How does this make you feel?

This is an image of a flag of the Cross of St George, aka the England flag. You can tell it’s a flaggy-flag, because on the left-hand side you’ll see two eyelets through which you can pass cable-ties while wobbling up a ladder against a lamppost at 2:30am. Image credit: Temu, who must be laughing all the way to Shanghai’s Financial District right now …

Quite a few of these have appeared, attached to street furniture and bridges, around Shropshire and the whole country over the last few weeks. Some budget-label-Banksies have painted the symbol on mini-roundabouts, for reasons known only to themselves.

How do you feel about The Whole Flags Thing? And what’s really behind it?

‘Don’t look at the real reasons why the country’s in a shithole state’

I’ve not done an episode about this before because I try to keep Hello You as positive and solutions-focused as possible, and I couldn’t find anything positive to say about the flags phenomenon. It’s certainly not a solution to anything.

Then I heard from Amanda Jones. She’s got something positive to suggest, in response to the proliferation of flags.

‘The nation’s been turned into a zombie apocalypse with pitchforks’

Hear about Amanda’s idea and how you can be part of it, in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

You can email Amanda or find her on Facebook. And I’d love to know what you think of this episode of Hello You. Leave a comment?

If you’ve found it interesting, share it with your friends?

‘These people are in my neighbourhood. They are in need. Am I going to stand by and watch bullies treat them terribly, or am I going to stand up and say “You don’t speak for me”?’

Once again, this episode of the podcast came about because someone had something important to say, and wanted it to be heard by you.

They wanted it to be heard by thoughtful people who care about their community.

If you have something on your mind that you’d like to share with others, if you want to feel genuinely heard, send me a message, and let’s talk?

And if you want to continue the flags conversation in a constructive and worthwhile way, even if you’re one of my neighbours in whom I’ve expressed disappointment, get in touch?

This is what I do

Hello You the Shropshire podcast is intelligent, informed, curious and progressive conversation for and about Shropshire and the rest of the world.

And where else are you going to find that?

If this is what you need in your life, then subscribe!

And if you need it in your life, you’re bound to know someone else who needs it in theirs, too. Hit this green button?

Thank you for being a member of the Hello You family

Take care of yourself. Take care of the people around you, and I really hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Is it possible to care too much?

A couple of things to mention while you ponder that question …

Thank you for being part of the Hello You family! Just by listening to Hello You the Shropshire podcast, you’re part of a very special friendship group. It’s more like a family, really. If you want to pull up a chair to the Hello You virtual kitchen table and make yourself properly at home, then please subscribe?

After much thought, I’ve decided: I am going to do an episode of Hello You about The Flags Thing. That’ll be with you at the weekend, and it’ll include an interview with someone which could be described as … forceful. Also, it’ll point you towards something positive that you can do to help bring a little light into the lives of some people who need it right now. To make sure you don’t miss it, click on the Subscribe button above.

Also: I’m working towards Hello You the Shropshire podcast episode 150! The milestone will be marked with what marketing people call a ‘brand refresh’, so there’ll be a fresh, different look to Hello You … but it’ll still sound the same: no theme tunes, idents, falsely cheery chats with producers (because there aren’t any, it’s only me) or that kinda stuff. And I’ll use the one hundred and fiftieth episode to start spreading the word about Hello You a bit more widely around the county. More details to follow!

‘The people in charge don’t understand how it’s affecting the people in the community’

Heads up: If you’re connected with social care provision in Shropshire for people with ongoing mental health conditions, or if you have to do with how those people are dealt with in primary care and at their GPs’ surgeries, I think you need to listen to this. Any one of us could face mental health crisis at any time, so you might find the contents of this episode quite unsettling.

Leanne Southey runs Proud to Be Me. The best-known public aspect of PTBM is Momma’s Emporium, on Shrewsbury’s Pride Hill, but its principal activity is supporting people who mental health problems, and helping them get their lives back on track.

Leanne contacted me because of some difficulties that she, her team and their clients have been having, particularly of late. She’d tried other ways to draw attention to the problems, but without success. In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, she explains the issues, and the impact they’re having on the people she works with.

‘This is why I’m talking to you, because I don’t know what else to do’

If, like Leanne, there’s something that you’re struggling with and you’re making no progress, maybe talking about it on Hello You would help find a solution. If there’s something facing your community, your friends group, you're part of Shropshire and you can’t get anyone to listen, get in touch. I’ll listen. It might just make all the difference. Send me a message either by clicking the green button below, or contact me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where my username is jimallthetime.69

Thank you for listening to Hello You

Please spread the word about Hello You the Shropshire podcast? Talk about it with your friends, mention it to your colleagues, chat about it in the pub or on the bus?

Hit ‘Like’ anywhere you can, and best of all, share Hello You with people? I’m sure you know someone who’d be interested in it. Why not send the main page to your WhatsApp or Facebook groups?

Take care of yourself

Take care of the people around you, and I hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.

Don’t forget: an episode about The Flags Thing will be with you at the weekend! Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘Rock music goes into me’

There’s nothing quite like playing music with other people. You learn so much about them and about yourself, it enhances aspects of your mind and your life in a way you wouldn’t believe, and it’s just so much fun, so satisfying, so life-enhancing …

Anybody who introduces others to the thrill and joy of making music, especially in an ensemble or a band, is a hero to me.

‘It’s a universal language that can touch everybody’

Recently I was invited to Summer Smash 3, the annual celebration of Shropshire’s Rock Music School. Rock Music School gives musicians of all ages and ability levels the chance to play together in a band setting, and a few times a year they get the chance to showcase their skills in front of a live audience. Some of the players were in their fifties or maybe sixties, like me. At the other end of the age scale were kids of maybe seven or eight years old, who took to the stage like they were born to it.

This year’s Summer Smash took place in the fantastic Barnes Theatre at Shrewsbury School, complete with pro-quality PA and lighting, and even dry-ice for that authentic big-rock-show feel.

Proceeds from the evening went to Shropshire Parent and Carer Council, which supports the families of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Some of the SEND kids take part in Rock Music School sessions, and were playing in the concert.

In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, you can hear from some of the participants in the gig, and family and audience members too.

Is this your sort of thing?

I hope you enjoy this episode of Hello You. Why not share it with a friend? I’m sure you know someone else who’d find it interesting …

And please tell me what you think of it? Have your say in the comments:

Hello You the Shropshire podcast is intelligent, curious, progressive and sometimes quirky audio, made with love, about Shropshire and the wider world. If that’s what you need in your life, particularly to counterbalance the negativity of the wider news agenda, then please subscribe?

Thank you for being there

I really appreciate you taking an interest in my work. It means a lot to me.

Take care of yourself. Take care of the people around you … and I hope that they are taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘Fewer people would be getting on small boats if there were safe routes into the UK’

The issue of migration, refugees and asylum-seekers is the rusty barbecue of British politics.

It’s dragged out every summer. Cautious people steer well clear. And then some knobhead douses it in petrol.

‘It says we don’t care’

This episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast came about after the sudden - overnight, on a Friday evening - scrapping of the Afghan resettlement scheme. That was followed just a few days later by the revelation of a colossal data breach in which the personal details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to Britain in order to flee the Taliban had been accidentally leaked by an official working at UK Special Forces headquarters. Can’t get the staff, eh?

‘I was angry and upset because that was the last refugee resettlement scheme in the whole of the UK’

Gaby Erica from Telford has worked to support refugees and asylum seekers, first in Shropshire and then across the West Midlands, for many years. She joined me to talk about these two developments, and about the issue of small boats crossing the English Channel. Of necessity, this also involves discussion of the ongoing housing crisis, rough sleeping, accommodating migrants in hotels - ‘You can’t have people living in hotels for the rest of their lives’ - and more.

You probably know someone who feels strongly about this issue, one way or the other. You might know someone who’s caught up in it all. Why not share this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast with them and others too?

‘There are so many vulnerable groups in the UK that need appropriate housing, but there’s a shortage’

Join in the discussion about this episode with your fellow members of the Hello You family in the comments:

Send me a message, about this subject or something completely different:

And if you want to make sure you never miss an episode of intelligent, curious, informed and sometimes quirky conversation for and about Shropshire and the wider world, why not subscribe? For free, or show your support by taking out a paid subscription?

Coming soon on Hello You the Shropshire podcast

* The difference that music and inspirational musicians can make …

* See Shrewsbury’s historic buildings through expert eyes with a new app that makes your phone into your town guide …

* Are people in Shropshire with mental health needs really getting the support required? Or are they being handed on to local groups who are already overstretched?

* What lengths does a master photographer go to, to capture the beauty of Shropshire?

All these topics and more will be coming up in future episodes of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Don’t miss them! Subscribe now … and tell your friends?

Thank you for being there

Take care of yourself. Don’t walk the dog in this heat!

Take care of the people around you. And I hope that they are taking good care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘Quite where the Flower Show goes next, I don’t know’

The Shrewsbury Flower Show should have been taking place this weekend.

But it isn’t.

Shropshire Horticultural Society announced back in the spring that this year’s show wouldn’t be going ahead, owing to rising costs and challenging commercial circumstances. The news came as quite a shock, because the Flower Show has been a fixture in the Shropshire calendar for a century and a half.

What’s the real story here?

Aubrey Kirkham has recently stepped back from his various roles with Shrewsbury Flower Show and Shropshire Horticultural Society, ending a forty-nine-year association with them both. So if anyone’s well placed to give us a glimpse behind the curtain at the workings of both show and Society, it’s Aubrey.

‘Similar, but different’

In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, Aubrey and I talk about the reasons there’s no Flower Show this year, what future shows might look like, and what it’ll take to bring Shrewsbury Flower Show back to prominence.

‘The Haughty Cultural Society’?

Also: What’s a reasonable price for twelve hours’ entertainment? Would you pay £50 if you felt you were getting your money’s worth?

Why is Shropshire Horticultural Society involved in the wrangle over the provision of a footpath from the Dana towards Shrewsbury town centre, and why has this argument now been going on for a quarter of a century?

And: Do you feel connected to the Flower Show and its parent body’s activities, or does it seem to you like ‘The Haughty Cultural Society’?

Join in the conversation in the comments, or just make an observation on the colossal style gulf between Aubrey, the World’s Most Dapper Man, and the total shed pictured next to him …

What would your friends say …

… about Shrewsbury Flower Show perhaps being a one-day event in the future? What would they say was a reasonable ticket price for twelve hours’ entertainment?

Share this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast with them:

… and invite them to comment on it?

Also, please mention this to your friends, family and colleagues? Drop into conversation that you’ve been listening, or post the link on your busiest WhatsApp chat group?

By the way … this is what I do

If this is your first episode of Hello You, welcome! Thank you so much for becoming a member of the Hello You family. Why not send me a message to say hello, and tell me what you think of Hello You?

Hello You the Shropshire podcast is local public-service audio journalism. Intelligent, informed, curious, progressive and sometimes quirky conversation, for and about Shropshire and the wider world. If that sounds like your sort of thing, subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any episodes in the future

And now you’re here, why not explore other episodes that you might find of interest?

Thank you for being there

It means a lot that you take an interest in what I do. There are a whole bunch of really interesting episodes coming up over the next couple of weeks, so make sure you don’t miss them?

Take care of yourself. Take care of the people around you, and I hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

A Shropshire soundscape in vivid stereo

Have you heard a Hello You soundscape before?

This is something I do on Hello You the Shropshire podcast, to transport you to somewhere in Shropshire for a little while.

The soundscapes are quite simply recordings of what’s happening in a particular places at a particular time. In audio art parlance, they’re field recordings. They can help you perceive somewhere familiar or unfamiliar in a new and different way.

For this soundscape, I set up the Hello You recorder at the base of the statue of Lord Clive in the Square in Shrewsbury, facing away from the old b*****d towards the Old Market Hall. It was a warm Thursday afternoon; the Square wasn’t all that busy but you can hear people moving around and through it, and other things happening too.

Hello You soundscapes are always recorded in super-wide stereo. Hence, they’re best enjoyed on headphones or with your earbuds in.

And what are they for?

Some people use the soundscapes to place themselves in the recording location. You can listen to and follow threads of sounds, snatches of conversation, audio glimpses into people and places.

Soundscapes make good background sounds when you’re working or chilling out, and music or interviews would be too distracting.

A number of people use Hello You soundscapes to fall asleep to, to aid meditation or for ASMR practices.

Join in the conversation about the soundscapes in the comments:

Here’s why I’m sharing this one with you:

Most of my soundscapes are available only to paid subscribers of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. I’m making this one free for everyone, so that you can sample the soundscape experience. If you like it and want more, I hope you’ll take out a paid subscription to Hello You.

I know no-one’s got much money at the moment, but a paid subscription to Hello You the Shropshire podcast isn’t outrageously expensive. Each month, it’ll cost you about the same as just one posh cup of coffee from that good place you like. Or two cups from the place you settle for.

You’ll get the soundscapes (and I’ll be recording more, in some fascinating places, over the next weeks and months), and you’ll be supporting Hello You. You’ll be helping to ensure the survival of informed, curious, intelligent, progressive and sometimes quirky conversation, for and about Shropshire and the wider world.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this soundscape episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Why not share it with a friend?

And if you think of somewhere I could go to record a soundscape - it can be somewhere busy or deserted, urban or rural, peaceful or intense - send me a message to tell me where it is?

Thank you for being there

I’m very happy that you’re a member of the Hello You family.

Please take care of yourself. Take care of the people around you, and I hope that they are taking good care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘It’s for us to put the jam and cream on the scone of Shrewsbury’

What is ‘… in Bloom’, and why is it such a big thing in Shrewsbury? Does it lead to Shrewsbury’s street people being removed from the town temporarily? And why do the benches in the Square keep moving around?!

‘This Square belongs to the public, three-hundred and sixty-five days of the year’

Shrewsbury’s Town Clerk Helen Ball tackles these questions and more in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

If you like this, you probably know someone else who’ll like it too. So, be a good friend and share it with them?

Get in touch?

Join in the conversation in the comments

… and contact me directly by sending a message

… or if you have a news tip or an idea for an episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast that needs to be shared discreetly and confidentially, download the Signal messaging app and get in touch with me at the username jimallthetime.69

Thank you for being there

Thank you for being a member of the Hello You family. Why not pull up a chair to the virtual Hello You kitchen table by subscribing?

Take care of yourself.

Take care of the people around you, and I hope they’re taking good care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘All of us are terrible parents at some point’

Mothers. We’ve all got one, or had one, and our relationships with them can be loving, fraught, empowering, frustrating … and even creative.

All Roads Lead to Mother is the title of an exhibition of work by mother and daughter artists Sam Pooley Stride and Daisy Pooley Tolkien Williams. It was shown recently at Shrewsbury’s Swan Hill Studios, a space that Sam Pooley Stride believes is part of an explosion of artistic activity in our county town.

‘This is a moment … I do feel there’s a renaissance here, something’s happening to this town’

In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, Sam Pooley Stride shares the story of Swan Hill Studios, and also unpacks some of the themes behind her and Daisy’s exhibition.

Boob wallpaper

They’d been talking about putting on a show like this for quite a while, but perhaps extra urgency was added by the recent loss of Sam’s mother, Daisy’s grandmother. Sam Pooley Stride reveals stories about her mother’s past, including an affair and an elopement to South America, her mother’s adoption - ‘for the sum of ten shillings’ - and the revelation that Sam’s adoptive grandmother had a hysterectomy at nineteen years of age, but craved a child so much she was tempted to steal one.

I hope you enjoy this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Let me know by sending me a message?

Please share it with your friends - maybe with your mother or daughter? - by clicking this button:

And join in the conversation with other members of the Hello You family in the comments:

The privilege of avoiding the news

At the start of this episode I mention an article I’d read which reminded me that I’m lucky to be able to limit my news diet.

Not everyone can turn away from the news, because often their lives are the news.

This is the article in question. Please read and share it?

Thank you for being part of the Hello You family

Please help to spread the word about Hello You the Shropshire podcast by sharing this episode, or just by talking about it. Mention Hello You in conversation with your friends, colleagues and family?

Take care of yourself?

Take care of the people around you, and I hope that they’re taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘Lots of people use us as their corner shop’

Join me on the bench outside Tesco Extra in Harlescott, Shrewsbury, to meet people who work, shop, and meet there, in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. The conversation covers Oasis, people-watching, The Yodel Man, tackling climate change by reducing food waste, neighbours from hell, loving or hating self-service tills, and one of my favourite words from any recent Hello You episode: Gleaning

‘It brings us all together’

Rachel Benson is the Community Champion for Tesco’s in Shrewsbury. You’ll hear from her, Geoff the Oasis fan, Tina from Shrewsbury Food Hub, The Yodel Man Lady, and Rachel colleagues Laura, Carl and Deb whose idea this all was!

‘You can come to a food-share and take as much as you want, for a donation of £2’

Find out more about Shrewsbury Food Hub and join their Taste with no Waste challenge!

‘We’re very lucky in this community, how everyone supports each other’

Where else could I sit on a bench and listen to people? Do you know of a bench somewhere near you, where there’s a regular flow of people passing by who might stop to share their stories?

Maybe it’s a bench at or near somewhere you work, like Deb who suggested the bench for this episode? Or somewhere you spend your free time: a sports ground, a place of worship, a pub or a countryside attraction?

Perhaps we could set up a ‘bench’ at an event you’re involved with, or in a particular location that springs to mind?

Let me know and I’ll add the bench suggestions to my list!

Thank you for being there

I very much appreciate you being part of the Hello You family. I’d love it if you were to subscribe to Hello You …

Let me know what you think of this episode? And join in a conversation in the comments?

And please, share it with your friends?

Take care of yourself

Take care of the people around you, and I very much hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘It’s the actions that people recognise’

In July 2024, Dr Julia Buckley was elected as Shrewsbury’s first Labour MP for twenty years, and the new constituency’s first-ever female MP.

How has her first year been? What impact is she making on behalf of the county town, in the corridors of Westminster?

I sat down with Julia Buckley to hear her answers not only to those questions, but also to a whole clutch of others suggested by Hello You listeners.

You can hear what happened in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

‘Sometimes I think I need to speak out more’

We talk about:

* the reported improvements in our local hospital’s performance

* public transport - Sunday buses, and trains to London

* the rise in National Insurance

* fair funding for Shropshire Council

* support for SEND children, and the new SEND Hubs

* trans people’s rights

* the suspensions of backbenchers

* whether Labour is drifting too far towards Reform’s territory, and the Prime Minister’s unfortunate ‘island of strangers’ speech

* grooming gangs

* pensions, the winter fuel allowance, and the welfare bill

* Gaza, Palestine Action and whether the UK should cease supplying arms to Israel

* how Julia deals with personal attacks online

I’m sorry that we didn’t have time for me to raise your questions about the environment and the proposed changes to planning legislation, climate change, racism, international aid, poverty and inequality/inequity, farmers, the assisted dying bill, biodiversity and whether Julia Buckley still believes Labour to be a left-wing party. Julia, if you’d be interested in another conversation at some point (and I certainly would), maybe we could start with those?

Inter alia, it’s great to know that listeners to Hello You are such an informed, engaged and thoughtful group of people. Thank you for being … you, basically.

I’d love to know what you think of this special episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Leave a comment?

‘It’s time to be responsible’

And if you’re one of Shropshire’s other MPs, a councillor, a decision-maker, someone in a position of authority and responsibility, in charge of something that’s important to the life of Shropshire, will you do the same?

Dr Julia Buckley has been willing to spend time answering questions from listeners to Hello You the Shropshire podcast. Who else is up for the challenge?

Get your people to talk to my people. Oh wait, I don’t have any people, it’s just me. So email me [email protected] or hit this here button

and let’s get the wheels turning.

Likewise, if you’re in Shropshire, who would you like to hear answering your questions on Hello You? Tell me their name, or what they do in the county. And tell me what you’d like to ask them, and why. I’ll do my thing and invite them to answer questions.

Holding powerful and influential people to account. I’ve been doing it on the radio for years. And now I’m doing it on here. (You’re welcome.)

I think local public-service journalism that’s prepared to take the time and put in the effort to find out what you need to know, is important

That’s one reason why I make Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

If you’d like Hello You and want to support it, here are some ways:

* tell your friends about Hello You; mention it on Facebook on in your WhatsApp chat groups, or talk about it at work, in the pub, on the bus, at church, wherever

* share this episode

* … or all of them

* buy me a coffee

* subscribe to Hello You

* … and if you take out a paid subscription, you help enormously to ensure I can keep doing this

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thank you for being there

It means a hell of a lot.

Have the best week you possibly can. Want to let me know how you’re doing, or how your week’s going? Hmu, as the kids say …

Take care of yourself.

Take care of the people around you.

And I really hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.