, and writers, such as Walter Scott
– modern artistic heritage through HoT’s Teesdale Viewmarkers project -12 modern viewmarkers placed in the landscape, and the rich (sometimes gruesome) history of Barnard Castle.
The app also contains:
– Maps and directions for 11 walking trails of varying distance and themes, with GPS tracking
– Fascinating information about historic and cultural places of interest that make Teesdale unique
– A focus on music and dialect and the importance of place … Read More »
The art of interpreting emotions and challenging subjects
Last month I went to France with my family and during the last week of our holiday we explored the Western Front – the scene of horrific and bloody frontline conflicts during World War 1.
Firstly we went to Verdun. The village of Fleury, or at least its pockmarked remains, were very poignant. During the war it was completely destroyed and the land was made uninhabitable to such an extent that a decision was made not to rebuild it. The area was so contaminated by corpses, explosives and poisonous gas that no farmer could work the land. Today only stones mark the location of each building and the occupation of its owner.
Having headed west to the Somme I was moved by the massive crater we found at La Boiselle (feature image courtesy of Georges Vandenbulke © 2011). A mine had been … Read More »
South Pennine’s audio trail and podscroll
Pennine Prospects initially commissioned us to undertake a series of oral history recordings for a ‘Watershed Landscape Lives’ DVD, which captured the passion of those who visit, enjoy or make their livelihood from the South Pennines.
Since then we have also produced:
– The Piethorne Reservoir Audio Trail is a story of people and water. More specifically: increasing numbers of people craving increasing amounts of water. This is also a story of dramatic change.
– The Reservoir Spotters Guide Podscroll helps you explore the South Pennine reservoir landscape and identify architectural features and some of the varied wildlife you might see whilst walking near an upland reservoir.
– The Sheddon Clough Podscroll will help you explore the unusual limestone hushings at Sheddon Clough on foot.
A podscroll is simply a digital booklet that can be downloaded onto your smartphone/iPod etc and viewed when you want … Read More »
