Bits of history I like ..... Sailing By ...... Soul Music .... on the wireless today

I wonder how many non sailors listen to the Shipping Forecast which is broadcast just before 1 am every morning?

Arriving home, Corfu, 1984

It is preceded by 'Sailing By', that piece of music which I always associate with news of fog patches, and wind  and rain, from places like Shannon, Rocklall, Bailey, Tyne, Dogger and Fisher.

And today BBC Radio 4's Soul Music programmes explores the music with a a mixed bag fans.

"Written in 1963, 'Sailing By' by Ronald Binge was chosen by the BBC as the musical interlude to be played every night before the Shipping Forecast. 

These are the stories of some of the people for whom this piece has a powerful emotional connection.

After Cyrilene Tollafield's parents left Barbados for the UK, Cyrilene heard 'Sailing By' whilst cuddling up to her grandmother and her cousins during hurricane warnings. 

Writer Henrietta McKervey spent a night in Fastnet lighthouse and listened to 'Sailing By' as she drifted off to sleep. Having spent years of his life out at sea, Captain Harry McClenahan marvels at how the piece mirrors the rises and falls of the sea. 

Chris Binge would interrupt his dad whilst he was composing at the piano in his music room, the air thick with cigarette smoke, and says whenever people find out who his father was it's 'Sailing By' that they know. Helen Harrison conducted the piece at a concert in Blackpool and at the piano she unpacks the musicality and orchestration of the piece. 

Cruising the River, 1979

The best part of Jane Heiserman's day is the hour in the evening when she and her adult son, who has autism and lives at home, study together. 'Sailing By' became a firm favourite of theirs when they were looking for music as part of a module on the Intertropical Convergence Zone. She says it brings a sense of calm to their day and serves as confirmation that everything is going to be alright.

With recordings of 'Sailing By' by The Perry/Gardner Orchestra, Helen Harrison, Dave Spooner (Ronald Binge's Grandson) and Baked A La Ska.

Producers: Maggie Ayre and Toby Field

Technical Producer: Ilse Lademann

Editor: Emma Harding

Soul Music is a BBC Audio Bristol production for BBC Radio 4".*

Location BBC Radio 4

Picture; arriving home, Corfu, 1984, and Cruising the River, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Soul Music, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026999