WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED
Church bells among crow song
Sept. 25, 2022
This week much of the country fell silent for a while and that stillness was the occasion for a chance encounter and finding within the silence the music of bells among crow song. Join us aboard the Erica tonight as we are t…
The Longest Trench (Summer readings)
Sept. 18, 2022
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…
Canal Pushers (Summer readings)
Sept. 11, 2022
The first of our ‘Summer’ readings this year is a litle different from those we looked at last year and features Andy Griffee’s meticulously researched, fast-paced, crime thriller Canal Pushers . Set on the West Midlands can…
Milky tea and four sugars (Walking with elephants)
Sept. 4, 2022
There’s a warm welcome awaiting you under the heavy night skies of summer’s hinterlands. Tonight we meet a very special person with a lop-sided smile and who might be able to teach us to walk with elephants. Journal entry : …
Beside a young willow (in a thunderstorm)
Aug. 28, 2022
Although a little delayed, the long-awaited rain and thunder did eventually arrive. Join us tonight as we hunker down beside a young willow and enjoy, with a field full of crows, the wonder of a thunderstorm as it roars over…
Hot August Nights (Listening for the thunder)
Aug. 15, 2022
It has been a sweltering hot week with temperatures in the 30s (90F). Join me onboard NB Erica, on a hot August night just as the heatwave is about to break, as we listen for the rolling sound of distant thunder. Journal ent…
The Scent of God
Aug. 7, 2022
Join me this week as we moor on a still August night, under a proud stand of poplars studded with starlight and moonlight. Tonight, we explore the evocative power of scents and smells. Journal entry : 6th August, Saturday. "…
Down by the Cattle Pond
July 31, 2022
There is a spot of ground that is special to me. Perhaps you have one too. They often are not particularly attractive, but somehow they are places we can go to find quietness. Join me to tonight when we visit one of my speci…
Let the Stars Sing out your Stories
July 24, 2022
The forecast hot weather has come and gone, but its psychological, as much as physical, effects feel a bit harder to shift. So join with me tonight as we gaze deeply into the mirrored dome of the night sky and its web of sta…
The Dog Days of Summer
July 17, 2022
These are the long days. The days of heat and dust. The days of quiet skies and dulled colours. Days of eclipse and renewal. These are the dog days of summer. Journal entry : 23rd July, Saturday [should read 16th July - blam…
Unfamiliar Mirrors (... and a herring)
July 10, 2022
Old stories can lift an unfamiliar mirror up to our lives so that we see ourselves anew and as we really are. Tonight, I will tell you an old story. It’s a story about a silvery day of sea fret (mist), rolling ocean waves, e…
This one unremarkable dusk
July 3, 2022
With apologies for sounding like an asthmatic badger, tonight we explore the special qualities of an unremarkable dusk and why we can feel so at peace with it and the darkness it can bring. Journal entry : 28th June, Tuesday…
Love Letters (Written in Canal Water)
June 26, 2022
Odd little shards of memory take on new meaning. A young man clinging to the side of a bridge, a walk around a reservoir, a canal-side pub, a bridge crossing the Grand Union. It is funny how, looking back, distinct paths and…
Lessons from the Breadlady
June 19, 2022
The heat of the past few days has broken with sweeping skies filled with rain and lowering clouds. Join me tonight, as we reflect on life on water in the heat of summer, listen to the poetic words of one of our listeners, an…
'I've Got Her Now' (Love and Hawthorn Blossom)
June 12, 2022
This week has been one of extremes that encompasses the splendour of solitude and an onboard visit by three very enthusiastic police dogs (and a puppy)! Alongside all this, we took time to listen to some bats, watch the cygn…
Caught in a Rhyme
June 5, 2022
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…
On Drying Days (Like This)
May 29, 2022
May slowly rolls into June, but is summer really here? The towpaths and hedgerows are garlanded in summer colours and the ducks (and swans) are beginning to move into their time of eclipse. Some of the mallard drakes are beg…
The Colour of Water
May 22, 2022
I want to describe to you what I saw today, but I can't. We have so many words to describe and represent the most complex of concepts. Why then is it almost impossible to describe something so simple and ordinary as the colo…
When David Came (Cruising the Cut)
May 15, 2022
The Greek myths tell us that there are times when the gods come down from Olympus to walk amongst mortals. We had a very similar experience when, on a sunny day in late March, David Johns came to visit us and record an episo…
Banbury Town (Rainy Saturday Afternoon)
May 8, 2022
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 …
'A Gypsy Love of Colour' (Painted Boats)
May 1, 2022
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…
Entanglements with the Archdeacon
April 17, 2022
The archdeacon is one of the colourful local characters who live here. Irascible and combative, he is nevertheless an important part of the social life of this small portion of the watery world. He’s a feral domestic duck w…
No Small Gift
April 10, 2022
“It is no small gift” wrote the poet Mary Oliver about the joy a dog brings into our lives. In the week that we had to say goodbye to Penny, we remember the many gifts this timid little whirlwind brought into our lives and m…
I have Heard the Roar of Spring (and it is fearful)
April 3, 2022
Just as the wind swung north with its sting of sleet and hail, the first batch of ducklings were hatched this week. It was a far from simple event! However, as winter attempted to reassert itself with some biting winds and s…