We Did It Medway

We’re releasing this episode (our Season 1 finale) on a Sunday rather than the regular Tuesday, for a very good reason indeed: 1st December 2024 is the 57th anniversary of the amazing Jimi Hendrix performing in the Central Theatre, Chatham, another milestone in the long, rich history of Medway’s music scene. The Hendrix Experience were headlining a package tour of seven bands - the kind of tour th...

Join us for a walk through Chatham Intra, as Rob reveals the rich history of the LGBTQIA+ community in Medway, and in particular the huge importance of The Ship Inn on the High Street in Intra, possibly the oldest gay pub in the country.   For decades The Ship has been at the heart of the gay scene in the area – during the dark days when homosexuality was still illegal and necessarily undergr...

Two locations for this episode: first we’re at the Watts Almshouses on Maidstone Road in Rochester, for a round table discussion about the heritage of charity in Medway.  We’re joined by Martin Sissons, CEO of the Watts Charity, which is nearly 450 years old and still as relevant and needed as ever. We’re also with Janet Fischer, Chief Executive of Live Music Now, which brings music to vulner...

A highlight for both of us: a wonderful long May Bank Holiday weekend enjoying the wealth of music, tradition and fun that the Sweeps Festival brings to Rochester every year, with morris dancing ‘sides’ descending to perform all along the High Street and up in the Castle Grounds. Around all that centuries-old tradition there’s also a booming world music/folk/roots festival in venues across Rochest...

Moored at Gillingham Pier, there’s a boat which has an astonishing history: the paddle steamer the Medway Queen. In the 1920s and 30s she transported thousands of holidaymakers from the Medway towns for day trips to resorts like Sheerness and Margate, Clacton and Southend. But when the Second World War came she was transformed into a minesweeper, and then in 1940 crisscrossed the Channel to Dunkir...

Medway is definitely Dickens country - we’re proud of the fact he grew up in Chatham as a boy, used the money from his novels to buy his house Gad’s Hill over in Higham, and drew huge inspiration from the people, the buildings and the stories of Rochester in particular, as well as the other Medway towns. In this episode we find out all about his love of acting, and why he went on the road in later...

Every week, local football teams play at Strood Leisure Centre on pitches called ‘Messi’, ‘Pochettino’ and ‘Batistuta’ - but do they know why? In this episode we’re telling the story of Isaac Newell, a Strood lad who left Medway as a teenager in the 1860s for far-off Argentina, taking the beautiful game with him. The team he inspired, Newell’s Old Boys, has nurtured some of the very best footballi...

Join us this week down on Rochester Esplanade at the Suffrage Sensory Garden.  Created in honour of local Suffragist leader Vera Conway Gordon, it celebrates her campaign to get women the vote over 100 years ago. Natalie Poulton, the driving force behind the garden, is passionate about Vera’s life and her legacy in Medway. But women still face challenges in politics today. We also speak to th...

We Did It Medway is a bright, quirky, respectfully irreverent podcast, celebrating the best of Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham... and not forgetting Rainham. Or come to that the Peninsula. Each episode takes a fresh look at – and listen to – the rich culture, history and character of Medway. Discover more about Strood's connection to Argentinian football with BBC Sports South American footb...