Chorlton Oral History Sound Walk ..... by Hayley Suviste

 North West Sound Heritage has commissioned me to create a sound walk around Chorlton Green and Beech Road, using interviews from The Manchester Studies Unit’s extensive oral history project from the 1970s. 

Doing nothing outside the Lych Gate on the Green, 1907

Older adults (born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) were interviewed about their time growing up, living, and working in Chorlton between 1900 and 1950.

I have arranged these interview clips onto an interactive map of Chorlton Green and Beech Road. 

As you walk around the area, interviews will play based on your location – so as you explore the Beech Road area, you will uncover stories about the exact street you are on. 

I have embellished these interviews with field recordings and environmental archival recordings from the BBC Sound Effects Library to bring these interviews to life – from the smithy on Beech Road to skating on the meadows and singing Christmas carols on the green.

On Tuesday 26th April, North West Sound Archive will be set up on the Chorlton Green from 3-5.30 pm to assist people in setting the walk on their mobile devices and gathering thoughts and feedback from those who have tested out the sound walk. 

The sound walk along the Green and Beech Road

They will be gifting anyone who tests the sound walk an obsolete sound archive CD – find out more info here. 

You can access the walk here, either on the web browser of your mobile’s web browser (if doing the sound walk in person) or on your computer’s web browser (if exploring the sound walk virtually). 

You don’t need to download any software to go on the walk – any browser on your phone will open it up and play content based on your location. 

There is a suggested route for the sound walk (A to B); however, feel free to explore as you wish. We advise using headphones and walking at a gentle and leisurely pace, listening to the audio in each section, and moving on to the next section when the audio stops. 

Looking south from the green, 1907

If you can’t make it to Chorlton, you can listen to the tour from a desktop computer at home. 

To go on the tour remotely, go to the Chorlton sound walk, click Open, click Go when it’s loaded, click on the icon of the person at the bottom left, and then drag and drop the icon that appears at point A on the map into whichever blue area you would like to go. The clip will start to play over an image and a bit of text about the recording.

The full-length interviews are available at Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre. 

Find out more about the Manchester Studies Oral History Collection.

You can find out more about my sound artwork here: www.hayleysuviste.co.uk. 

Location; Chorlton Green

Picture; The Lych Gate, circa 1907, from the Lloyd Collection