Over a number of years my good friend Graham and I took regular road trips out to very uncool places, for a change of scenery, to chew the fat, to talk crap and experience underwhelming facets of life. The story of this trip is fraught with danger but one of the highlights of our trip was playing Mr G's bingo in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey. Unfortunately we didn't win the packet of fish fingers but Graham did win the Kenneth Williams mug.

Whilst staying with some friends in their forest retreat in Gelse, Hungary, a clap of thunder woke me up at around 5am so I recorded the storm pass over. The recorder (Sony D100) was placed just inside my door that connected to the outside terrace area.

I was on my way back from my Uncle's surprise 80th birthday party and I took a detour around the Circle Line on the London Underground, just for fun. I spent a couple of hours sitting on different platforms listening, absorbing, thinking.

In 2007 in was collecting sounds for a sound installation (called AWSoM) I was making with artist Damien Robinson for the Sutton-with-Shopland Music Festival. On Tabor Farm, where the music festival was to be held, is Sutton Hall Railway, a narrow gauge railway run by enthusiasts. This is a recording of my ride on one of the trains pulled by a steam locomotive.

In early May 2024 I went on a public walk around Middlewick Ranges as part of Jane's Walk Colchester 2024. The overriding theme of the walk was to raise awareness of the flora, fauna and diversity of habitats in this area, which is currently under threat of sale by the MoD and subsequent development of housing. So to aid the campaign of the good folk at Save The Middlewick Ranges, I got up early to get a pre-dawn recording of the nightingales, of which there is a significant national population, and other birds in the area. I located myself in a spot well know by the group to be amongst nightingale territories and captured 20 minutes (10 minutes here) of the glorious dawn chorus. Enjoy X

MODERN TENDRING VERNACULAR

i Lone Pub

ii Amusements

iii St. Nicholas Rollercoaster

iv Maltings Beep

v Brenda’s Portal

vi Old Batteries

vii Redoubt

viii The Naze

ix Jaywick Bubbles

All tracks are composed from donated, found and archival sounds from the Borough of Tendring in Essex. The work was performed in

The Commons Cafe at The Minories on 7th March 2024.

The project was funded by Creative Colchester as part of their

First Thursdays Festival celebrating the city’s vibrant and

diverse cultural scene.

Many thanks to Emma Howe and Emma Barrow at The Minories,

Marley and all at The Commons Cafe, Cameron Abbott-Betts,

Matt Shenton, there are no birds here, Geoff Pearson and all of

the people that donated and suggested sounds.

CD and download available at https://hybernation.bandcamp.com/album/modern-tendring-vernacular

In 2009 I joined my friend, artist and activist Nicola Field on a March for Palestine through the streets of London to the Israeli embassy. Occupation persists and grows. Marches persist and grow. Hope persists and grows. Ceasefire now! X

In 2016 I was recording a variety of locations for the Essex Record Office Sound and Video Archive 'You Are Hear' project https://www.essexsounds.org.uk . One of the threads of interest were 'Quiet Places' so I headed out to the sea wall at Paglesham, near the final resting place of The Beagle (Darwin's Ship), next to the abandoned oyster beds, overlooking Potton Island across the River Roach. As I lay on the sea wall soaking up the warmth of the sun, 10 minutes or so in to the sounds of swaying grasses and foraging bees, my reverie is broken by the sound of a PA system being plugged in some distance away. Sound checking ensued and the moment of peace was gone. So I walked back to the Plough and Sail public house which was heaving with people so I followed the sound of the crowd. In the car park a Barn Dance had been set up and in the middle of it all was a man that I knew, Keith Baxter. He's a lovely guy, great musician and a member of the Famous Potatoes https://famouspotatoes.co.uk , and as it turns out a fantastic Barn Dance host.

A week before lockdown came in to force in the UK I recorded an interview with artist Terry Flower for the series of podcasts I did for Visit Stour Valley (available on Soundcloud and other platforms). He directed me to a lovely spot across the fields in some woods beside Belchamp Brook. I sat there for half an hour soaking up the atmosphere and contemplating the impending doom. There is plenty of spring bird activity including Chaffinch, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Great Tit, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Robin, Linnet, Blue Tit and Wren, plus a field full of sheep and some bird scarer explosions.

I put a call out for sounds, or suggestions of sound, from the borough of Tendring in Essex. Geoff, a volunteer at the High Lighthouse in Harwich, agreed to let me inside to make some recordings. I meet him on a very blustery and rainy day and he kindly let me spend some time alone in the building to capture the sound of the lively weather filtering through the building. The only internal sound you can hear is the fire alarm that needed its battery changing.