The Shrewsbury Biscuit Podcast

Day Four of our coverage of The Darwin festival brings us to Bear Step Gallery in the heart of Shrewsbury Town. We are hear to listen to a lecture by Bibbs Cameron titled Darwin & HMS Beagle A Journey Of A Lifetime.  Bibbs talks about the very famous voyage on the Beagle, the journey of a lifetime (as titled) where Charles discovered so much that it changed the face of science forever. This lectur...

In this special episode you will get to listen to AL as he gets shown around Shrewsbury School's Darwin collection, courtesy of a tour put together by the school in aid of The Darwin festival. You will hear Dr Robin Brooke-Smith and Naomi Nicholas as they talk you through various areas of the library and context behind some of the exhibits in the archive, including letters and books. This episode...

Here is our second instalment of our coverage of 2022's Darwin Festival. Today we focus on a great lecture by Nigel Hinton titled "Darwin's Life". Recorded in the Hobbs Room at Shrewsbury Library Nigel brings us some interesting information about the life of Charles Darwin. Despite the poor audio this lecture is at least audible so listeners from afar can enjoy Nigel's work. This lecture is Nigel...

Welcome to the first episode of our coverage of The Darwin Festival 2022. Our job as always is to make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy the words of wisdom that will be shared during this week of celebrating Charles Darwin, science and the evolution of many aspects of our lives. We start with a lecture by Darwin Festival founder Jon King the lecture is called "Charles Darwin The Maki...

Imagine a food bank, but for baby items. Things that are well needed by families. That is what Little Stars Baby Bank is and AL is here to talk to founder Leanne Simcoe. A charity that was formed in the height of the pandemic has really set a very positive trend in the way it helps local families. So much so it was named charity of the year by Aico. We are here today to find out how all of this st...

Good friend of the show Mark Fielden joins AL on the Biscuit to talk about the magnificent return of Chords Crush Cancer which takes place at The Inn On The Green on the 5th February. We re-cap what the event is, where it originated from and what it means to Mark and his family. What it was like having to take a year out due to Covid and the effect the break may have had on him and the proceedings...

AL sits to chat with Kyle from KG Theatre. Back in December the Whiteley family went to watch small production pantomime, "Beauty & the Beast" in Sundorne Sports-hall. They had an amazing night, as did the rest of the audience and the cast. We just had to find out more about this project because the community aspect behind this show had such an impact. So here we are, with KG Theatre founder and s...

Here we have another great edition of Horses and Biscuits, a series of podcasts that are following the production of the TV pilot "Karen" This episode concentrates on writing. How does one write the perfect script? What are the processes that go into developing a script from a 1st draft to a final working script? To help us on today's episode Alex Whiteley is joined by Rocking Horse Media's Gareth...

Alex Whiteley is sat with Dan Reid, creator of a fantastic initiative called "Men Walking and talking" a stress free, safe weekly event where guys can meet up, go for a nice walk and talk. There is no obligation to talk about anything in particular but it is a great opportunity to meet like-minded guys, maybe get things off your chest and possibly make new friends. First off we find out a bit abou...

For this instalment of Horses & Biscuits we say goodbye to a major member of the cast of the developing TV pilot "Karen" . AL and Gareth Thomas are speaking to Steph Jerrard, the actress who was supposed to be playing the main role as Karen in the TV pilot "Karen". However, Steph has had to step a way from the project for personal reasons. We are here to find out everything you need to know about...

Recording for the first time with his new mixer, AL brings a new sleek, sexy sounding Biscuit episode. This episode features the brilliant mind that brought you the very touching Christmas video that was released by Original Shrewsbury, it's Mr Aaron Child! Aaron is no stranger to making short, beautiful videos that move people. His work has been featured at many festivals, events and promotions t...

For our first show of 2022, AL and Amy speak to superstar artist Gary Drew. You can see Gary's work in many places in around Shrewsbury, most notably in the Severn Social on Frankwell, that giant pink Flamingo is his work. We spoke to Gary at DRAWN last year and I said I would bring him in for a feature episode so here he is. We find out Gary's journey. What path did he go down to become the artis...

Meet Karen villain Wesley, aka Gavin Fraser in a real "get to know you" interview as AL sits down with the guy. You may have heard a few snippets of this interview during the "Meet the Weasel" episode of Horses and Biscuits but here is the whole interview. You may be pleasantly surprised to find out that the man behind Wesley is actually a really nice chap. "Karen" is a TV pilot that is being prod...

AL and Amy sit and chat to Robert Milton at St Mary's in a discussion about the local appreciation for history and culture. Churches are natural gathering places for people so we talk about the opportunities that could be achieved if we used churches to their full potential. AL and Robert announce a project that they are working on in the New Year. Using technology to bring people closer to local...

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Wellington Orbit cinema, we bring you a Q&A at the premier of Reduced to Clear. The film had just ended, the lights had just come up and AL was poised waiting with a mic to speak to young directors Alex Yousefi and Luke Allen about the film that they has just showed to a full audience. We hear about what it felt like to see something they have made appea...

AL is sat with Dave and Benno from the 90's Revival for this episode. In Dave's kitchen, the guys are surrounded by cameras and sipping hot drinks as they discuss what 2021 has looked for them. We start off by going back to the beginning, where did the 90's Revival begin and what has the journey been like. From those first streams that exploded into people's lives up and down the country and even...

Join AL as he takes a long, relaxed look into the lives and careers of 2 extremely talented guests. For today's episode we will be speaking to multi BAFTA winning CBBC and CBeebies producer Tony Reed and Jane Pickworth who is a very talented puppeteer and voice actor. We first take a look at Tony's career. How did he get into TV work, what has he learned over the years and where has his fantastic...

In a very relaxed podcast after a week of events, events, events, AL sits down for a very pleasant chat with Carol Harris. Carol is an author of so many brilliant books. Whether it's a book about motivation, guides on successful business or the world NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Carol has a world full of knowledge to share with her readers. Carol has also written children's books designed to...

Join AL as he speaks to Katy Rink, Beth Heath and Jeremy Lund just after the Carols had finished for Doorstep Carols. What was SUPPOSED to happen was, AL was meant to be there during the singing and capture the magical ambiance. HOWEVER, AL had set himself back by getting lost at his previous interview. It all worked out well though because as AL was speaking there was the warm glow of a fire in t...

This is a fun episode! So, AL and the Rocking Horse crew wanted you all to meet Weasel -er- Wesley, the villain for the "Karen" TV pilot production. For this we needed the actor who won the role, Gavin Fraser but he couldn't make the live show. No problem we will just pre-record Gavin's interview and throw the best bits into the live show. AL hosts Gareth, Orla and Steph as they play back answers...

It was lovely to get the invite to come and cover the DRAWN Art & Design Fair at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery. AL got to spend 2 days getting to know lots of local artists and discover a little bit about them and hear their stories. Here are all of the interviews that AL managed to get from Day 2 of the event. Featuring conversations with the following artists: - Had Davies - Steffy Illustratio...

We absolutely adore local independent artists here at The Biscuit. So to be invited to DRAWN Art & Design Fair at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery was an absolute honour. AL was at the event for 2 days and managed to secure so many great conversations with the featured artists that Day 1 would have been a near 2 hour long episode. So to make things a lot easier to digest this episode has been spl...

One of the most important goals for the Biscuit is to promote local, independent artists. So to be invited to DRAWN Art & Design Fair at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery was a huge privilege. AL was at the Fair for 2 days and managed to collect interviews from all of the artists that featured. During day one AL managed to collect around 1hr 45mins of great conversation. To make it easier to diges...

Abbey Fest was a great initiative brought to you by Shrewsbury Abbey, GinDifferent and Lingen Davies. Invite the public in to enjoy various beers, ciders and gins while listening to live music, sounds perfect! AL sauntered into the event after attending his Christmas work do at The Armoury. A few pints in, AL started his way around the Abbey speaking to various people who were enjoying their eveni...

Sarah Isaacs is a vary talented cookie with expertise in drama, script writing and is a well established author of children's literature. Derek The Alien is one of the fun characters that Sarah has created and also a book for young boys who are reluctant to read poetry. AL and Amy are on the show to talk to Sarah about her career. Where do her ideas come from? How does one get into the right minds...