Voices From The Dales
Voices From The Dales had three series between 2021-2024. It is a mix of fresh interviews and clips from the Dales Countryside Museum's oral history archive. All episodes are 15 minutes and presented by Andrew Fagg from Hawes.
Episodes
32 episodes
Swaledale Farmer pt.1: Deep Black (Christine Clarkson pt. 1)
The new series is introduced by presenter Andrew Fagg. Then meet champion Swaledale sheep breeder Christine, checking on tup Mo. She shares the story of her farming career and her current thoughts on the direction of the Swale...
Swaledale Farmer pt.2: Eager To Learn (Christine Clarkson pt. 2)
Christine speaks about wildflower identification, hay meadow management and peat depth testing. She reveals how the authorities once regarded Kisdon hill top as being of insufficient environmental interest to warrant stewardship payments,...
Swaledale Farmer pt.3: So Much Grass (Sue Ridley)
Sue Ridley describes the unique location of Kexwith Farm in lower Swaledale. She humorously rejects the title of ‘farmer’s wife’, tells the story of the revival of a remnant of ancient woodland, and reveals how engagement with stewardship...
Swaledale Farmer pt.4: Side By Side (Ray Ridley)
As Ray gives his beloved White Park cattle a scratch in a rain-battered shed, he reveals how Swaledale sheep numbers have come down over the years as stewardship schemes have come in. He describes how lapwings and sheep ‘look out for each...
Swaledale Farmer pt.5: Maar Rain No Hay (Michael Watson part 1).
Michael Watson fothers sheep in a high allotment with haylage and cake. He paints a picture of the scene in Upper Teesdale, and describes how much the stock means to him. The talk turns to the changing climate and Michael reveals t...
Swaledale Farmer pt.6: A Big Part (Michael Watson part 2 and Rachel Watson)
Michael shares his knowledge of bird life on the farm, stressing that there is as much wildlife about as there ever was. He describes how the farm business is dealing with the government’s major change to farm payments. Michael sh...
Trailer for Series Two
Voices From The Dales is returning for a second series - on dialect - on Friday 2 December 2022. This is our one-minute trailer. Series Two will have at a least six episodes of the usual 15 minute length, to be publishe...
Dialect pt.1: Lizzie Dinsdale
Presenter Andrew Fagg introduces Series Two on Dales dialect, with special guests Val and Rob Ward. He visits Hawes Methodist Cemetery and makes the case for dialect. Enter then the remarkable voice of the late Lizzie Dinsdale, in a...
Dialect pt.2: Rev James Alderson and Aunt Lizzie
Presenter Andrew Fagg is by the beck in Gayle village to introduce the late local historian Rev James Alderson and the late Lizzie Alderson. There is a touching story about a petted pig, along with excerpts from a lecture given by Rev Jam...
Dialect pt.3: Hannah Metcalfe, Taylor Dinsdale
After a noisy introduction at Gayle Bridge, this episode opens with a little more of Rev James Alderson, including a short study of his 1980 Dales dialect primer. Presenter Andrew Fagg then stands by the black-painted railings of ...
Dialect pt.4: Fishing and Jessie Blades
Series Two special guest Rob Ward says, ‘There’s no fish in’t beck’. The sad recent demise of brown trout in Upper Wensleydale prompts a diversion from dialect into fishing. Three more voices from 1977 are heard: Fred Nut...
Dialect pt.5: George Calvert’s verses
Series Two special guest Val Ward reads the dialect verse of the late road sweeper George Calvert from Gayle. Three poems are featured: ‘Kit Storra’; ‘Mi Granfatther’; and ‘T’Paper Lad’, which was written in tribute t...
Dialect pt.6: At the Washdub
Once the village children’s favourite place to play, the Gayle millpond – known as the washdub – becomes the place for a reflection on dialect, as the series draws to a close for now. Series Two special guests Rob and Val Ward <...
Dialect pt.7: Kit Calvert, ‘Wass than nowt’
Kit Calvert, one time saviour of Wensleydale Cheese, is introduced. A description is given of the recordings of him held at the Dales Countryside Museum. From the 1977 Trevor Sharpe tapes, we hear Kit Calvert tell how his use of di...
Trailer for Episodes 7-9 of Series Two on dialect, ft. Kit Calvert
A 90-second trailer for the final three episodes of Series Two on dialect. It whets the appetite for Episodes 7-9, which will feature never-before-published archive material of Kit Calvert, the saviour of both The Wensleydale...
Dialect pt.8: Kit Calvert, 'Wily old bird'
Series Two special guest Rob Ward remembers Kit Calvert. He adds ‘warts and all’ to our understanding of the man regarded as the ‘Complete Dalesman’. After Rob, a Kit Calvert recording gifted to the museum in 2019 is published for t...
Dialect pt.9: Kit Calvert, 'Lord, do somemat f't'cow'
Kit Calvert’s conversion and cow story, begun in episode 8, concludes. We also hear him telling how he was persuaded to ‘translate’ parts of the Bible into Wensleydale dialect, and why he collected the poems of John Thwaite. He reads from...
Schools pt. 1
A cockerel down a chimney, school closures, sex education and a ‘Roman toilet’ are discussed in Episode One of Voices From The Dales. Hear the voices of John Waggett from Gunnerside, Joan Fawcett and Christa Fagg Rawlence...
Schools pt. 2
Clogs, snow, the bus driver and the ‘kiddy catcher’ are discussed in Episode Two of Voices From The Dales. Hear the voices of Kit Calvert, Joan Fawcett, Eric and Vera Alderson and Reggie Fagg Rawlence – all from Hawes – as w...
Chapels
“The energy is no longer there,” said the Methodist minister in Reeth in 2016, as another Dales chapel closed. As journalist Mike Amos reported, a way of life was quietly disappearing. Chapels were at the heart of village life in Wensleyd...
Bard
John Thwaite (1873-1941) was a Wensleydale dialect poet who wrote about the natural beauty as well as the ordinary working class people around him. He worked as a grocer in the town of Hawes. Some 30 years after his death a group of...
Museum Makers
Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby founded a museum and brought pleasure to millions of people through their popular books on the Yorkshire Dales. What started their love affair with the Dales? How did they encourage Dales folk to tell...
Fell Runners
Fell running is one of the oldest and most traditional sports in northern England. Races take place across the Yorkshire Dales throughout spring and summer. In this podcast you are taken to the ‘Hawkswick Dash’ in Littondale in Jun...
