Creating a CD from recordings is a good way to share stories with people. CDs can be simply made up of interview extracts, or edited in a more complex way to include sounds effects. It's a straightforward process and easy to master the technique of editing, but if you would like someone to do it for you, then please get in touch.
Below are some individual recordings that I have made, a number of which also appear on the CD compilations.
Below are some individual recordings that I have made, a number of which also appear on the CD compilations.
Jim McFarlaneFisherman
The Scottish island of Islay "Our family came here two-hundred years ago, hand lining for cod" "There was a huge fishery here in 1886 to 1893, seven or eight years of huge herring fishing." |
Oral Histories
In Scotland and Yorkshire, I collect rural stories. These document men and women's lives. Over the years I have spoken with crofters, fishermen, skippers, gypsy caravan makers, miners, hill farmers, teachers, blacksmiths. The results show a landscape rich in stories and depicts a rural way of life sure to inspire a new generation interested in traditional methods, crafts and values. |
Dinah Lee
Teacher
Middlesmoor, Nidderdale "Some of the boys were very big, and the headmistress was very very stern, you daren’t hardly breathe" "I mean, actually, there weren't many books. I remember we read the same books over and over again"
"All the children in the village called me Auntie Dinah. So I was Auntie Dinah. I'm still Auntie Dinah to a lot of them"
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Herbert Allison
Gypsy caravan maker
Patrick Brompton, North Yorkshire "They 'ad a 'ard life did gypsies" "I made gypsy caravans. Yes. I've done all sorts actually. But I'm a joiner by trade."
"In winter it was snowing and there wasn't a door on the caravan and there was a little bairn, I can't tell you if it was a lad or a lass, hadn't a stitch on laid in bed, not a stitch on. And it was snowing outside, there was no fire. Never forget that. By! "
"I never did a lot of fancy work on 'em. I did the molding, but I never painted 'em all the fancy work, oh no, because some of 'em, it's out of this world. "
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John Rayner
Hill farmer Gouthwaite, Nidderdale Christmas. "We always had a goose. There wun’t any turkeys fifty and eighty years ago. Never ‘eard of ‘em. " "We took me Dad to Masham sheep fare in September, he stayed with his cousin at High Knowle Farm, then he walked back."
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Sam Hessleden
Agriculture
Willsill, near Pateley Bridge "We got to the place where we were born. We knocked on the door and a woman came to the door" "So Ben walked to the side of me Dad and we came in home. We didn't get scolded because of we'd been naughty for going, and we never went away no more"
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Steve 'Stego' Parker
Designer Maker, Metal Worker
Workshop near Mickely, North Yorkshire "It's called upcycling these days...I like something which has had a previous life. When...I've done events...some guys will come along, you can see they're grinning cos they recognise the bits -'Oh, yeah, that's off a plough, that's off a combine.'" |
Duncan GilliesGame Keeper
Glasshouses, North Yorkshire "You'll know the duties of a Game Keeper ... to manage the moorlands, predator control." |
Malcolm WilsonCampsite Owner & Farmer
Goredale, in Malhamdale "There’s a lot of archaeology one way and another around ‘ere if you want to find it. There’s archaeology down there on campsite, I know there is, I’ve not dug it up yet. But I know there is something down there cos I’ve found something in the past." |
Gladys Blakeson
Postwoman, Lofthouse Post Office,
Upper Nidderdale " When I got to be 21, the postman retired and they wanted another, so I took it." "Mrs Knowle that lived right at the top of the edge of the moor, the highest farm there is ... there was always a cup of tea."
"They were the only people with a car...and we used to think they were right posh cos they had a car!"
"20th of March we got married, because we went to see Vicar and Lent was on, and - 'You can't have flowers, and you can't have this, and you can't have that...'"
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Jack Haines
Engineer, Scar and Gouthwaite,
Upper Nidderdale "I was born at Scar Village, 18 The Terrace, 1926. Went to school at Scar. There were three classrooms; they ended up they had t' send for an extra classroom in those days." "I was a good singer. I was in the choir at Ramsgill. I could sing."
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John Wheldon
Farmer, Grantley, near Ripon
"They bombed Sheffield. I can remember going down [with my dad] with horse and cart, Captain, black and white piebald, down past Sheffield Wednesday football ground. Trams were all welded together. Oh, nasty. Bombing's not very nice. I'd only be very very young then. And blimmin old horse never batted an eyelid." |
Paul Reinsch
Miner and
Mine restoration, Greenhow, near Pateley Bridge "It's a Witch's Stone.You know sometimes when you're on the river when it's all pebbles you find one with a hole in? Well, they're lucky. And what the led miners used to do is find them and perhaps drill a hole in the wall with a wooden peg and hang them on. And they keep the evil spirits out of the mine. They keep it safe. There's a date. I think it's 1784." |
Peter Boddy
Miner, mechanic, resident of Greenhow Village and Pateley Bridge, Nidderdale
"I was in Scotton Banks sanotorium nearly three years, and Middleton nearly a year after that. Because there were mostly women and children at Scotton Banks, so I had to go Middleton, when I were bout fourteen. And when I was at Scotton Banks I remember having some ... what do you call that like jelly ... blancmange I think it was ... out of a chamber pot. A new one I think, cos pottery was scarce then. It were one Christmas.." |