As our first guest on brand new series Tiggi’s Tails, we proudly introduce Moira Anderson. HR Operations Officer at the Bishops Palace of Bath and Wells.

Moira has an extensive and busy job, joining the Palace team in 2013.  A confessed animal lover, it comes as no surprise, the animals at the 14-acre Palace estate come under her wing.  However, she had an unexpected encounter with two animals when she arrived 20 years ago.  They changed her life, job title and faced her with the biggest challenge of her career.

She has a secret talent that evolves during this fascinating and heart-warming story.  Tiggi’s interviewing skills as a blind woman with her faithful guide dog Jackie, do go a bit haywire at times. Including nearly falling out of a medieval window into a moat.

We also welcome Stevie Haywood, BAFTA winning sound recordist to our podcast team.

And finally, a huge thankyou to the Cheddar Male Choir who arranged and sang the music for the  “Tiggi’s Tails” theme tune, “Don’t Fence Me In”.

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An amazing woman and a massive participant in our community life. Mother, Willow Sculptor, Instructor, House Builder, Church Bell Captain, Horse Expert, and devoted lover of everything to do with Nature.

Sophie will be missed by her family who we are thinking about at this time, but friends will miss her too, as she touched so many hearts.

To remember Sophie (and with permission from her family) we have reconstructed the podcast recorded with Tiggi and Sophie chatting in February 2020. 

She died on the 8th of June this year 2023.

We have used some of Sophie’s favourite pieces of music and poetry, (selected by herself for her funeral) and fascinating stories about willow growing around the Somerset levels and its part in our community history.  The extraordinary connection of willow to nature, including a living shrine to a passing cat. Sophie survived one of our coldest winters living in a tent with her three young children while she physically built a safe dream ‘Eco home’ for them all.

We will miss the wicker horse standing proudly outside Sophie’s home in Rodney Stoke, but I like to think it gallops alongside her indomitable spirit as they canter on together over the moors of Somerset and beyond.

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As Patron of the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind). Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a passionate advocate for the rights of blind and partially sighted people.

With that in mind we are delighted to re broadcast the podcast we made with Ella Caulfield two years ago. A young lady who became totally blind at the age of just 15.

Her Majesty was also a keen member of the WI. Ella, with her guide dog Rio at her side, joined me recently and told her story of going blind to our local Rodney Stoke and Draycott WI.

A poignant story of loss, courage and enlightenment, supported by the legacy of education led by our greatly missed compassionate Monarch.

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This episode is dedicated to the memory of Alison Quill, who was President of the branch from 2019, until her death in April 2022.

Tiggi talks to Natalyia Wills, a member of the local WI since 2015.  She is on a mission to bust the myth that the WI is not only ‘Jam and Jerusalem’.

Since 1915 when the first WI was formed in Wales, many resolutions from them have been made directly to Government. They have been influencing on so many important matters since,  including social housing, HIV and Aids awareness, and Care Not Custody for Women. Back in the 1970s they were even campaigning on environmental issues.

During  the two world wars, the WI organisation started to empower women in rural areas to support the war effort. The organisation went from strength to strength.

Currently the WI has a membership of 220,000. Still the largest and arguably the most powerful women’s group in the UK

The post 055 Rodney Stoke and Draycott WI appeared first on Draycott Diaries Village Podcast.

Having faced a life changing diagnosis and a need to re navigate her life, two and a half years ago, Alison Ironside and her Mother moved from Cornwall to Draycott.  They wanted to join a community and ideally buy some land. Bingo! A vineyard came up for sale nearby called PERCH HILL. Boasting a south facing plot on the Mendip hillside, and unbroken views across the Somerset levels to Glastonbury.

With a new horticultural degree under her belt and a giant leap of faith, Alison bought her piece of heaven.  As a confessed novice on wines and wine making Alison could not wait to start her new life journey as a bio friendly and carbon neutral grape grower of both exotic and quaffable wines on a minimal scale.  And to employ local labour.

Within a short time Covid-19 struck and it seemed Alison’s dream might turn out to be a nightmare instead.  Listen to this extraordinary story of a woman’s passion to succeed against all the odds.

“If you can read, you can learn!”   A sound message bequeathed to Alison by her late and dearly missed Dad.

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I had a real scoop this month.  For our Draycott Diaries Jubilee Special, I chat with internationally acclaimed choral conductor, composer and organist Barry Rose OBE.

As resident organist and Master of the Choir at St Paul’s Cathedral in London from 1974, Barry participated in many royal services. These included the 1977 Silver Jubilee and the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Barry’s glittering career started with no qualifications whatsoever, just a love for pipe organ music – practising regularly on a harmonium and the local cinema’s Wurlitzer-type organ to learn his craft. This eventually allowed him to get away from working in an insurance office (much to his Father’s disappointment). A lucky meeting got him an audition for the Royal Academy of Music, and determination and talent did the rest.

We learn that conducting a famous Cathedral choir has its hazards – including flying lampshades. More importantly, how was he allowed to turn his back on the Queen?

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The romance of an historic steam train, puffing along through the gorgeous Somerset countryside. Children waving as passengers disembark at Draycott Station. Watched from the windows of the Railway Inn opposite.  This was the Cheddar Valley Line, later re-named The Strawberry Line due to its delicious cargo of rich, red, ripe and juicy strawberries heading for the dainty plates of royalty and top restaurants. From late Victorian period to the early 60’s as transport needs were ever changing.

As Tiggi chats to local journalist and train enthusiast Harry Mottram, we learn about this iconic section of railway line, sadly stopped on its tracks in the mid 60’s, impacting on the local community.  Espionage or a need for modernity?  Only time will tell.

 Where the tracks once lay and with some tunnels still standing firm, the environment may yet re invent itself as a pathway for nature. Both Tiggi and Harry hope this is the case.

(Strawberry Line Photos courtesy Harry Mottram)

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Village resident Adam Clark had two passions as a boy, soldiers and trees.  As he chats with Tiggi we learn so much from his past experiences.  As a student army cadet Adam once organised an expedition in Nepal to the base of Mount Everest.   On this trek he met some retired Gurkha soldiers they inspired him with their integrity and fiery spirit.

Adam went on to train as an Officer at Sandhurst, for the Royal Gurkhas Rifles as part of the British Army.  He was delighted to be stationed in Nepal for a time, to recruit Gurkhas amongst his military duties.  Around 2012 he and his Gurkha regiment were deployed to fight in Afghanistan.

Leaving the army was a tough choice but Adam wanted to start a family and lead a quieter life. A gift from his wife inspired him back to his love of trees and conservation.  Putting himself through a myriad of training Adam is now a fully qualified Arborist.  Having settled into the village for seven years, Adam and his wife recently bought their own piece of heaven.  A plot of land at the top of the Mendip hills.  Not the steep hills of Nepal, but close!

ADAM CLARK TREE SERVICES

www.adamclark.arborist.co.uk

07870 982388

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Tiggi and her guide dog Jackie set off three years ago to record stories from a rural village.  Many said this wouldn’t work. How very wrong they were.

As a special guest on BBC Radio 4 and other media platforms, growing an international following, the proof is in the listening.  Tiggi is convinced she has only scratched the surface of what is possible.

50 episodes on, and now with a production team of six. Celebrate with us and listen to a compilation of favourite clips selected by the Draycott Diaries team. With such a girth of Life Stories and Documentaries, it was a tough choice. We are very proud to have achieved such a powerful audible account from one community. Especially in light of pandemics and current world unrest, coming together has never been more important.

Learning a new craft is never easy. Tiggi and Rob, as the Producer and Series Editor, kick off the show chatting about the ups and downs of making a Podcast. Especially as all face to face contact stopped for over a year during COVID-19 restrictions.  How the team battled forward adopting new ways to produce the Diaries remotely.

Join us on our journey looking back over the last three years and what’s next on the horizon for Draycott Diaries.

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John Connor is this months podcast guest.

Tiggi learns that every person she chats to on Draycott Diaries have hidden depths, and village resident jet pilot John Connor is one of them. A true biography of extremes.

Thrills of flying at over one thousand miles an hour in the notorious Phantom jet. Aerobatics at incredibly low levels and teaching rookie pilots that wont stop, regardless of the length of runway. Eject or die potentially the only option.

After a dazzling 22 years flying with the RAF, for John commercial flying became a realistic option. Tiggi tries to break code words and meanings between cabin crew and pilots in emergency situations. How badly behaved can passengers become after early morning airport drinking. And most importantly, how robust is a commercial aeroplane today?

After the smell of jet fuel subsides and with mandatory retirement, what next for John? Maybe a gentle form of flying nearer home and much nearer to the ground. A new world of discovery.

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