Changing Lives

In September 2019, when most of us would hardly have been giving a thought to the functioning of our lungs, I went to record a singing session with Breathe Music in Essex.  It was a beautiful autumn day.  Children were playing in the playground outside the community hall.  Nobody had any idea what lay over the horizon.  This podcast comes in two parts...Before and After.    In the first we hear harpist Mary Anne Barclay who founded Breathe Music five years ago and Linda Leech, a nurse specialist in lung health who prescribes singing for her patients.   All the singers you hear here are under the strictest form of self isolation now and Linda is about to join the hard-pressed specialist nurses working in intensive care.  I catch up with them in the second part of this podcast.  Mary Anne's harp-playing weaves its way through the piece and I have deliberately left the ending unedited so you can experience the calm felt by the singers at the end of the session.  No more coughs...just peace and companionship.

 Mary Anne can be contacted at www.breathemusic.org.uk 

'Colchester Breathe Easy is a friendly support group for people suffering from lung conditions and their partners/carers. We hold monthly meetings in which we have guest speakers and refreshments. Membership is free.  All you have do is  fill in a registration form.'

'Once you become a member this entitles you to join our weekly Exercise [£2] and Singing {£3] sessions. We are always welcoming new members,  if you are interested please contact John Price at [email protected] '

Darren has the charm of the Devil and Lorraine is the love of his life.  As I edited their story, I realised I was editing 'West Side Story' cut-and-pasted into the heart of East London.  It is a story of love...deep, abiding love, murder in self-defence and 28 years in prison with a life-defining ending.  

The song 'You and Me' was written by Darren for Lorraine after one visit when she was finding life particularly hard.  Performed by Darren and members of band, The Pinnacle, as part of the Sounding Out project with The Irene Taylor Trust.

Darren is now working with The Message helping advise and re-settle ex-offenders.

Photograph:  Nigel Henderson (1917-1985)
 'Gillian Alexander at play, Chisenhale Road c.1950'

A stone's throw from the ruins of St. Botolph's Priory in Colchester is an extraordinary shop which bustles with happy people and works some sort of magic on all those who enter there.  Here I met Sheelagh Ross and her favourite client, Hereward Brown, art historian with an eclectic interest in all things ancient and a great attitude to life.   Let the story unfold...

With many thanks to Andrey Vinogradov who has given me permission to use the hurdy-gurdy music from his album 'Distant Calls' available from Bandcamp. 

This is a soundscape from two weeks' travelling in Chile just after the start of the 18 October revolution in 2019.  They are all sounds recorded on my iPhone in the street, in bars, in Santiago, Valparaíso and the Atacama Desert.  The demonstrations continue with the burning down of the carabiñeros' church in Santiago in January and violent clashes  between protesters and police on the opening night last Sunday of Latin America's largest music festival in the resort of Viña del Mar. President Piñera has promised constitutional change and a review of the pensions system. Thank you to my friend Manuela for giving us her insight into events. Listen to the howling dogs of the desert at the end.....

1974 Labour Movement Poster seen at the Museum of Human Rights in Santiago Nov. 2019

Music from 'The Pinnacle' in rehearsal and interviews with band members in their dressing-room after a performance at The South Bank Centre in London.  Frank speaking about what music means to them on their journey through prison and now on the outside.   'Since 2012 the Irene Taylor Trust have been running their ‘through the gate’ programme, Sounding Out. The two year traineeship aims to provide longer-term rehabilitative opportunities to previous project participants in order to help bridge the gap between life inside and outside prison. Through a combination of live music performances and paid training placements participants are able to demonstrate on a very public platform the positivity, talent and creativity locked inside our prisons, challenging the often negative perceptions of people who have spent time in prison.' https://irenetaylortrust.com

Art installation by  Nam June Paik 'the father of video art' seen at Tate Modern 2019

This is the story of Sam in his mother's words. 

'Totally brilliant!  Have just sat entranced listening.’  

‘What a heartbreaking yet uplifting story.’ 

‘A privilege to listen to it.'

‘What a wonderful mother! What an extraordinary woman’