Hello You - the Shropshire podcast with Jim Hawkins

‘Learning to sing is learning to find your voice’ Hello You the Shropshire podcast is about people, and stories. It’s also about amplifying the voices of people you might not hear from otherwise … or giving them a voice in the first place. Cathy Beech also gives people their voices. She helps them to discover the voices they may not even believe they have. Cathy’s a vocal coach with her own singin...

‘We have spent twenty-five years fighting to ensure he has the chance to live the life he deserves’ After the summer-showcase gig of the local music-training organisation Rockschool (here’s the episode of Hello You I recorded on the night) I was approached by Sarah Thomas. Sarah is chair of Shropshire Parent Carer Council , which supports SEND families in the county. She wants you to hear what it’...

‘I want to create the pictures that my eyes see, not what the camera sees’ Shropshire is a beautiful county. So you might think a job taking photographs of it would be a breeze. But early starts, arduous walks, long editing sessions and hours of waiting are all part of the gig … along with the occasional inexplicable experience. John Hayward is the creator of those wonderful images you see on soci...

‘People go to York, but why go to York when you can go to Shrewsbury?’ Wouldn’t it be wonderful to explore Shrewsbury with an expert guide on hand? One that can tell you all about hundreds of fascinating places and buildings, including stories and information you’d never even guess? Now, it’s possible, thanks to cultural archaeologist Dr Paul Belford. He’s created Histomap . It’s an app which is c...

How does this make you feel? This is an image of a flag of the Cross of St George, aka the England flag. You can tell it’s a flaggy-flag, because on the left-hand side you’ll see two eyelets through which you can pass cable-ties while wobbling up a ladder against a lamppost at 2:30am. Image credit: Temu, who must be laughing all the way to Shanghai’s Financial District right now … Quite a few of t...

Is it possible to care too much? A couple of things to mention while you ponder that question … Thank you for being part of the Hello You family! Just by listening to Hello You the Shropshire podcast, you’re part of a very special friendship group. It’s more like a family, really. If you want to pull up a chair to the Hello You virtual kitchen table and make yourself properly at home, then please...

‘Rock music goes into me’ There’s nothing quite like playing music with other people. You learn so much about them and about yourself, it enhances aspects of your mind and your life in a way you wouldn’t believe, and it’s just so much fun, so satisfying, so life-enhancing … Anybody who introduces others to the thrill and joy of making music, especially in an ensemble or a band, is a hero to me. ‘I...

‘Fewer people would be getting on small boats if there were safe routes into the UK’ The issue of migration, refugees and asylum-seekers is the rusty barbecue of British politics. It’s dragged out every summer. Cautious people steer well clear. And then some knobhead douses it in petrol. ‘It says we don’t care’ This episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast came about after the sudden - overnigh...

‘Quite where the Flower Show goes next, I don’t know’ The Shrewsbury Flower Show should have been taking place this weekend. But it isn’t. Shropshire Horticultural Society announced back in the spring that this year’s show wouldn’t be going ahead, owing to rising costs and challenging commercial circumstances. The news came as quite a shock, because the Flower Show has been a fixture in the Shrops...

A Shropshire soundscape in vivid stereo Have you heard a Hello You soundscape before? This is something I do on Hello You the Shropshire podcast, to transport you to somewhere in Shropshire for a little while. The soundscapes are quite simply recordings of what’s happening in a particular places at a particular time. In audio art parlance, they’re field recordings. They can help you perceive somew...

‘It’s for us to put the jam and cream on the scone of Shrewsbury’ What is ‘… in Bloom’, and why is it such a big thing in Shrewsbury? Does it lead to Shrewsbury’s street people being removed from the town temporarily? And why do the benches in the Square keep moving around?! ‘This Square belongs to the public, three-hundred and sixty-five days of the year’ Shrewsbury’s Town Clerk Helen Ball tackle...

‘All of us are terrible parents at some point’ Mothers. We’ve all got one, or had one, and our relationships with them can be loving, fraught, empowering, frustrating … and even creative. All Roads Lead to Mother is the title of an exhibition of work by mother and daughter artists Sam Pooley Stride and Daisy Pooley Tolkien Williams . It was shown recently at Shrewsbury’s Swan Hill Studios , a spac...

‘Lots of people use us as their corner shop’ Join me on the bench outside Tesco Extra in Harlescott, Shrewsbury , to meet people who work, shop, and meet there, in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. The conversation covers Oasis, people-watching, The Yodel Man, tackling climate change by reducing food waste, neighbours from hell, loving or hating self-service tills, and one of my fa...

‘It’s the actions that people recognise’ In July 2024, Dr Julia Buckley was elected as Shrewsbury’s first Labour MP for twenty years, and the new constituency’s first-ever female MP. How has her first year been? What impact is she making on behalf of the county town, in the corridors of Westminster? I sat down with Julia Buckley to hear her answers not only to those questions, but also to a whole...

‘There’s nothing else like it in Shropshire’ Shirehall, former home of Shropshire County Council and subsequently Shropshire Council, is certainly unique in the county. But is that a good enough reason to keep it, and develop new uses for the building? There’s an exhibition of contemporary photographs from around the time of the 1967 opening of Shirehall, currently on show at the Bear Steps Galler...

‘Singing is good for your soul’ Just before you meet the subjects of today’s episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, let me tell you what’s coming up on the feed over the next few days: It’s one of Shrewsbury’s - Shropshire’s - most controversial buildings. But what should its fate be? Shrewsbury Civic Society thinks Shirehall is too good to lose. Hear why on Hello You on Friday morning … The...

What would you ask Julia Buckley MP? The Labour government’s been in power for a year this weekend, and it’s a year since Dr Julia Buckley was elected Labour MP for Shrewsbury. I hope soon to be interviewing Dr Buckley about her first year in Parliament , and about the first twelve months of the Starmer administration, for Hello You the Shropshire podcast. I have a list of my own questions already...

‘I’d rather feel everything to an extreme than feel nothing at all’ On a hot Thursday afternoon, I sat on a bench on Shrewsbury’s Pride Hill to record some conversations with whoever sat down next to me. In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, you can hear what happened. ‘That’s something that brings me joy … serving others’ You might recognise this guy’s face. If you spend much time...

‘If it’s something that takes the edge off life, embrace it’ If you’ve heard of urbex at all, you might just think of it as people going where perhaps they shouldn’t, just for the thrill of it. But for writer, photographer and urban explorer Chris Schurke, it’s much than that. It’s transformed his mental health and self-esteem. And he’s passionate about the idea of urban exploration shedding a lig...

‘Offa’s Dyke ran through my grandfather’s pub’s beer garden’ Offa’s Dyke is hugely significant … and, for that matter, huge. But how much do we in Shropshire know or understand about it? Or about the nature of the border between us and our neighbours to the west? ‘There’s a fundamental human curiosity about where we’re from’ This is something that’s occupied landscape archaeologist Mel Roxby-Macke...

What would make you quit a job you loved? Donna, Paul and Stephen used to work at Shrewsbury Prison. They say they’d found their dream jobs … so what led them, and others, to leave? Donna, Paul and Stephen shared their stories with me. These stories raised questions that needed answers, so I spoke to Joel Campbell, CEO of the company that owns and runs the prison, for his response. Hear what each...

‘Why don’t I just die, and make life easier for you?’ Jan Ward - professionally, Jan Daniels - from Hodnet is an entertainer. She’s a singer and songwriter, but her live performing career was cut short by her life-long health problems. You can find an album of her songs on Spotify . Jan’s on Universal Credit. Her recent dealings with the DWP left her distraught, depressed and contemplating suicide...

‘This is part of the histories of hundreds of people’ Former mayor of Shrewsbury Jane Mackenzie knew that her grandfather had played a part in the effort that brought thousands of Jewish children to the UK as refugees from Nazi Germany. What she didn’t know was the extent of his involvement, and the lengths he went to in helping the children who came here. Jane’s been researching her grandfather’s...

How do you make everything work together? As you might’ve gathered from a few glitches in the Hello You universe over the last couple of weeks, not everything’s been entirely plain sailing in my world of late. Illness, stress and overcommitting myself are to blame for most of them. And then I get clobbered by anxiety because of what’s not getting done … I realise this is a pretty small hill of bea...

Nerdy is no more The café, events space and gaming venue on Mardol in Shrewsbury closed last weekend. Some of the Nerdy diehards said goodbye to the venue with The Final Hurrah, a cabaret evening, on Sunday night. I went along to meet some of them and to take in part of the show. Hear what happened on this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. It’s County Show weekend! Shropshire County Sho...