The dockyard closed in 1984. Extra staff were hired to assist with the closure of the dockyard as permanent staff had moved on to find other work. We hear the story of one of those new temporary recruits who was also fascinated by the buildings and history of the dockyard. She mentions Charles Dickens who grew up in Chatham and whose father worked at the dockyard. Dickens' describes the building of HMS Achilles (1860s) at Chatham Dockyard in his book, 'The Uncommercial Traveller'.

The accompanying image is of HMS Achilles being built.

The closure of the Dockyard

Sandra Fraser discusses her role as a former Tracer at the Dockyard. Sandra worked at the dockyard from 1961-67.

The accompanying image (1960s) depicts the interior of the new drawing office with staff on St Mary’s Island. Female and male staff - The new drawing office block opened on St Mary’s Island in 1962. Sandra Fraser (donor) worked there in the Tracing Office at the time.

A Tracer at the Dockyard

Leanne Clark is a Master Ropemaker who works at the ropery. Here she talks about the sounds of the ropery and how this unique space is rarely silent.The ropery has been making rope for over 400 years. 

The accompanying images shows many of the different types of rope that are made in the ropery today.

A Master Ropemaker

The speaker recalls her mother and other family members working in the ropery when it was called the workhouse possibly around the mid 20th century. You will also hear sounds of the ropery machinery which are still in use today.

The accompanying image reflects the great length of the ropery building: A quarter of a mile in length. Ropemakers use bicycles to get from end to the other.

Working In The Ropery

A former shipwright recalls an incident at the Chatham Dockyard, when a dry dock holding a submarine was breached by the river Medway. This accident took place in a November, when there was thick fog. The tide went into the dock and “shoot the submarine out like a bullet”. People died and their bodies were later found in the mud.

The Fog Of November

Local people talk about night bombing and trying to get home before the sirens went off. Usually bombing happened at 2am when everyone was asleep. People often worked overtime at the dockyard at night building submarines and they only got paid for this after the war, as “post war credits". 

(Best listen with headphones.)

Sirens In The Night

A former worker of the dockyard recalls the coal-burning ships, and how coal had to be carried on to the ships. During the process the workers got covered in coal and had to queue up to have a bath in a bucket of water; there were only three buckets available, which 40-50 men had to share.

(Best listen with headphones.)

Covered In Coal

Dissonance Soundscape by Isabel Jaques was commissioned by Electric Medway to accompany Medway Print Festivals' 'The Last Dream of my Soul' Exhibition at Rochester Art Gallery. The Dickens 150 Print Open Call Exhibition brings together the beautiful and varied new work of 50 printmakers from all over the UK. Themes explore death in Dickens’ life and novels, and his long association with Medway, and the show delves into the Victorian obsession with mourning etiquette, with unseen Victorian funerary treasures loaned from the Guildhall Museum collection.

The Soundscape by Isabel Jaques is a hybrid mix of storytelling and atmospheric sounds. Taking you back to 1843 Cloisterham (Dickens fictional town based on Rochester), where The Mystery of Edwin Drood is set.

Isabel explores the main characters John Jasper and Edwin Drood, starting off in a smoke filled opium den, which you would’ve found not too far from here infact! Jon takes a journey into his inner thoughts and demons, with echoes from his choir at Cloisterham Cathedral. Walk the Victorian streets of Cloisterham, through the market and in the local tavern; down to the river Medway to discover Edwins’ belongings after his disappearance, with a boat mooring at the Historic Dockyard. Be immersed inside the cathedral, amongst the choir, hear the resonance of prayers, and go down into the crypt.

Music references include Chopins’ Funeral March 1840 and Michael W Balfes’ Overture from his British 1843 opera Bohemian Girl.

Dissonance by Isabel Jaques

Commissioned by Electric Medway

Conceived by Tania Holland Williams, Fat Lady Opera

Musical Arrangement and Production by Jonathan Vincent

Butterfly Patterns

Emoto by Debbie Sowter is the result of two online workshops, combining music, expressive arts therapies and voice therapy mentodologies with a person-centred approach. The sessions created a collective digital composition with words, thoughts and emotions from participants during a therapeutic creative process. The composition also includes 3D Water Drumming recordings, which connect to the rhythms of the water.

Dissonance by Isabel Jaques

Electric Medway

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