Join indefatigable octogenarian walker and talker, landscape historian and naturalist Dennis Furnell as he guides Jonathan Kempster to the summit of Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire, the site of an Iron Age hillfort now under the care of the National Trust. Witness the changes in the physical and aural landscape that have occurred during the past 3000 years.
A high-definition stereo recording, best heard on headphones.
www.chilterns.org.uk/map_marker/ivinghoe-beacon/
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/essex-…ridge-estate
Audio production by Jonathan Kempster, MIPS, NUJ
Title image by Snapshooter46 (via Flickr) under CC BY-NC-SA2.0
If you are able to walk and talk at the same time, or if you know anyone who would like to appear on the programme, please get in touch via jonathan.kempster@gmail.com
We all love a story, and here at Chiltern Open Air Museum, we have plenty to tell! On Sunday 13th October 2024, around the campfire in our beautiful surroundings, we heard from members of our community whose heritage comes from further afield. Storytellers Tetiana Pantielieieva and Vitalina Darnopykh, both from Ukraine, were joined by Sadat, a refugee academic from Afghanistan. All three have found safety and support in Buckinghamshire.
Event curated by Jacqui Gellman
Location recording by Glenn Keiles
Editing and post-production by Jonathan Kempster
(A stereo recording)
www.coam.org.uk/heritagestories?r…eritage%20stories
Campfire Heritage Stories oral history programme at COAM is supported by The Rothschild Foundation
rothschildfoundation.org.uk/
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Bernard Morgan was the youngest RAF sergeant to land on Gold Beach during D-Day, 6th June 1944. He enlisted on his 18th birthday in 1942. In this interview with Jonathan Kempster of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, Bernard explains how and why he ended up under fire on a Normandy beach, serving as a code and cypher operator. His unit fought on through Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, before hearing the news of Germany’s surrender in May 1945.
Meet eyewitnesses to conflict, at the Imperial War Museum, www.iwm.org.uk/events/we-were-there
Search 33,000 recordings related to conflict in the IWM Sound Collection, www.iwm.org.uk/collections/sound
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Ron Yardley served on HMS Belfast during the Korean War. Following a recent audience with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, the 92-year old veteran feels that the conflict is no longer 'the forgotten war', but he still has work to do in educating the younger generation about events on the Korean Peninsula in the early 1950s.
Interview by Jonathan Kempster, Imperial War Museum Documents & Sound Archive, London, (5/4/2024).
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/sound
Part of 'We Were There', www.iwm.org.uk/events/we-were-there
Eighty years ago, on the 5th of April 1944, the Yellow Star Order was imposed on the Jewish population of Hungary - one of hundreds of anti-Jewish laws which led to the deportation and murder of over 400,000 Hungarian Jews.
John Hajdu MBE, was 7-years old when he was imprisoned in the Budapest Ghetto, and his mother was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp.
In this Radio Walk, John tells his story to Jonathan Kempster of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive as they walk through the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London.
Visit the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London:
www.iwm.org.uk/events/the-holocaust-galleries
Learn about the Holocaust:
www.hmd.org.uk/
Oral History and Audio Production by Jonathan Kempster (MIPS).
Visitors and storytellers react to the latest Campfire Heritage Stories event at Chiltern Open Air Museum.
Everything we do at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) is about bringing history to life and stimulating the senses of our visitors. In our exhibits you can see, smell, and touch history, and storytelling is integral to our mission.
Listen to the latest edition of Campfire Heritage Stories – an annual event when we gather to hear about the heritage and life journeys of people who have made the Chilterns their home.
This year’s Storytellers include Karen Bonner (Chief Nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, a descendent of the Windrush generation), Elizabeth Dench (Jamaica), Sejal Sechdav (Uganda) and B J Taylor (Keyna).
[A stereo recording, best heard on headphones].
Curated and organised by Jacqui Gellman, Outreach Officer.
Audio production and Oral History by Jonathan Kempster (MIPS).
Photograph by Cat Humphries (cathumphries.wordpress.com/).
Helen Light, Marketing and General Manager.
coam.org.uk/
Funded by The Rothschild Foundation (rothschildfoundation.org.uk/).
Chiltern Open Air Museum, Newland Park, Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, HP8 4AB
01494 871 117
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chilternoam
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/chilternopenairmuseumevents
Chiltern Open Air Museum is a registered charity (no. 272381) inspiring present and future generations with stories of Chilterns historic buildings, people, and places.
"If you can't find a photograph within ten yards of where you are, you're not looking hard enough". Paul Haley has been a professional photographer all his working life. As the youngest ever Senior Photographer at Soldier magazine he was posted to the South Atlantic to document the Falklands War of 1982. He recorded more than 2000 images, now conserved in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, London. The museum's Head of Photographs, Helen Mavin, included some of Paul's photographs in the recently published book War Photographers (ISBN 978-1-912423-66-8).
In this Radio Walk, Paul Haley guided Jonathan Kempster around his windswept and rainy home town of Morley, Leeds, demonstrating that there is an inspiring image to be found around every corner.
A stereo recording best heard on headphones.
See Paul's street photography from the walk here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/CmhbgkSTChuDFYZXOvW4cLknM0CaVYc1t82jkA1CYjA
Image © The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, 2023 https://shop.iwm.org.uk/p/29017/War-Photographers---IWM-Photo-Collection
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/blavatnik-art-film-and-photography-galleries
If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to tell your story, please get in touch: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com
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To what extent does the history of Israel-Palestine inform the response to human suffering in present day Gaza?
This discussion took place in Bristol on Saturday the 4th of November 2023 during a march and rally co-ordinated by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Jonathan Kempster of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive spoke to Linzy Na Nakorn, a human rights and cycling campaigner, (co-director of The Big Ride for Palestine (www.thebigride4palestine.com/), and with Kathe Jacob, a local resident and activist who is of Jewish heritage.
Explore: www.iwm.org.uk/projects-partners…nflicts-programme
Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jonathan_kempster/gaza-does-history-matter?si=068c4a86f8da430d9054e262f3be82e6&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Image © Bristol PSC
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Organist Sergei Lukashuk interviewed in the Crimean Memorial Church, Istanbul, by Jonathan Kempster.
Recorded during the IASA Conference at Istanbul University, September 2023.
www.achurchnearyou.com/church/33329/
2023.iasa-web.org/
Dr Geeta Ludhra lives in the Chilterns, she is the daughter of first-generation South Asian parents who emigrated from India in the early 1960s. She is a Lecturer in Education at Brunel University, where she is also engaged in academic research.
Geeta walked and talked with Jonathan Kempster at Chiltern Open Air Museum, telling the story of her life journey so far, and her ambition to ‘decolonise’ the countryside and promote intercultural dialogue, developing safe and inclusive green spaces for all.
Part of Heritage Stories oral history collection at Chiltern Open Air Museum: https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
Oral History and audio production by Jonathan Kempster.
Outreach Organiser at COAM: Jacqui Gellman.
Press & Marketing Officer at COAM: Helen Light.
Find out about Dadima’s walks and talks here: https://www.chilternsaonb.org/news/dadimas-countryside-walks-and-talks-2022-programme/
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If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to tell your story, get in touch: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com
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A Century of Steam – from the sound collection of P&O Heritage Archive, a recently conserved copy of a BBC radio programme broadcast on the National Programme on the 6th of October 1937 to celebrate the Centenary of the P&O shipping line, (originally produced by Felix Felton).
The audio material was recovered from eleven 12-inch acetate cellulose-lacquer grooved 78rpm radio transcription discs, conserved in the P&O archive, and digitally transferred.
Image shows the company’s new ship, Stratheden - her maiden voyage to Brisbane began on Christmas Eve 1937, and she continued in company service until 1964.
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Curated by: Susie Cox, Senior Curator, P&O Heritage Archive, London
Audio Preservation by: Jonathan Kempster, MIPS
See the latest P&O Heritage Archive exhibition here: www.poheritage.com/the-collection
[Main image: Radio Times 1/10/1937]
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Also available on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jonathan_kempster/po-heritage-a-century-of-steam?si=ed2d4208390841878ee1aea879a1c851&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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At Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) our mission is to document and conserve the story of the Chilterns. Whether it’s the buildings and objects we save, or the people who lived and worked in and around them - our responsibility is to tell those stories to future generations.
We discovered that a great way of encouraging storytelling is to sit around the campfire, toasting marshmallows, and listening to each other.
We invited two special guests, Dr Geeta Ludhra and Gregory Gonzales – they both live here in our Chilterns community, but their heritage originates much further afield.
Our ‘heritage basket’ of objects and words was passed around to prompt memories of life’s journey. Listen now to Geeta and Gregory’s stories, and those of some COAM visitors.
Organised and created by Jacqui Gellman /
Audio Production by Jonathan Kempster
© 2022 Chiltern Open Air Museum https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/history-future/
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The site of Ivinghoe Benedictine Priory, dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, lies in the hamlet of St Margaret's, between the villages of Great and Little Gaddesden, in the North Chiltern Hills.
On the 1,718th anniversary of Margaret's martyrdom, local people were led on a pilgrimage to ponder the question, "Did St Margaret actually exist?".
As they contemplated the monastic life of the 12th Century, the modern world was ever present.
Pilgrimage led by Revd Miranda Seldon, in the presence of Brother John Mayhead OSB.
Service written by Heather Tisbury, with reference to 'Women of the Woods' by Roger Bolton.
Music performed by Heather Woodward.
Produced for Oral History Sound Recording & Storytelling by Jonathan Kempster, July 2022.
[Image: Thinkstock/Britannica.com]
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Paula Gamester is the Founder and CEO of The Sewing Rooms, a social enterprise based in Skelmersdale in the north of England. Aware of the cost-of-living crisis that has hit many families in the United Kingdom she designed a product that drastically cuts cooking costs and fuel consumption. Not only does ‘The Sew Fab Bag’ save money, it also massively reduces our carbon footprint and reduces landfill waste. Her design is based on the medieval ‘hay-box’ cooking technique. She told Jonathan Kempster about her inspiration and motivation in producing the Sew Fab Bag.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sewfab-bag
https://www.the-sewing-rooms.co.uk/
(Interview produced for BBC World Service Business Programmes, July 2022).
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Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) marked the Queen's Platinum Jubilee by inviting some very special guests from local care homes to a celebratory tea dance. With hundreds of other visitors touring the 45-acre site, there was a mood of fun and celebration. Tea and cake prompted storytelling of Jubilees past and even of the 1953 Coronation itself.
Event organised by Jacqui Gellman.
Audio production by Jonathan Kempster.
Photography by Suzanne Plunkett.
suzanneplunkett.com/
coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamsh…e/heritage-stories/
Produced by Oral History Sound Recording June 2022.
In April 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. BBC radio reporter Laurie Margolis gained the first confirmation from the Islands, via a fragile shortwave radio link, that the invasion had taken place. He told his story to the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive.
Oral history interview by Jonathan Kempster for Imperial War Museums, www.iwm.org.uk/
An edited version of this material was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 3rd April 2022.
(Image: IWM Archive FKD2750)
As the nation celebrated 'Armed Forces Day' a group of Quakers audited their garden ecology and drank tea for peace.
http://www.llquakers.org.uk/hemel/web/
Produced by Oral History Sound Recording, July 2022.
George Moreton is a passionate ornithologist living in the Chiltern Hills. He travels the world to watch birds. In this episode of Radio Walks, George guides novice 'twitcher' Jonathan Kempster on a walk through the Gade River Valley. We learn the truth about the dawn chorus, and hear what's up and what's down in the bird league table. Garden feeding, modern farming, road transport, air travel, and human activity in general make every day a battle for our feathered friends, but George is dedicated to recording the changes and challenges in the life of birds.
[Listen on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/jonathan_kempster/radio-walks-podcast-ep6-the-life-of-birds-interview-with-george-moreton?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing]
If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to be a guest on the programme, please get in touch via: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com
Produced by: Jonathan Kempster for Oral History Sound Recording & Storytelling, June 2022.