Today Jo is talking to Bex McDaid. Although Bex looks as though she should be in Line Of Duty, she’s actually a real life Sergeant with the Safer Neighbourhood Team for the Hereford West Mercia Police. Our bench today is in the carpark of the Hereford Police Station in Gaol Street where we hear seagulls, Bex’s radio, street noises, traffic and the occasional police siren.

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.

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.

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.

My subject this time, Suzanne Hughes, is an extraordinary ordinary person who has discovered the adrenaline rush that being a volunteer can give.

Jo Hilditch talks to Kate Bingham who 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.

Jo Hilditch talks to Patricia Thomas who was High Sheriff of Herefordshire from March 2020 to 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.