A cemetary next to a motorway junction
Sound from a Town
There's a Pentecostal Church on the Westminster - one of Ellesmere Port's suburbs - that backs onto a motorway sliproad. The sliproad was opened in 1972 to join up with the M53, a motorway that ran right through the middle of the Westminster and cut the community in two. I'm not sure what this cemetary would have sounded like on a Sunday before the M53 was built, but I imagine the low drone of errand-laden traffic wouldn't have dominated the soundscape as much as it does today. Recorded Suynday 8th March.
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An iron bridge over a train track
Sound from a Town
This recording is bookended and criss-crossed by two different journeys. At the start, a train passes directly under the bridge, and at the end, a person walks a bike across it. Listening with headphones gives the latter a very eery quality - listening back the first time I had to look over my shoulder. The iron bridge in question is between Overpool and Little Sutton train stations on the Merseyrail Network. Recorded with a Lom Geofon magnetised to the bridge itself, and two Clippy EM272s (A-B position) for a nice stereo image. www.soundfromatown.com
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An allotment on the first warm day of the year
Sound from a Town
We're in Stamford Street allotments in Ellesmere Port again, this time on the first warm Saturday of the year. Before heading out I saw a bubmlebee out of the window, which I saw as a good omen and sign that everything's coming back to life after winter. The allotment was quiet, though, so perhaps everyone needs a couple more weeks to fully resurface. You do get to listen to activity on two plots, with one person trundling around clearing space for re-planting, and ducks, chickens and a bin fire on the second plot. Thank you to Andrea and Ann who let me record them pootling about. ...
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Hebden Bridge: Hebden Friends of Palestine
Sound from a Town
Here we meet Christine, who spends most weekends protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza from Hebden Bridge town centre. Christine was also one of the Greenham Women, who protested the arrival of nuclear cruise missiles to Berkshire from 1981 - 2000.
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Joe Massey at The Bull
Sound from a Town
Before paying keyboard and harminica for the brilliant Ellesmere Port band Oranj Son, Joe Massey took to the stage at The Bull's Head, a flat-roof institution, to perform renditions of Bach's Prelude in C Minor and Mozart's Sonata in F Major. Recorded on 14th September 2024 with a Zoom H6.
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Hebden Bridge: Valley Organics Workers' Co-op
Sound from a Town
The first part of a series of recordings around Hebden Bridge. In this episode you can hear from Chris, who helps run a workers' co-op in the town. Recorded on the 27th January 2024.
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Suburban dawn snow melt
Sound from a Town
Due to the weather being too trecherous to go anywhere else, here is a recording from a back garden of a subdued dawn chorus smattered with clumps of thawing snow falling from trees. The sound was captured from Meols, on the Wirral. Meaning 'sand dunes' in Nordic, Meols was once a settlement for Vikings and Romans. These days, the sleepy little coastal village is little more than somewhere to return home to after work - either at 5pm or at the end of your three score and ten. Captured at 7:30am on Sunday 5th January using two Clippy EM272 in an AB array, recorded into a...
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An Allotment Chicken Coop
Sound from a Town
Spend some time with some chill chickens from Stamford Street allotments in Ellesmere Port. Clipped the mics to the chicken wire roof and left them for 30 mins. There may be standard background chat, the sound of planes, strimmers, cars, doors and windows closing or other suburban sounds, but the occasional cluck, trill, wing flap or the sound of the feeder helps to position you properly amongst the allotment plots. Recorded on 31st July at around 7pm.
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Goldfinches and a glass furnace
Sound from a Town
A recording of dawn chorus on Ince Marshes. The protected nature reserve sits in the Stanlow marshland now occupied by heavy industry. Some of the heaviest - oil refineries, chemical plants, glass factories. As I arrived, as well as the familiar orange hue felting itself to the cloud cover above the oil refinery, what struck me was the noise of the Encirc glass factory dominating the soundscape of birds waking up and having a stretch of their vocal chords. I was left wondering whether this din affects the sound of the birds, whether they sleep okay, whether they get used to it, or...
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Take five: Stop Off at Tebay Services
Sound from a Town
Apparently the most beautiful service station in the country. On the M6, Tebay offers artisan food, drinks, bits and bobs, and is set back from the motorway with views of the Lake District. This hark to nature, with products inside adorned with earthly tones, is situated in stark contrast to the greyscale tarmac, blue shiny signs and white and red scintillations of motorways.
info_outlineA recording of dawn chorus on Ince Marshes.
The protected nature reserve sits in the Stanlow marshland now occupied by heavy industry. Some of the heaviest - oil refineries, chemical plants, glass factories.
As I arrived, as well as the familiar orange hue felting itself to the cloud cover above the oil refinery, what struck me was the noise of the Encirc glass factory dominating the soundscape of birds waking up and having a stretch of their vocal chords.
I was left wondering whether this din affects the sound of the birds, whether they sleep okay, whether they get used to it, or if they see it as positive compitition. Either way, this soundclash is a pretty unique one, and another way to show how the lives of wildlife, machines, and humans are inexorably entwined in this place.
www.georgepowell.online