A first for the Essex Sound and Video Archive: join us as we count down the days to Christmas with sound recordings from the Essex Sound and Video Archive. A new festive treat will be added each day, so keep checking back!

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The image is from a Christmas card featuring Old Chingford Church (I/Mb 82/1/5).

Many of the recordings were digitised as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded project, You Are Hear: sound and a sense of place. Find out more about the project here:
http://www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/you-are-hear/

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

We confess we stole the idea from the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound, who have been running an audio advent calendar for an impressive 10 years! Visit their website to sign up to this year's offer. http://www.recordedsound.no/english/exhibitions/christmas17/

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Happy Christmas!

Essex Sound and Video Archive Advent Calendar 2017

Are you braving the crowds to do some Christmas shopping on the high street, or will you find alternatives? This song by Southend musician Chris Jones reminds us of the joys of shopping in town - the Sally Army singers, the decorations and lights, and the opportunity to pop into the local to fortify yourself for another round. Do you recognise the Rayleigh of today from when this song was written in the 1980s-1990s?

The song is from Chris Jones' 'Songs written for BBC Essex 1988-95' album, and was originally released on cassette tape.

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The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Songs written for BBC Essex 1988-95

'Rayleigh Good Christmas' (Acc. SA140)

Another poem by Carl Huson, this one more serious. The recording was made in around the 1960s, originally on a 1/4" open reel magnetic tape.

Huson was a writer and broadcaster who lived in Great Chesterford. You can hear more of his poetry on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=5&id=846455

The image is of Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s painting ‘The Nativity’, painted in the seventeenth century and currently held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

'A Child's Christmas Hymn' (SA 34/2/1/1/3/1)

Let's get bleak midwinter thoughts out of the way at the beginning. December can be a bleak month, as reflected in this poem, 'and yet' each day brings us closer to the shortest day of the year and the knowledge that brighter days are just around the corner.

This poem was written and read by Wivenhoe poet Martin Newell. It was released on his 'Spoke 'n' Word' CD in 2007, following a cycling tour around Essex led by Martin and punctuated with readings from his poetry. You can hear the rest of the album here:
https://soundcloud.com/essex-record-office/sets/spoke-n-word

View more information about the recording on our catalogue here:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=1067834

Visit Martin Newell's website here: www.stevedix.de/newell/home.html

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

The Dark Days Down To Christmas (SA 10/2/3/1/1 Track 17)

Are you hoping for a white Christmas? Sledging, building snow tunnels, and being off school? What if it meant you had to rely on melting snow for your water supply?

This clip from an interview with Prim Coppin describes a particularly hard winter, likely 1947. It was fun for a child, but probably not so much fun for her mother.

The interview was recorded by Ruth Kent in 1998 for the "Kelvedon Speaks" project. You can hear the full interview here:
https://soundcloud.com/essex-record-office/sets/prim-coppin

Or read about it on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=955422

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Prim Coppin and the hard winter of 1947 (SA 44/1/12/1)

Although British winters tend to be relatively temperate, plants and animals still need to adapt to get through the cold, dark days. In this clip from a BBC Essex 'Nature Trail' programme, John Hall (then Director of the Essex Wildlife Trust) tells Etholle Pegrum (from BBC Essex) how some of our wildlife cope - and how we can help them survive. The programme was first broadcast 22 years ago today, but the advice still holds true.

Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=312986

Why not visit your nearest Essex Wildlife nature reserve to look for local wildlife? Find details on their website: http://www.essexwt.org.uk/visitor-centres-nature-reserves

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Nature Trail: Winter Survival (SA 1/1624/1)

There's nothing like a bracing walk on a bright winter's day to get the blood flowing. This clip from a BBC Essex series of 'Christmas Walks' takes you through parts of Hadleigh Country Park. It was broadcast in c. 1994. How much has the view they describe changed since then?

If you visit Hadleigh Country Park between January and March 2018, keep an eye out for our touring listening bench. Pause in your walk to sit and listen to more historic recordings about the area. Keep an eye on bench movements on our website: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/category/benches

The image shows a black and white print of Hadleigh Castle by H. A. Harper (I/Mp 158/1/9).

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Christmas Walks: Hadleigh (Acc. SA654 Tape 1341)

In honour of St Osmund's Day, here is a reading of the Domesday Book entry for Parndon and the Manor of Harlow, from 1085.

St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury from 1078, helped to compile the Domesday Book, that key text in English history. He might also have been responsible for drawing up the liturgical offices that came to be known as the Sarum Use. He is the patron saint of mental illness, paralysis, and toothache. He died in 1099.

This recording is part of a recital programme, "The Essex Hundreds", performed by The Moot House Players in Harlow (https://mhptheatre.com/). It was originally recorded onto a vinyl LP in c. 1969. Read about the rest of the programme on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=44&id=1010282

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

The Essex Hundreds

The Essex Hundreds: Domesday Entry for Parndon and the Manor of Harlow (SA 13/1/6/1/1 Side A)

Does this music instantly evoke festive feelings for you? This piece from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite' was first performed in Moscow in December 1892. This and the ballet's setting on Christmas Eve should be strong enough to form an association with the festive season, but it was not performed outside Russia until the 1930s-1940s, and it did not really take off as a staple part of Christmas until the 1960s. Read more about the history of the ballet on the Moscow Ballet website:
http://www.nutcracker.com/about-us/history-of-nutcracker

This recording is of an Essex Youth Orchestra performance, as part of the 1981 Harwich Festival. You can listen to more of the performance here:
https://soundcloud.com/essex-record-office/sets/essex-youth-orchestra-harwich-festival

Or why not listen to part of the performance on a bench in the middle of Romford? We have just moved one of our touring listening benches to Raphael Park, Romford - see if you can find the Tchaikovsky piece among the recordings on the bench!

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

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'Waltz of the Flowers' from The Nutcracker Suite (SA 10/1/1/19/1)

Father Christmas? Santa Clause? St Nick? There are many cultural manifestations of the man who delivers presents to good little children around Christmas time. Most of them link back to St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in the fourth century, whose feast day is 6 December.

This poem, written and read by Carl Huson, with his quirky sense of humour, captures the bizarre idea of a stranger creeping into your house at night. The stuff that dreams or nightmares are made of? It was originally recorded in around the 1960s onto a 1/4" open reel magnetic tape.

The image of Old Father Christmas is taken from an illustration in "Forrester's Pictorial Miscellany for the Family Circle" (1855), edited by Mark Forrester.

You can read about and listen to more of Carl Huson's poetry on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=5&id=846455

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

'It's Only Father Christmas' by Carl Huson (SA 34/2/1/1/3/1)

Is your child in a carol concert this year? Or perhaps you yourself were in this one, given by Our Lady Immaculate Roman Catholic School, Chelmsford in 1987? Can you still recite all the words?

The carol performed here is 'The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came'. Originally a Basque carol, it was translated and paraphrased by S. Baring-Gould (1834-1924). The tune was arranged by Edgar Pettman (1886-1943).

The service was recorded by BBC Essex, and is used with their kind permission. Search for more carol concerts on Essex Archives Online: http://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/

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The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

'The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came' by Our Lady Immaculate School, Chelmsford (SA 1/100/1)

How has the celebration of Christmas in Essex changed in the last hundred years? Listen to these memories of Sidney Hills, who was born in Epping in 1896. Does his version of Christmas sound appealing? Sidney died in 1985 - do you think his nerves would cope with a 21st-century Christmas?

But is this actually what it was like? The recording was made by Sidney Hills to share his memories of life in Epping. As a deliberate presentation, how far do you think the picture he paints reflects the reality? What impact has time and growing older had on his memory?

The recording was probably made in the 1980s. You can listen to the full recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=1118181

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

An Edwardian Epping Christmas (SA 65/3/1)

As it's World Choral Day, we thought we would treat you to a beautiful piece of music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, part of his All-Night Vigil or Vespers, Op. 37. The words are the Slavonic version of the 'Ave Maria' or 'Hail Mary', the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary when he announced the coming birth of Jesus. Read more about the work, including an English translation, on the ChoralWiki site: http://www3.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Bogoroditse_Devo_(Sergei_Rachmaninoff)

This version was performed by Southend chamber choir Gaudeamus, which features our very own archivist Lawrence Barker as one of their bass singers. You can hear this performance on their CD 'Gaudeamus In Concert', which was recorded at St Teresa's Church, Romford, and was produced by Mark Elliott of EMP Studios. But hearing them live is much better! They're performing a Christmas concert at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Leigh-on-Sea, on 15 December. View the programme on their website:
http://www.gaudeamuschoir.co.uk/concert-programme/

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Gaudeamus In Concert

'Bogoroditsye Dyevo' performed by Gaudeamus (Acc. SA702)

From the sublime...

What makes an Essex Christmas distinct from any other? No, this is not the start of a cracker joke. Are there any customs that are unique to this county? There is certainly a distinct way of talking about the festive season, as demonstrated by this clip from a BBC Essex piece. Can you make head or tail of what the 'Essex dialect man' Jules Bellerby is saying, or are you as dumbfounded as the presenter John Appleby was?

If we have understood correctly, this recording was first broadcast on the second Sunday in Advent in 1988 - just two more Sundays to go, so, as Joss says, 'get your wittles in!'. Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=312034

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Essex Dialect - on Christmas (SA 1/347/1)

So, are you going shopping for your 'wittles', as instructed yesterday? What if you had to provide a Christmas dinner from rationed goods? Here, Pam Lacey recalls the festive rations allowed to customers when she first started working at the Co-op store in Harwich. Though the Second World War had ended by then, the country was still operating under rations.

This clip comes from an oral history interview recorded by David Whittle for the Harwich Society. You can listen to the full interview here:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=128&id=1039471

The image is a ration card from 1948, from Dunedin City Council Archives, and is used under a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial) licence. View the original here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dccarchives/15708166160

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Christmas on Ration (SA 49/1/2/10/1)

Walthamstow Market claims to be longest street market in Britain - but according to siblings Francis Warnell and Eileen Allen, it's nothing compared to what it once was. Here they describe the long hours worked by the market traders in the run up to Christmas, and the lively atmosphere, in the 1920s-1930s.

Francis and Eileen worked in the family cat and dog meat business, which was founded by their grandfather. This clip comes from an oral history interview recorded in 1984 by Nick Hayes for the Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop (WFOHW). Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=264823

Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop was formed in 1983. Its aim then, as now, was to record the lives and experiences of people who have lived and/or worked in Waltham Forest. In the early days they recorded people’s memories with a view to publishing books using quotes from the interviews. The very first project was on childhood health in the 1920s and 30s. A booklet was published entitled "Touch Your Collar" (after a saying relating to seeing a fever ambulance.) Further projects collected stories on bakers, butchers, and sweet shops before branching out into wider topics and recording people’s life stories.

Recently they have recorded interviews for Waltham Forest Council in connection with Heritage Lottery funded projects on Walthamstow School of Art and a shop front improvement scheme in Walthamstow.

They continue to record and now have almost 800 recordings of local people, including a number of interviews from other local projects. They are very keen to reflect the very diverse borough of Walthamstow and are always looking to add voices of underrepresented communities to the collection.

If you are interested in the work of Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop, you can visit their website: http://www.wforalhistory.org.uk/

You will also be able to hear more clips from their interviews when our touring audio-video kiosk visits Walthamstow Library, from January to March 2018.

The image shows Walthamstow Market in December 2005. It was taken by John Davies and is used under a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike) licence.

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Walthamstow Market at Christmas (SA 9/446/1)

Don't panic: it is not too late to buy your Christmas tree. This piece might help you choose, and look after, your perfect tree.

The recording was produced by Dennis Rookard for the British Forces Broadcasting Service in 1987. It features interviews with Major General Tony Richardson of the British Christmas Tree Growers Association and tree grower Gloria Murray. Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=1000581

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Christmas Tree Plantations (SA 19/1/59/1)

Why do we have Christmas trees, anyway? And what about the Christmas pudding, the giving of presents, and other customs that seem so integral to the celebration of Christmas in Essex today?

This interview with Eric Maple might answer a few of these questions.  But it is difficult to trace a definitive history of folk customs. Do you disagree with any of the explanations given in the interview?

The piece was produced by Dennis Rookard for the British Forces Broadcasting Service in 1984. Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=990987

Image "Johansen Viggo - Radosne Boże Narodzenie" by Viggo Johansen (licensed under Public Domain via Commons - 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1406340).

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Christmas Customs (SA 19/1/45/1)

Do you have a stocking at Christmas? What other treats do you get? In this clip, Dorothy Ireland describes her memories of festive celebrations, dating back to around 1900, in Witham.

This clip in particular appealed to us because she describes the observance of Christmas through three generations. How much changed in her lifetime? What would your children think if you gave them a 'brand new penny' in their stocking?

The clip comes from an oral history interview with Mrs Ireland recorded by Janet Gyford in 1976, as part of her "History of Witham" project. In fact, it was her first interview recorded. You can listen to the full interview on Essex Archives Online:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=1091144

Or read the transcript, and explore Janet's other recordings, on her website:
https://www.janetgyford.com/interviews/tape-01-mrs-dorothy-ireland-nee-goss-sides-1-and-2/

Image "Johansen Viggo - Radosne Boże Narodzenie" by Viggo Johansen (licensed under Public Domain via Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joha…Narodzenie.jpg).

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Dorothy Ireland's memories of Christmas in Witham (SA 59/1/1/1)

Winter can be a difficult season, particularly for people with visual impairments, with the dark days and icy ground. This report from Infosound features Caroline Woodward from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) describing some of the products available to help cope with winter weather.

The piece was broadcast in 2013 as part of the 'Sounds of Brentwood' magazine produced by the Brentwood and District Talking Newspaper. It was originally recorded onto CD. You can subscribe to this valuable service by visiting their website: http://www.bdtn.org.uk/html/contact_us.html

You can find out more about the products offered by the RNIB on their website: https://www.rnib.org.uk/

The image shows the headquarters of the RNIB in London in 2009. Image by Paul Gillett used under Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike) licence.

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/

Infosound: Coping with winter weather (SA 2/1/110/1)

Today is the last day of term for most children in Essex - so it's about time we played another school carol concert. This one comes from Hamilton Primary School in Colchester. It was recorded on 4 December 1987 by BBC Essex - were you there?

Although the audience could not sing along to the first two carols for the purposes of the recording, feel free to join in now at home!

Enjoy the holidays, children!

The image shows Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s painting ‘The Nativity’, painted in the seventeenth century and currently held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

View our Takedown Policy here: http://www.essexsounds.org.uk/content/about/legal-and-technical/takedown-policy 

The Essex Record Office can preserve your old recordings, or provide talks and training on oral history and sound archives. To find out more about the services we offer, visit our website: http://www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk/services/sound-video-services/