WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED
Aug. 6, 2023
Adventures and Departures (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 4)
Life afloat can throw up some rather singular challenges from being frozen in to sinking, running aground, being attacked by wild kittens and the dangers of runaway working boats!! Join us tonight as we ride out Storm Antoni…
July 30, 2023
The New Baby Arrives (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 3)
What was it like to give birth on small 30 ft boat in the 1960s? Mum continues her account of her life afloat on the Kathy in this week’s instalment of ‘The Kathy Chronicles’. We hear about the some of the challenges and joy…
July 23, 2023
Crochet by Lantern Light (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 2)
What was it really like to live on board a 30ft canal boat in the late 1950s before there were such things as service points and fully equipped marinas? This week we continue with ‘The Kathy Chronicles’ where Mum describes h…
June 11, 2023
'A Little Clinker-Built Boat' (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 1)
Travel back in time to the scorching summer of 1959. Although the canals were still mainly used by working boats, leisure cruising was growing in popularity and so too the idea of living on a canal boat. Tonight, I take us b…
June 4, 2023
In Praise of Locks (and lock-keepers)
There’s something almost indefinably special about canal and river locks. Tonight, I relate my struggle to outwit the ghost of Odd Lock as well as take time to celebrate the lock-keepers of old and their newer iteration – th…
Nov. 20, 2022
Stories are for listening: Blisworth Tunnel (Ian Douglas)
As the nights draw in and the cosy glow of a fire gets evermore inviting, it is the perfect time to share stories. It is not surprising that ghost stories have an enduring appeal. Many stories of the canal feature them. Ghos…
Sept. 18, 2022
The Longest Trench (Summer readings)
The second of our reading this year takes back to the working-boat families of the First World War. Geoffrey Lewis’ beautifully detailed and cleverly structured tribute to the people who worked the boats through this turbule…
June 5, 2022
Caught in a Rhyme
On the week that the cygnets of our swan pair hatched, we explore the rather contradictory nature of the canal through the eyes of poets Jo Bell, Nancy Campbell, and Ian MacMillan. We find romance amidst the unromantic and b…
May 8, 2022
Banbury Town (Rainy Saturday Afternoon)
Banbury has a significant place in the history of canals, most notably for being the location of Tooley’s boatyard and its association with canal restoration campaigner LTC (Tom) Rolt. However, the relationship between town …
May 1, 2022
'A Gypsy Love of Colour' (Painted Boats)
Why are canal boats and traditional canal-ware so colourful? When did the custom of painting working boats in bright colours begin and why? This week we explore our attraction to bright colours and what Tom Rolt describes as…
Sept. 19, 2021
The Gongoozler and the Nomad
This week we catch up with news of our little swan family and explore the strange word ‘gongoozler’. What does it mean? Where does it come from? In some ways it functions as a shibboleth. Its use identifying the ‘true’ canal…
July 25, 2021
Temple Thurston's 'The Flower of Gloster' (Summer readings #2)
In this second Summer Reading Special we discover the delights of Ernest Temple Thurston’s The Flower of Gloster . Published in 1911, Temple Thurston is writing about a very different world to the one in which last week’s au…
July 18, 2021
Hassell and Hollingshead - Early canal writings (Summer readings #1)
This is the first of our Summer Reading Specials devoted to one or two books that are in some way related to waterways or life on them. They replace the normal format while Penny, Donna and I are away, off-line, and having a…
March 28, 2021
Canalscapes of Childhood
A listener has asked, "After we left the boat and went to live in a house, did canals continue to play much of a part in my life?" After the boat, we moved to Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. It was there I grew up and found my…
March 7, 2021
'Boots as thick as a moderate slice of bread and butter'
The fascination of boots and canals. Boots have always been one of the most essential pieces of equipment for canals and canal-life. In this episode we re-join impresario, journalist and social reformer, James Hollingshead o…