Sound from a Town

An audio walk in Bedford on a Sunday, contrasting the sounds of St. John's Retail Park and St. John's Church. You can read a more detailed write-up in a blogpost on my website here: https://georgepowell.online/blog/   Recorded on 12th March 2023.

Many businesses on the High Road thrive on match-days. Many don't. The businesses that suffer due to the council-enforced road closures, often barbershops, beauty salons and off-licenses and other retail, still have to pay the same business rates, despite many customers staying away when Tottenham play at home. In some instances, the till can be down more than half compared with a non-match day.  ...

A walk around Westminster on Thursday 19th January. From 12 bells to 1 bell. Along with the sound of Big Ben, you can hear me get shouted at by police speeding through Parliament Square and the sound of many gates being closed and locked. There were also people protesting outside Downing Street, and I spoke to Geza Tarjanyi, who made headlines a week later for pushing Matt Hancock in a tube statio...

Listen to what nurses are saying and singing on the picket line outside UCLH in Camden.   Recorded on 19 January 2023.    Location: 51.5251963, -0.1367342 

Recorded in April 2021.

A short walk during the heavy snowfall on the 11th December 2022, where children and adults ventured outside to make a mark on their brand new surroundings in the form of footsteps, scooped handfuls, and snow angels.

I forget when I did this, maybe late January 2021. Location in the title. www.georgepowell.online

Recorded at 19:56 on 3rd November 2022.   54.57901, -1.23466

Terry is known as the Bard of Flaybrick. A volunteer at the cemetery who recites poems to the visitors on Flaybrick's walking tours. He's written over 2000 poems with subjects ranging from historical figures of Birkenhead, to local people, places and organisations. I spoke to Terry to find out where his love of poetry came from, why he volunteers, and how important Flaybrick is to him, and by exte...

About a mile off the coast of West Kirby, on The Wirral, is a sandstone archipeligo with an on-off relationship with the rest of the peninsular.  Roughly every twelve hours, the tide arrives and cuts off the outcrops from the mainland. For around 3 to 5 hours, anyone caught on Hilbre or Middle Eye is pretty much alone, save for the curious brown seals, elegant swallows and swifts, and the sea.  Th...

Recorded during Easter Half term in 2022, this walk up and down Blackpool's Central Pier captures the town's summer season kicking into gear.    While Blackpool hasn't recovered its popularity as a seaside resort since the rise of package holidays in the 50s, many people still travel down to the piers. From local day trippers with their children, to older visitors who would have first holidayed th...

A solution to cool down London's Tube network is causing all sorts of problems above ground. Mid-Tunnel Ventilation Shafts are placed at intervals along the tunnels to expel hot air, but to do so they use fans, which emit a noise that can ruin the lives of people that live around them. This episode looks at two different cases, on either end of the Victoria Line, how the structures have affected t...

The Bingley 5 Rise is the steepest staircase lock on the whole canal waterway in the UK. In 1972, the locks appeared on a satirical BBC2 programme called 'Black Safari'. The programme turned the 'white explorer discovers Africa' trop on its head, and instead saw a group of African explorers discovering deepest darkest England - with the 5 Rise being one of the landmarks they studied.   Originally...

In July 2020, I was invited to Sardinia by my friend Sascha. He was keen to show me around his favourite place on earth, and tell me all about the songwriter Fabrizio De André, who himself fell in love with the island. I gladly saved, packed my Zoom H2N, and headed out for my first trip to Italy.   I wanted to record as much as possible of Sascha telling me about Fabrizio de André, showing me arou...

Recordings from Nyanga and Harare in the north-east of Zimbabwe. Nyanga is known as the highland area, with its own micro climate and unique species of birds. There's also alot of cattle farming so, you should be able to hear the cow bells in the distance. The final recording is of the Harare suburbs where, like most cities, nature is barely audible.   Submitted by Ste Hughes and Gugu Masuku; reco...

In our first conversation, Anuar introduced himself as the 'unnoficial, unhonorable, unelected Mayor of Tottenham'. It was clear from the start, that after 40 years living in the town, that Anuar had seen it all, and had his own take on the character of the place. Often seen darting in and out of the many locally owned businesses to check up on people, and known by pretty much anyone who's been in...

Shopz got Barz sprung up during lockdown and went viral on social media. The platform invites people of all walks of life to come in to a typical London corner shop and do a freestyle. Originally based on Broad Lane not far from Seven Sisters, freestyles are now done just up the road on Philip Lane. I spoke to Richy and Frenzi about their origins, as well as how much Tottenham itself has played a...

Callum Jack is, in his own words, "a mix of every character in 'People Just do Nothing'". The photographer has lived in Tottenham, just off the High Road, his whole life, and can often be seen scuttling about N15 and N17 selling his Tottenham-branded t-shirts. He agreed to let me follow him with a microphone for a day, to find out a bit more about him. He takes me to his local chicken shop, down t...

Every year, there's a protest outside Tottenham Police Station, aiming to bring to light the police brutality that has marred the area, and the globe, for decades. This is just a small excerpt from the day. In this episode you'll hear from Stafford Scott , a well-known figure in Tottenham and London, who has been tirelessly campaigning for justice, racial equality, and an end to police brutality....

A recorded walk; starting from Woodside, and heading north along the coast, around the Irish ferry terminal, to Seacombe.   Birkenhead docks appear to be in a state of redevelopment, home to a large telecommunications company and the local college, Wirral Met. New pavements have been laid down.   From: 53.39523, -3.01 To: 53.40977, -3.01617

Tranmere Rovers are a team currently in League 2 of the English Football League.   As the only club on the Wirral, the club is a focal point for community activity on the peninsular, and for years has had to compete with its noisy neighbours across The Mersey River, Liverpool and Everton, for attention.   Recorded during a home defeat to Newport County on the 21st August 2021.   Location: 53.3737,...

In the 19th Century, the sand on Meols beach was covered by settlements, stretching into the Irish Sea. Strong tides and extreme weather washed these away into the sea, and the coastline retreated 500 metres.   Evidence of a submerged forest could be seen up until the early 80s, and artefacts discovered here suggest that 'Dove Point' was a trading route, enabled by 'Hoyle Lake', a channel of water...