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Secret Lake Stories is a soundwork by sound designer and composer Emily Zurowski, recorded on and around a small, enclosed body of water known locally as the Secret Lake, on the border of Levenshulme and Reddish in Greater Manchester. Largely hidden from surrounding streets and reached by footpaths through scrub and woodland, the lake sits within a patchwork of former industrial land, housing, rai...

Litter Written and performed by Valerie O’Riordan Set on the Fallowfield Loop A man follows his ex-wife along a local litter-picking route, trying to make sense of the past, the future and what it means to let go. Set against the backdrop of the Fallowfield Loop, Litter is a story of disconnection, stubbornness and longing - and the way even the most familiar spaces can become sites of confrontati...

Fallowfield Loop – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope The Fallowfield Loop follows the path of an old railway line - now a walking and cycling route lined with trees, graffiti, and fragments of the city’s past and present. In this portrait, we hear from the people who helped shape the Loop as a public space, a local resident passing through, and w...

Truck | Intelligible | Gains (Fallowfield Loop Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered on the Fallowfield Loop The Fallowfield Loop curves through South Manchester - a former railway line turned walking and cycling route, lined with overgrown platforms, graffiti, birdsong and nature. This soundscape captures the fragments of life that echo along t...

Tripe Written and performed by Verity Platt Set in Nutsford Vale Marta walks through Nutsford Vale, her thoughts drifting between motherhood, inheritance and the body - the weight of care and the strange rituals that shape our days. Set in a park that was once a clay pit, then a tip, Tripe is a lyrical, layered meditation on usefulness, repetition and the uncanny that quietly lurks on the edges of...

Nutsford Vale – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Nutsford Vale was once a clay pit, then a landfill - now it’s a green space shaped by care, campaigning, and community vision. In this portrait, we hear from the people who helped make that transformation possible. Their reflections reveal the long, determined effort behind the park’s existence, a...

Fears | Boring | Chip (Nutsford Vale Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Nutsford Vale Nutsford Vale sits in a quiet dip between roads and houses - once a clay pit, later a landfill, now a park. It’s a place shaped by layers, histories and reinvention. This soundscape gathers sounds and textures from the park, creating a layered, atmospheri...

Lignum Vitae Written and performed by Hette Phillips Set in Chapel Street Park A park watches the people who pass through: the ones who gather, the ones who grieve, the ones who disappear. With a voice that is slow, patient and rooted, Lignum Vitae unfolds as a quiet observation of life from the perspective of a place that is always changing but always the same. Set in Chapel Street Park, this is...

Chapel Street Park – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Tucked behind houses and running alongside the railway, Chapel Street Park is a small, open space with a quiet kind of presence - a place of memory and movement. In this portrait, we hear reflections from writer Hette Phillips and a local volunteer, each offering their own perspective on the...

Lease | Moves | Slower (Chapel Street Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate An audio piece created using field recordings gathered in Chapel Street Park Tucked behind terraced streets, not far from the railway, between a primary school and a pub, Chapel Street Park is a quiet, open space threaded with memory and movement. This soundscape brings together the ambient textures of the park, creat...

Parakeet Written and performed by Dipika Mummery Set in Highfield Country Park As snow falls on Highfield Country Park, Neena walks with her partner Mo. He’s made a decision - one that could take them away from the life they’ve built together. Parakeet is a quiet, powerful story about belonging, uncertainty, and what it means to put down roots. Dipika Mummery has written short stories and flash fi...

Highfield Country Park – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Highfield Country Park stretches across woodland, open ground and winding trails - a space for wandering, noticing and sometimes getting a little lost. In this portrait, writer Dipika Mummery shares her personal connection to Highfield, reflecting on how its landscape and wildlife shaped...

Gives | Splice | Agents (Highfield Country Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Highfield Country Park Highfield Country Park is one of Levenshulme’s largest green spaces - a mix of woodland, meadow, paths and water, where people and wildlife move together through the seasons. This soundscape weaves together fragments of that environmen...

Jean, Darlene, Jacqueline Written and performed by Marie Crook Set in Cringle Park Each morning, Jean puts on a different version of herself - a different wig, a different name. One day, a stranger in her local park mistakes her for someone else entirely. And for a little while, Jean plays along Set in Cringle Park, Jean, Darlene, Jacqueline is a quietly uncanny story about reinvention, care and t...

Cringle Park – Portrait of the Park Sound design by Oscillscope Cringle Park is a space for walking, sitting, drifting - a park with open paths and quiet corners, home to a mysterious stone circle and the routines of daily life. In this portrait, writer Marie Crook reflects on the role Cringle Park plays in her creative process, and how the textures and rhythms of the space shaped her story, Jean,...

Knots | Form | Strut (Cringle Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Cringle Park Cringle Park presents as a traditional Victorian park - wide paths, open spaces and quiet corners where people pass, pause and play. However at its centre sits a small stone circle whose origins are unclear but whose presence is quietly magnetic. This sounds...

You Are Here: Five Short Stories About Parks in Levenshulme You Are Here is a podcast of five original short stories, each inspired by one of Levenshulme’s green spaces. Written by some of Manchester's finest authors, these stories blend fiction with place, shaped by the histories, landscapes and lives that pass through them. Alongside these stories, the series also features portraits of the parks...