Bench Talk

This podcast with Gordon Miller is, as expected, about another quiet and unassuming lockdown hero. Born in Wales, educated at Harper Adams in Shropshire, and finally moving to Wormelow in South Herefordshire after a spell at Aldi, Gordon has spent the last year running around Herefordshire helping to feed school kids who couldn’t afford meals, families who couldn’t afford their Christmas dinner and generally being an angel of mercy to anyone who reached out to him and his team at his Carrot and Wine Store in Wormelow. Passionate about local food and drink and its provenance, his store is also a community meeting place that the locality loves.

Our bench today is at the Hereford Food Bank where Gordon has been delivering some of the meals that will be going out over the next week. We can hear the traffic of Commercial Road and apologies for the police sirens.

References:

https://www.facebook.com/carrotandwine/

https://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/

https://fareshare.org.uk/marcus-rashford/

http://www.lodgefarmkitchen.com

https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk

https://thebeefyboys.com

https://www.hamptoncourtcastle.co.uk

Bench talk generally celebrates Herefordshire’s volunteers, but this one highlights one of our most famous personalities - Quentin Letts. Never afraid to speak his mind but always speaking eloquently with an elaborate vocabulary, Quentin discusses with me some national issues, political and religious; as well as describing his joy in the locality. Despite working in London you will find his heart is in Hereford as we discuss the beauty of the city, the community of How Caple and Ross on Wye as well as some broader tales of the life of a political sketchwriter and satirist.

Our bench today is just outside the beautiful How Caple Church with birds singing in the trees, peacocks cawing in the graveyard and the low chatter of some visiting tourists sitting on the church wall.

This podcast celebrates the lives of extraordinary ordinary people. Ben Andrews is a mixed crop tenant farmer who farms near Leominster in Herefordshire (he also happens to be gay); just like I’m a farmer (and happen to be a woman). It is not your sex or sexuality that should define you in any industry but farming is a particularly traditional environment, not least in such an un-diverse county as Herefordshire. We discuss this, as well as farming, food waste, food prices and his efforts to raise awareness and platform LGBT + in the farming community through social media and a signposting website. As ever I ask Ben to highlight his top tourism tips for Herefordshire – the outdoor life is unsurprisingly becoming something of a theme.

Today our bench is a flat roll (farming equipment, not a small loaf of unrisen bread) in the corner of his farmyard. Birds in the trees and the rumble of tractors and vehicles make up the background noise.
(By the way Ben, the Picturesque movement was started by William Gilpin with his ‘Observations on the River Wye’ – we should have known that!)

This podcast celebrates the lives of extraordinary ordinary people. Vince McNally is one of those people, a modest MBE holder who has been involved with so many vulnerable young people in Hereford and the county beyond. As you will hear Vince is a softly spoken, self-effacing and straightforward man, but his heart is huge and is outreach into his community over the years he has been Manager at the Hinton Community Centre is quite outstanding. He talks about his life, his aspirations, the people he helps on a daily basis as well as the customary tips for visiting Herefordshire.

Today our bench is right next to the boxing ring at the South Hinton community centre, which luckily is currently not being used – if it were I don’t think we would hear too much, but as it is the sound of the busy Hereford road nearby and the music and whoops from the cheerleaders practicing next door only augments the atmosphere of my next Bench Talk.

This podcast celebrates the buzz of volunteering. My subject this time, Suzanne Hughes, is an extraordinary ordinary person who has discovered the adrenaline rush that being a volunteer can give. Suzanne will put her hand up for anything and everything and she tells the everyday tale of how helping other people can bring light to the individual, her struggles with MS and of course her three top tips for Herefordshire tourism.

Suzanne lives in Lyonshall and has been a neighbour of ours for nearly 30 years – our kids were at school together. Of course there is much more to Suzanne than a 17 minute interview but this gives you a flavour of someone for whom volunteering has become a way of life; and has made me think about how these selfless people are often the life blood of our community. There are many who do the same kind of thing as Suzanne, but her joie de vivre and her enthusiasm for work despite her disability of MS makes her a shining example of how anyone can help.

Our bench is in her garden which is in front of Lyonshall Castle next to her house and farmyard. We had donkeys behind us, geese in front of us, ducks on the pond, birds in the trees and you can even hear the toll of the Lyonshall church bell part way through.

My second podcast is an exclusive ‘bench-talk’ with Kate Bingham AKA the Vaccine Czar. Kate voluntarily chaired the Vaccine Task Force from May - December 2020 which was responsible for procuring 357 million doses of 7 vaccines across 4 different types now being rolled out over the last 4 months (NB only 3 vaccines rolled out so far – with others to follow), and has put us in the top tier of world vaccine progress. She hails from the Herefordshire Welsh borders, she’s married to our Hereford MP Jesse Norman, 58, and has strong affiliations with our county. Our bench this time is Arthur’s stone - a neolithic chambered tomb dating back to between 2700 - 3700 BC atop Dorstone Hill. With fabulous views both ways - Golden Valley and Wye Valley and a good starting point for many footpaths, this transmission is enhanced by bird song, baaing sheep and again a few gusts of wind.

Our conversation includes some exclusive material and covers areas around her growing up on these borderlands, her work chairing the vaccine force, how it was working with the government rather than in the private sector, her thoughts about the progress of the vaccine in Europe and beyond, her ideas on a revaccination strategy, her feelings around impostor syndrome as well as the customary 3 top tips for places to see or visit in Herefordshire. And if you have never heard about Bog Snorkelling Mountain Biking then listen on - it’s a laugh out loud moment. Kate is also passionate about the NMiTE initiative (our new Higher Education Institution in Hereford) as well as being determined that to attract the young and business people to our glorious county we must ensure excellent broadband and communications because there is certainly plenty to do once you get here.

Amongst all this serious material you get a feeling for Kate and why she is such a pioneer in her field, straight-talking, clever (despite the fact that at one point she says: ‘I’m not very clever…’!), down to earth and extremely determined. But there is humour and humility which makes for a charming conversation on top of Dorstone Hill sitting on our stony ‘bench’.

In our first episode of Bench Talk, Jo Hilditch talks to Patricia Thomas who was High Sheriff of Herefordshire from March 2020 – March 2021. A challenging year to take on such a role, they discuss the role of High Sheriff, what a High Sheriff can during a year of national lockdown as well as her thoughts and aspirations for Herefordshire. As with all the Bench Talk podcasts, and in keeping with intended authenticity, this transmission takes place on a bench in Hereford Cathedral Gardens on rather a windy afternoon, so apart from the bells, the seagulls and the birds please excuse the wind noise throughout the recording. We hope this doesn’t diminish your enjoyment of what is an informative and entertaining conversation with Tricia.

The role of High Sheriff is a little known, completely unfunded, ambassadorial and ceremonial position which is the oldest Royal appointment in the UK. It is a yearly position which has become an opportunity and a platform for individuals to raise profile of others in areas of crime prevention, emergency services, charitable, judicial and the services sector and to promote community cohesion. The first recorded Herefordshire High Sheriff was in around 1060 – we’ve come a long way! Listen to this podcast to discover more, and hear Jo and Tricia myth-bust the role, talk about the balancing of such a role as a working woman, particularly in light of the pandemic, about her affiliations to charities she has been able to support and her love of Herefordshire.

During this year Jo will be talking to some volunteers of note, and high profile personalities in the county as well as some less well known, but similarly amazing unsung heroes, people who head local charities and others who hold public office. As a first podcast, a chat to the preceding High Sheriff seems wholly apposite.