In this last episode of the series I chat with Laura Hylton from Seed Sedgemoor about the great work that Seed has been doing supporting projects in the community

Podcast ident  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge Podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in the Sedgemoor area

Mell  0:27  
Celebrating the history people and places in the HIghbridge Sedgemoor area of Somerset this season is funded by Seed which is a consortium of community organisations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater Senior Citizens Forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in Sedgemoor, Somerset Film and Young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, Creative People in places Lottery Funding and the Arts Council. The main aim of the project is to focus on the people, places and activities in and around Highbridge. It's important to remember that history is not just about recording the past, but also recording what is happening now as we create history for future generations. If you enjoy what you hear, do tell your friends and ask them to subscribe to hear future editions for free. So let's continue. According to Wikipedia HIghbridge was originally a market town on the edge of the Somerset levels in the UK, near the mouth of the river Brue and although it's no longer a market town, the market site is now a housing estate. Highbridge is in the district of Sedgemoor and the town of Highbridge closely neighbors, Burnham on sea, forming part of the combined parish of Burnham on Sea and Highbridge and shares a town council with a resort town. In the 2011 census. The population of the town was included in the ward of Highbridge and Burnham Marine, which totaled 7,555. For this edition, I went to get my haircut and I went along to Cookies to find out more about the generations of barbers in his family. So today I'm speaking to Mark Cook or sometimes known as cookie, who's basically the barber that goes back in time and the family go back in time. So tell me a little bit about how the shop all started

Mark  2:26  
Well its my great grandfather, George Cook who sets it off originally so he used to live in Bridgewater funnily enough. So he was I think he was 1883 if my maths is correct they started it all off. And he used to actually walk from Bridgewater to Highbridge to cut people's hair then walk home again, which was a hell of a journey. So I've gotten so long it took him and it wasn't the straight road it is now either do I mean it was sort of cut through he used to go through the back of West Huntspill so it was a right old journey when you first started

Mell  2:55  
So was that was that this this shop?

Mark  2:57  
Wasn't this shop unfortunately no, it was it was known as Corn Hill House, which is where the roundabout, the small roundabout by where FF & F used to be and the town clock is now it used to be a row of cottages that used to go right the way back through up to the market there. And we have a three shops on the front which which would have been a Brabers a fruit shop and a flower shop, which my Gran run. And then later on my my granddad's and his brother took over the barbers business went into there, then my dad went in then the I think the council compulsory purchased it because the lorries became 40 tons and couldn't get around the roundabout. So we were there for 99 years at the time, but they wouldn't let allow us to have 100 year, then they kicked us out. And then they left it there for four years before they knocked it down. And then unfortunately, the guy who owned this died and dad bought this. And we moved over to here, which is where I've been for the lastthirty three years.

Mell  3:51  
So there's four generations.  that's a lot of time that so you must have been handed down lots of stories of how things used to

Mark  4:01  
Absolutely, yeah, definitely. Yeah, there's hundreds of stories. I think getting back off how things used to be to compare to now, obviously, we've gone to appointments now, which is a real shocker, where there was just a sort of a walking culture, you know, back in the day when it started off. I don't think my granddad started or my great granddad I don't think he even started cutting hair. I think he was doing beards. I think nobody had a beard. So they started off just having bedrooms originally with the cutthroats because nobody could do it at home or as well. And then there was a sort of it sort of sort of evolved into sort of, could you just take a bit of rain in the air and then I think that's how he actually was I don't think he ever trained do you know what I mean it was just one of those things that he sort of graduated in, then it was taken a bit more often then he got a little bit a little bit better and just progressed through there to become a barber.

So he was never above to start with

That's right. he was shaving you. I mean, and then I think it just graduated from shaving into sort of barbarism as it were, so it sort of went through into, you know, haircuts and then got better at it but don't know how he became so popular here. But obviously, obviously his son then moved here and lived in the shop opposite which was my great my granddad. So Ray and Fred didn't quite have the reputation and all fairness, they were sort of they were pigeon fanciers. So it would be nothing for somebody to sit there for half an hour, where they were at the back, they had the two chairs as they would have been left and right of a wall. And then there was a window. And if they ever seen one of their pigeons come home, that's it. They were gone. The bloke was left in the chair on his own, they were out the back door on a call with this pigeon down off the roof to get his ring in and clock it in because there was a racing pigeon and that's what that was their thing. So it'd be nothing for a bloke to walk out with half a haircut and get fed up with waiting, just throw the gown on the floor and walk out

Mell  5:36  
I  notice noticed. Occasionally we've seen pigeon lorries. Yeah. And they released them. But it's something that's died out. 

Mark  5:44  
Yeah, that doesn't seem to work. Another things thats changed unfortunately, that used to happen loads, you know, these to sort of take pigeons from all over the country. And then they released them, they still have one up sort of what used to be Willits, which is the back across the road here where the market used to be in the nice to have thousands and then they would just let him go, and then they would fly back in the time them to wherever home is. And the first one back wins, you know, so was it

Mell  6:03  
Was it just a natural progression that each generation went into becoming a barber and took over the business? So it's 

Mark  6:08  
Yeah, it seems to have been that way. You know, everybody on my dad's side has been a boy. So I mean, so it's just an everybody has been a boy has gone into the barbering. So it just seemed to be a natural progression. Yeah, I don't think I even ever thought about it really, until I got to about 15 or 16. And dad said, "What do you want to do?" And I was like, Oh, be a barber, I suppose isn't it is the family trade it was? And we just went into it. And then I just fell into it.

Mell  6:32  
So did you get a chance to work with your father

Mark  6:33  
Yes, yeah, I work with dad. I went off and trained as a lady's hairdresser first. For four years, and then I came back to work here was a story that went with that, unfortunately, my dad, the guy that used to work with my dad ended up robbing him. As you do, so, he worked with dad for 36 years, I think, unfortunately, sticky for it used to be of a gambler. So unfortunately, the sticky fingers got the better of him. And he ended up robbing dads. So in the end, he sort of said, right, we'll ...

The book "Highbridge A Somerset Market town and its people" was started over 20 years ago (and last published in 2004), it really does capture history both then and the memories and research that was done to compile the book. The book is still available if you look around but it is no longer in print. This is another nugget if you are interested in Highbridge and its history.

Chatting with Paul and Sharon about Highbridge Youth Arts -here is their Facebook Page Highbridge Youth Arts provides affordable dance and drama sessions for ages 5-18

Ident  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast, celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in Sedgemore

Mell  0:18  
And welcome along to another edition of the Highbridge podcast celebrating the history people and places in the Highbridge Sedgemore area of Somerset. This season is funded by Seed which is a consortium of community organizations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgwater senior citizens forum Bridgwater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film, and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding, and the Arts Council. This episode, I'm chatting with Larry Bennett, who is going to tell us all about probably one of the world's most famous radio stations, which was based in Highbridge. Why was it so famous and who listened? Want to find out more then listen in to this fascinating chat with Larry Bennett? To start us off, Larry, tell us a little bit about what the radio station was all about.

Larry  1:27  
Right? It was probably at its time the world's largest maritime communication station. If you think of today, when you pick up a phone, you can speak anywhere in the world by a satellite anywhere and any aircraft, any ships anywhere in the world, you can do that. Back in the 1920s. When it was formed, the only way to communicate with a ship was via radio. And that's using Morse code of all things. There was no telephony at the time, everything was in Morse code. So if you wanted to get the message to a ship, you sent a message to your local post office, who would then forward it to the radio station at Highbridge. And then they'd relayed by Morse code to a ship over the radio link. And if they wanted the message returned, the ship's radio officer would send a message back via the radio station, and it would then be forwarded to the destination. And that carried on for 30 -40 years from 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. Right up to the 1960s when radio telex came into operation, which made it much easier for shipping companies to send messages direct. There was also rated telephone communication but that didn't come to Highbridge till 1972. Prior to that it was done through a station at Rugby with a receiving station that Brent in Essex and also at Baldock.

So basically, the station was going to let everyone communicate with the ships at sea and vice versa. And that was the whole point. At the time, the British merchant navy was huge. One of the largest fleets in the world. And the station was and probably was even when it closed down the biggest maritime communication station in the world.

Mell  3:02  
In Highbridge?

Larry  3:03  
In Highbridge yeah,

Mell  3:04  
The other thing that threw me when I first discovered it was it's called Portishead radio.

Larry  3:09  
Yep. In maritime communication parlance. The station is named after the transmitting site. The station was formed in 1920. The original transmitters were at Devizes in Wiltshire. That was a site of an old point to point station which was converted to Army use in World War One. And in 1920, the post office took it over but transmitters there and it became Devizes radio station. The problem with that it was nowhere near the sea. It was a high power transmitter that was causing all sorts of problems to the receivers in the same location. So what the post office did was they put a receiving station in Highbridge away from all industry close to the coast. And then transmitters were about Devizes, the receivers were at Highbridge. But then in 1926, they moved the transmitting site to Portishead on Porterhead Down. And that's how the station got its name for so from 1925 It was known as Portishead radio. And that's how it stayed until the bitter end in 2000.

Mell  4:09  
So when they actually moved into Highbridge they kept the name and that's why it stayed Portishead?

Larry  4:15  
Exactly yeah the Portishead transmitters closed in the 1970s. But the station was so well known throughout the world. They just kept the name even at the closing down time the transmitters were at Rugby, but the main Portishead radio so so synonymous with shipping, they kept the name all the way through.

Mell  4:33  
So when did you work there?

Larry  4:36  
I was there from 1980 until the bitter end in 2000. So, unfortunately, I never got a job at sea, they preferred sea-going radio officers who knew the business backwards, but the turnover in staff was so high in the 1970s. They took people straight from college basically and that's how I managed to get a job. Obviously, there was quite a stiff entrance test you had to take a morse test and you had a year to prove yourself, otherwise, you were just chucked out. So you had to take a 27 words a minute morse test a French test of all things, which I was exempt from, because I had a French O level, and what's called a station and walk around, the station manager took around the station. And you had to tell him what every single part of this station did, from basic communication theory to how to power up the auxiliary power supply in case of failures and so on. 

Mell  5:26  
So that would be just in case of emergencies. And you were the only person in the building?

Larry  5:30  
Exactly, yeah, the station never closed, it was 24 hours a day, three, six 5.25 days a year, for over 75/80 years.

Mell  5:40  
So the size of this transmitter, it must have been huge

Larry  5:45  
Initially, yeah, at the time when the 1920s, they hadn't investigated shortwave very well. So to increase the range, they thought they had to increase the power. So the Devizor transmitters were sort of 10/15 kilowatt, huge transmitters. But as they develop shortwave communication, which the radio amateurs at the time were quite keen on doing, they found they could cover the world on maybe two or three kilowatts. So back in the day, you'll see pictures on the website, which I'll tell you about later on, have the original transmitters, and they were absolutely immense. And of course, those days, it was all spark transmitters, and so on. Modulation didn't come till later in the 1920s.

Mell  6:24  
So when the station originally was broadcast, and in its heyday, how many ships and how much traffic was actually going past or communicating with Highbridge

Larry  6:37  
Oh immense, probably at its heyday, we take over 2000 telegrams a day, from probably well over 1000 ships, all in Morse code.

Mell  6:47  
So that that is also time-consuming because you've got to translate it and then put it back and then send it out and then reply, an

Larry  6:55  
it's not as bad as it sounds. But the good thing about Morse code, it's built up letter by letter. So we can send and receive messages in any language in the world, we used to take loads of messages in Greek. And because the letter by letter, you didn't even have to understand it. So we'd sit their headphones on, message form in the typewriter. And as the guy would send it from ship, we just type type it in, letter by letter on the typewriter. Once that's done, we check it out to count the number of words, make sure there's nothing missing, and then just pass it down the belt to be sent off by telex or telephone.

Mell  7:27  
It's a completely different world to how it is today with just picking up a mobile phone and contact somebody.

Larry  7:33  
It was an art form, basically, I think. You know, some of the skills you'd see people there, they'd had the other headphones on drink a cup of tea, sending Morse c...

Episode 6 - Another edition of The Highbridge Podcast to start off with just a mention to events happening in Highbridge for the Queen's Jubilee during the four days at the beginning of June. and this episode I talk to Selina Keedwell from Somerset Youth Theatre CIC and find out what they do. During the podcast, you will hear the interview and a What's On for the Queens Jubliee in Highbridge. You will also be able to find out how to contact them to get further details.

Intro Jingle  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in Sedgemoor.

This season is funded by seed which is a consortium of community organizations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding and the Arts Council.

Mell T  0:50  
Today I'm speaking to local historian John Strickland. Now, although he focuses on Burnham on Sea history, as we all know, Highbridge and Burnham overlap, and that there is lots of bits of history that that do appear in sort of both areas. And as John John's tried to keep record of these facts amongst his main focus, so welcome along, John. 

John Strickland  1:11  
Hello there.

Mell T  1:12  
And I want to start off with John what, what are your What are your memories of old Highbridge when when you were younger? What do you remember about Highbridge? 

John Strickland  1:22  
Well, it's yeah, it was a very, very interesting place from my, from the childhood point of view. I was very lucky in so far that my neighbor in Burnham, he worked at the brick and tile works where Apex Park is, is now of a weekend, he often had to go in and do a bit of overtime, what they call pulling tiles that they were on, on that the the drying room, the air drying room, and they had to just pull them forward slightly, apparently, otherwise, the little pips on the end would break off. So when he did that, he knew I was interested in fishing. And he used to take me along to fish in the pits out there. And I did that for quite a long, long time. Weekends wise, it was very interesting, because one, I remember the first time he took me the pit, it was a lot further on than where the apex pits are now. And I think that must have been the apex of brickwork pond. But then in later days, they started actually moving there was a allotment all by the side of where the garage is now, and a little Lane through the side where you could cycle that through. And they started filling in this big pit that was there. And there were all cars everywhere. And we'd go and sit on the roofs of these old cars half-submerged, and do our fishing, it was it was really good times really, really good times.

Mell T  2:49  
So what sort of decade are we talking about there?

John Strickland  2:51  
It's probably in the very early 60s, the Brickworks they must have been running down at that stage. But yeah, around about the 60s.

Mell T  3:02  
What I found interesting is that you sent me through an old newspaper clipping so I'll just summarise it by saying, mammal bones dating back to Neolithic times were discovered when work was being carried out at Apex Park pond in Highbridge. And newspaper clipping from August of 1966 explained that the bones and carbon dating along with pollen samples from the peat around the bones, indicated it dated back to 1200 BC now that that's some history for Highbridge to be able to claim

John Strickland  3:35  
It's fantastic. It really really is. And it was so interesting. And when I left King Alfred school at by then I was actually August that was that was my holiday from the Bridgwater College. But I knew my dad was involved with it. And of course, I went along with spade and it was really, really what we were finding. I mean, it was very fortunate so far that dad knew Tom Cornish who was a manager at the site there. And they agreed they found these bones initially. And they agreed to pump out an awful lot more water so that we can actually dig further down and you'll be digging longer and it was just thick mud. I mean literally, they talk about peat samples in this article, but it was thick mud and very, very heavy. And you saw it go down carefully we use pay and also you hit something hard. And I mean, I've never had the confirmation of anything but we found bones there they reckon it was ox bones and there was reindeer antler and things like that. And of course when you go back in times, a lot of the area rain there it was it was flooded by water. The thought was from some of these people who went and looked at this was probably a huge great freshwater pond or pool and animals used to come drink. And then of course they they were prayed to these other creatures. Really, really interesting.

Mell T  5:06  
You obviously were a keen fisherman in the younger days. So you also mentioned a bit too Coalhurst and Simmons pond.

John Strickland  5:13  
Well, that's right. Well, it's known as Apex up there now. But that whole area that the the Apex ponds was that was in fact Coalhurst and Simmons, there were there were two companies there. And a very, very busy I mean, quite large. I think. If you go back in time, there was more than 10% of the local population were actually employed there. Which is of course, in those days it was Burnham and Highbridge combined there was there was there was no split as it were from from the council point of view, the more you look at that area there, of course, the railway came right close to it there. And a lot of the places now you walk along, you connect your walk along the old railway line. And there was actually two because it was so busy in going back in those days. There were actually two sidings from the railway in there, where they could, they could load the trucks and then obviously, it was much easier to transport because before then, it was horse and cart. Of course, Highbridge wharf was very, very busy. And they used to then have to horse and cart it down to Highbridge wharf. And then they load it onto boats to go all the way around. And it's really, really interesting because it although it was it was called the brick works. It was the it was the brick and tileworks. And there was one tile made locally, I'm not sure in all fairness if it was done, but it was made from the the top silt of mud, and it was called a bath brick. And it was used for cleaning. And it's really interesting because if you if you go on searches now on the internet, a lot of these wrecks they're finding now even as far as India and around like that. And the thought is that a lot of the reject stuff that came from the brick works, they used it as ballast, and then a finding bricks, round India and further apart. So with Coalhurst and Simmons or Apex markings on them.

Mell T  7:18  
Your general interest in history is, as you've always been, there is something that's sort of that you've just grown into, or is it something that you've stumbled upon?

John Strickland  7:27  
I was born in Burnham, and I've lived in Burnham all my life. And it was my father, really, my father passed. And when we were tidying at my mom's house, in the attic, we were going through all these boxes as people do, you tend to put stuff up in the attic, and you go through it. And I looked at one I thought cor thats quite interesting, ill put that to one side. And it got me interested in and since I've been a man of leisure retired, and I got into it in a really really big way. And it's so so interesting and fascinating as to as to our local history here that it Yeah, it's it's my big project, I must admit and hobby.

Mell T  8:06  
So what I find fascinating as well is, is the term Highbridge and Burnham on Sea or Burnham and Highbridge and the seems to be, I always find it interesting where exactly one begins and the other one ends

John Strickland  8:19  
Thats a very moot point, actually, I mean, going back to that some people might remember that the mini rounda...

Intro Jingle  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in such small

Mell T  0:18  
this season is funded by seed which is a consortium of community organizations in sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film, and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding, and the Arts Council. Once again, welcome along to another edition of the hybrid podcast. We'll be talking to Mary Lawrence, who's one of the secretaries at the Highbridge festival. If you're like me, you hear about the Highbridge festival. And maybe you've always wondered, what's it all about? So we'll be find out more from Mary Lawrence in this edition. 

Joining me now is Mary Lawrence. Now, Mary Lawrence is one of the group that put together the Highbridge Festival, which I keep hearing about. So I need to find out more and I'm sure the listeners want to know, what is the Highbridge festival?

Mary  1:25  
Well, the Highbridge festival is not the Glastonbury Festival. They've borrowed the word from us really, because we were here long before the Glastonbury Festival. It's an event where people of all ages, from tiny tots to oh  80 or 90 year old sometimes come to saying recite poems play instruments, act in a play. Do all manner of Performing Arts. Think of it as an equivalent to a Welsh eisteddfod. But with with more aspects, I suppose more areas of expertise. So it includes anything performance related, let's say it is competitive, although the music section is very much less so now. I'll say a bit more about that later on. But there is an adjudicator who comes.

When I used to take part as a child, the adjudicator was quite strict, and it was terribly formal. Whereas now, all the adjudicators are very kind, they will say very positive things and they'll give they will give marks, but much more they will praise you say how brave you are for getting on the stage. give you advice about what you did. There are certificates for everybody who takes part. And metals for most people in the Music Section. The dance don't quite get so many medals, because there are more people in the class but lots of medals and we usually give out stickers and sweets and things to the younger people as well. So it's it's really a lot of fun. Now, it used to be, I suppose more educational, more competitive, but now we provide a platform so that people can come and display their wares show off their talents. So you mentioned you used to enter yourself when you were younger. Well, everybody did.

It was quite, quite new. And I was young because I'm old now. All the schools used to get involved. I think I was entered first when I was four when I was first at school and I did a little recitation. But loads of us did. It wasn't we weren't anything special. All the schools used to send people to perform. They used to be school choirs. Individuals that music teachers used to send all their pupils. Everything used to happen. And the audiences were huge. They were full to capacity, I suppose friends and relations of the people who took part, but also the locals were all very supportive. And I expect in those days there was probably a little less entertainment generally than there is now so yes, it was always very, very well attended very popular.

Mell T  4:26  
So why was it chosen to be in Highbridge, because Highbridge was so big and busy? 

Mary  4:31  
Well Highbridge was a real hub. Of course it had the the cattle market, and it was the best cattle market in the west country. People would come from all the counties around to come to Highbridge every Monday it was no good phoning a farmer on a Monday because they wouldn't be there. They would all be at the market. And we had quite a big town hall and the town hall was buzzing during the festival. And there were lots of banks and shops

and places to go and pubs, of course, loads of pubs for the farmers. And yeah, it was a real buzzing town, come up pick up on the actual capital market.

Mell T  5:13  
What was it like? Did you you used to go?

Mary  5:16  
oh, I would be there. I can't say every week because a lot of the time I'd be at school, but certainly, during the holidays, I'd come to the cattle cattle market with my dad. Very, very busy. If you would be walking along the A38. Even two or three miles away, you would hear animals baaing and mooing and braying. Because they'd all be in their, in their trailers and their cattle lorries on their way to Highbridge market. As a small child, I would only see lots of people's knees, I suppose. And I'd have to be lifted up and sat on the rails to watch the auctioneer and listen to the auctioneer doing his thing. And the smell I mean, you can imagine it was a real strong farm smell. And all the farmers smoked. Then when I went in later years, none of the farmers smoked. It was quite change really

Mell T  6:13  
Taking us back to the festival. So how did it all come about? What was it was it a group of local musicians or artists or

Mary  6:22  
Well, this is slightly before my time, not a huge a lot before my time, I have to say. It started in 1948 as the Highbridge festival. It was held at the town hall, as I mentioned just now. And it was just one afternoon of music. And gradually it developed and grew. were affiliated to a thing called Biff, which is British International Federation of Festivals, the patron of which is Her Majesty the Queen.And that evolved, Biff evolved from an association which emerged in the late 1800s.

People like Elgar and Holst, Adrienne bolt, people would have heard of Armstrong, Gibbs the composer, they all got together and decided there should be something where all these budding musicians could, could gather and, and do something in a big way. So that's how it all started. And then Biff developed and gradually got better known throughout the country. I suppose some of our more musical people in Highbridge got to know about it and formed the Highbridge festival. And we have the people that we have to judge, they are all kind of affiliated with this federation of festivals. So we have to have the proper people to do it. You know, we can't just get Joe Bloggs down the road saying well, that was a nice one, wasn't it? We must be one of the longest-running festivals I should think in the country.

Because we haven't had a gap at all since 1948, when it started, except last year, which was COVID. And that was really sad. Because there are people in the area who have been involved with it from the very beginning having taken part when they were little and gone on to enter pupils and children and grandchildren of their own. So I think they were terribly sad that we had to miss last year, but there was no way nobody did anything last year. So how did it all run? 

Mell T  8:40  
How did how did people enter? Or is there a sort of a sort of is there a process that they go through?

Mary  8:46  
Yes, it's quite a complicated process let me try to explain what happens. We're all volunteers, all of us. We have a management committee. So there's a chair and a general secretary. And there's a secretary for each of the disciplines. So I'm the music secretary. We have a dance secretary, we have a drama secretary.

And we put together a program what we put together first of all, a syllabus, which we try to get out to everybody, everybody who could do anything. It's open to absolutely everybody. So we send it out to schools. Well, actually we email it out now with for the last few years we've gone ...

Intro  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the people, places and history of the Highbridge area in such small

Mell  0:27  
This season is funded by Seed which is a consortium of community organizations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film, and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding, and the Arts Council, this edition, I spoke to the people that are behind 'Our Highbridge'. And I had the opportunity to chat with Nadja and Ruth and I started by asking Ruth, how did the project get started?

Ruth  1:01  
I think I've always seen in Highbridge, lots of things go on. But not necessarily everyone knows about it. Also Highbridge suffers from social deprivation, one of the most deprived places in Somerset, and it just needs more love and care. So a year and a half ago, I message, Jackie and Kyla, the other two members of Our Highybridge and said, that's how we can talk about what we could do, cuz I know they're interested in that kind of thing as well. And we just chatted, and thought, you know, we could do some stuff, we could get some stuff going. And Nadjas my mom. So I know she's interested in that kind of stuff. And I've spoken to her quite enthusiastically about all my ideas and stuff. Last summer, we sort of went, Yeah, let's do it. Because now's the time, it's obviously it was over COVID It was really hard. But now's the time to do it. And we basically want to make Highbridge better. We don't have focus on one particular thing. We're particularly focused on everything about Hioghbridge, we want to make Highbridge a better place to live to make Highbridge a better place to work, and make it look like as loved that people care. And people feel good in Highbridge. We'd like the town to have more of a vibe about it. And just yeah, just feel good in Highbridge and everyone should feel good in the Highbridge.

Mell  2:31  
So Nadya have you always lived in Highbridge or did you move into the area.

Nadja  2:37  
I moved into the area originally into Bridgewater a very long time ago in 1976. And we as a family moved over to Highbridge in 1987. So I have been here quite a long time. I feel like a natural part of it. Now I know it takes a while for everyone to accept you. But I think I'm probably a person that lives in Highbridge and belongs to Highbridge now, so I was really enthusiastic about what we were saying.

Mell  3:01  
So where were you before? 

Nadja  3:02  
Oh, I was in Kent

Mell  3:03  
Okay, so coming into Highbridge. What was it like? What did you like what, what stood out for you in Highbridge?

Nadja  3:10  
Well, I came from Bridgewater to Highbridge and Bridgwater is obviously a bigger town, more things going on. Highbridge was quite quiet. In actual fact, I quite like that about Highbridge. So we thought it was a small town. Little bit overshadowed by Burnham or that's a perception that we tend to have here, I think. So why not? Big it's up a bit. Why not kind of make people notice Highbridge and try to make it into a place where people would want to come to me, for me, I'm involved with Seed Sedgemoor because Seed has concentrated their energy. Bringing together lots of creatives to do things in Highbridge over this last year, it has also drawn my attention to the fact that you know someone needs to kind of bring it together a little bit. You know, there's a lovely community hub over that way over Morlands. There's a community all over this way in Southwell Gardens there is the church. So we've got already got all different sort of points of the compass if you like, and we just thought well, why couldn't it just keep on going on.

Ruth  4:14  
So perhaps our Highbridge can be part of the interconnectedness of branches that reached out and bring everyone together, you know, so that we can all work together and all promote each other and just live happily ever after the project

Mell  4:27  
The project of Our Highbridge was that was a conscious decision that it's a Facebook group

Ruth  4:34  
Currently we only have the Facebook page, but we're building a website as well, which we hope to sort of promote business community groups, not be a Burnham on Sea.com But have that kind of keeping people updated on what's going on not necessarily news but with what's going on around the town. showcase some of people and places and just Just a little area on the web that you can drop into. Obviously, people don't go online. So we're conscious of that. And we want to develop ways of getting messages out that aren't necessarily online. So maybe more noticeboards, leaflet drops, that kind of thing so that people know what's going on and people can get involved in. Highbridge I think there are groups of people that don't get involved perhaps because they don't know what's going on all they feel like they're not the kind of person that gets involved and we want to make everything inclusive. And

Mell  5:36  
So do you find that people interact with the website? Do you think you're more than just publicise other people?

Ruth  5:43  
Ours is more more of a  LIKE the page and then see what we post we share? I can't remember what we've shared recently, something to do with new drama boxes.

Nadja  5:53  
That's right. Yeah.

Ruth  5:55  
We shared that and a few people perhaps tagged their friends in it, say, Oh, look at this, you get that kind of thing. So at the moment, that's what that is. But that's not just what we do. That's a way of promoting our Highbridge and everything else that's going on. Because we do stuff that we want to do it's so broad you need a place to sort of start and spread out

Mell  6:22  
What I always find interesting is Burnham on Sea and the Highbridge is also where one begins and one ends so there's this vaguaness they are all one but they have different names but it's all in one area. Is this a Highbridge event is this a Burnham on sea event?

Nadja  6:41  
Absolutely. it would be lovely really if events belonged to both places Exactly. Why yes. But in another way, Highbridge needs its own identity because Burnham does have an identity. As Ruth said, at the very beginning, Burnham has a beach, you know, holidaymakers go there, what just what happened to Highbridge is still a town in its own right. And it was once upon a time when I talked to my friends who lived here all their lives. You know, they say it was actually the most thriving part. Burnham was just a little town where people went to the seaside, whereas Highbridge had the railway and the industry and things going on. Cinema, you know, these sorts of things. Yeah, we want to start projects, which build it back up again, into a place people want to come to, as I said earlier,

Mell  7:24  
it's also interesting that you mentioned as well, like, you know, people passing through, and it's the fact, as you say, they only pass through because they think they're on the way somewhere else. And they don't realize there's actually something here and exactly, you could stop here instead. Or as well as

Ruth  7:39  
Well. Yeah, yeah. Because Highbridge, like Highbridge, had, obviously originally a strong identity a lot of the houses were built for railway workers and industry. And then we had the cattle market, the Highbridge Sunday market. And they just sort of dissipated when even one of the platforms even went at the railway station originally, there's houses built now but there...

Podcast ident  0:10  
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the people, places, and history of the Highbridge area in Sedgemoor

Mell  0:27  
This season is funded by seed which is a consortium of community organizations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film, and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England. Creative people in places lottery funding, and the Arts Council and a warm welcome for myself melt Herford host of the hybrid podcast in this our second edition we'll be hearing from Karen Curtis, all about the northern project, and we'll be hearing from Scott O'Hara about seeds schedule before we speak to Corinne Curtis about the dawn and project let's try and set the scene is Daniel Hawthorne.

Daniel Hawthorne  1:11  
It all started during the first days of March 1897. When a howling southwesterly Gale swept up the Bristol Channel, bringing with it high seas driving snow and sleet. Many ships soon found themselves in distress. Among them the Norwegian bark Nornen, which had tried to ride out the storm in the lay of the land the roads, but had found her anchors dragging. She was being driven towards Berrow mudflats. The crew desperately tried to save her, but we're fighting a losing cause. When the mists cleared on the morning of March the third, the cripple ship was spotted just off Gore sands her sails blown to rags by the Gale. Down the ramp to her aid went the Burnham lifeboat, the John Godfrey Morris, which had been on station at the town for the last 10 years, launched down the rails on the jetty. The lifeboat with its crew with 10 oarsmen battled through high seas and winds to the northern. Despite the Gale, the lifeboat managed to get alongside the helpless ship, just as she was being driven onto the sands. The ship's crew of 10, together with their dog, were taken off by the lifeboat and landed safely at Burnham at three o'clock in the afternoon. The rescue is recorded on the honors board of rescues made by the three lifeboats at Burnham during the period from 1867 to 1930, and which today stands in the entrance to the Burnham RNLI Station.

Mell  2:39  
So that sets the scene for the Nornen project. So I popped along to Apex Park where I met up with Corinne, Curtis, and asked her more about the project.

Corinne, Curtis  2:49  
The Nornen project is essentially creating a brand new theatrical production based on the story of the Nornen which was wrecked off the coast of Barrow. And that happened in 1897. So next year will be the 125fth anniversary. And we're telling that story. And I'm a professional actor and puppeteer, but I'm developing as a producer to make sure that I can deliver this. So I won't be performing and I'll be producing, which is plenty, and I'll go back to the beginning. So I mentioned I lived away for a little while in London. And because I'm a massive geek, I was still keeping an eye on |Burnham on Sea.com. Because Burnham is my hometown, that's where I've grown up. I love it. And there was an article about a councilor who had proposed potentially using some of the Hinkley Point money to create an outdoor performance space at the apex. And I got very overexcited and thought must show that there's a you know, support for this. And this is how it could be used if they want to put that into funding applications and things and started thinking of it. Well, the shipwreck, I knew that there was a wreck. I didn't know how it happened or anything like that. But I thought big epic kind of story where you could have a mixture of professional performers and community class so you can have lots of community involvement. And I mentioned this to this counselor and I sort of went Oh, it was just an idea. And nothing more happened. And during the pandemic. I had a chat with Nick White at Wassail theatre company they are Somerset Theatre Company. And it's all kind of gone from there really started looking into the story and it's just fantastic. It was a horrendous storm. absolutely awful, awful conditions. It was snowing sleeting gale-force winds. A lot of ships were battered in the area and the Nornen and tried to take shelter in the lay of Lundy, which being a local girl I know the name of Lundy and go I know it's nearby but I'm geographically challenged 40 miles that they were pushed by the storm from Lundy to Berrow, and it is a genuine miracle that they weren't smashed to pieces on rocks and that they landed rough they land They got absolutely wedged. It wasn't until the next morning that they were discovered when the mist cleared. And the lifeboat burn and the John Godfrey Morris was launched and sent out and it took them hours because although the main storm had died down, the winds were still horrendous. But they reached them and all 10 crew and their dog were rescued. And I just loved that there was a dog. I have lots of questions about this dog, and also images of how on earth you've got it from the ship to the lifeboat. But not only were they rescued, they were then brought ashore and given refuge by lots of locals in Berrow, and the crew and the captain was so grateful they've given various artifacts to various families that sheltered them, including the figurehead, which then gave the name to figurehead cottage in Berrow. And the figurehead is still in Berrow village hall. We've also recently discovered through doing this project that someone has the ship's bell that their ancestors were given, which is just incredible, we're starting to get lots of sort of tangible links back to it now, which given it the 125 years ago, almost is just amazing. And that's one of the things that I'm really enjoying, and I wanted to get out of it was was reaching into the community,

I want us to have the opportunity to do a really high-quality theater production in our town, we deserve the opportunity to have something really high quality. But I also don't want to just rock up and be like I've made your show be grateful. And because it's such a local story, it's so important to have that local voice in there. Which is why I decided to set it up the way that I have where we held our local history talks with the brilliant John Strickland, which of course you can see, which is fantastic. And then we're having our making theatre workshops. And then as part of the development process in January, we'll have a professional cast and creative team creating the show. But again, community members, whoever wants to come along is invited in come in and take part in that, see what we're making, how we're making it and have your say in how our story has been told. I think that's so important. And then the actual production itself will have a mixed cast. So there'll be the professional cast supported by a community cast. So we can we put that real local link into it. But yeah, as I say that all those connections that are coming out just from the history talks, and just chatting about it to people, you're just people are going oh, actually my great grandfather, or, actually my cousin has, and things like that. And it's just amazing. It's so exciting. And a really nice that say for John Strickland, who runs the local history groups. And he's he's starting to get new information coming in, because people who haven't previously they did like the history. And now seeing this and going oh, I know something to do with that, which is just fantastic. So I feel like whatever happens with the production, there will still be some legacy with capturing more information that pretty soon will be lost. I love history, particularly like ancient history, and not very interested in modern history. In censuses, like the world wars, I did a lot of that at school, but it was always the ancient history that I enjoyed with...