Maypole dancing at the Chiltern Open Air Museum [https://coam.org.uk/museum-blog/] by the mAyteam [http://themayteam.co.uk/]. One of the first public events held following the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, 23rd May 2021, Buckinghamshire, UK.
A radio report by Jonathan Kempster.

Maypole dancing - COAM reopens after lockdown

Interview with Alex Sobel MP, Shadow Minister for Tourism & Heritage. Recorded at Chiltern Open Air Museum by Jonathan Kempster (NUJ) on 26th May 2021. Discussion on funding for museums and galleries, pay levels in the archives and heritage sector, use of volunteer labour in the heritage industry.

Alex Sobel MP radio interview on museum and heritage funding

Guy Halsey farms the Gaddesden Estate in the Chiltern Hills Area of 
Outstanding Natural Beauty, with 1000 acres under cultivation, in addition to managed woodland and grass meadows. In this interview with Jonathan Kempster, Guy reflects on the challenges of the past year, including Brexit, appalling weather, and the COVID-19 crisis. In spite of these difficulties, Guy has initiated the first stages of organic conversion at Home Farm. He talks about the prospects of the ELMS scheme, and the impact of urban growth on the fringes of the Estate. With harvest just around the corner, things can only get busier. [A shorter version of this interview was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's 'Farming Today', 9/6/21].

The farming year on the Gaddesden Estate - interview with Guy Halsey

The Gaddesden Estate is a 1900 acre farming and forestry estate in the Chiltern Hills. The Halsey family has lived and farmed there for over 500 years. Today it is run by Nicholas Halsey and his son Guy.
In this radio walk, Nick guides Jonathan Kempster through the woodlands and fields, describing the landscape and history of Marsh Wood, Home Farm, and the Golden Parsonage. Amongst the grassland, sheep, skylark, and red kites, he reflects on the challenges to and of the landscape.
This is Episode 1 of the 'Radio Walks' podcast available on Spotify, Anchor, Google etc.

Radio Walks S1E1

A Walk In The Woods, with Nicholas Halsey (Radio Walks Podcast)

A sound document of Extinction Rebellion action in Long Acre, central London on Monday 23rd August 2021. Interview with activist 'Donovan' as he protests comfortably in a prone position on the street - he describes the scene, tactics, and his motivation.

Extinction Rebellion London 23/8/21 - atmos and interview

“Everyone has a right to access nature and green spaces. It should not be a privilege. Growing stuff is political and empowering: putting a seed in the ground and creating something is a rebellious act”.

In the winter of 2010 Kate Poland set up a community garden on some disused land near her home in Hackney, east London. The garden thrived but the landowners evicted them in 2019 to develop the land. Kate wasn’t able to save that garden, but she set up the Union of Hackney Gardens, Orchards and Wild Spaces as a support network to train, share resources, and campaign for green spaces. There are now 71 gardens in the union.
Join Kate as she guides Jonathan Kempster through the terrifying urban landscape to find sanctuary in the ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’.

(Photograph by Zainab Hazel for the Hackney Citizen).

If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to be a guest on the programme, please get in touch via: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com
Produced by:
Jonathan Kempster for Oral History Sound Recording, October 2021.
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Radio Walks S1E2

The Urban Gardener, a Radio Walk with Kate Poland

March in central London on 23/10/2021 to defend independent journalist Julian Assange, currently held in Belmarsh prison, pending extradition to the United States.

www.facebook.com/CommitteeToDefendJulianAssange
https://assangedefense.org/

Journalism Is Not a Crime

Spend half an hour walking the ancient and unique landscape of Box Moor in the Chiltern Hills with life-trustee Dennis Furnell. 

In spite of the decision to drive a bypass straight through the middle of this vulnerable chalk downland, indefatigable 84-year-old Dennis - naturalist, writer, broadcaster, photographer, painter, and guardian of nature - will never give up his fight to protect the land.

If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to be a guest on the programme, please get in touch via: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com   

Produced by:  Jonathan Kempster for Oral History Sound Recording, December 2021.

Boxmoor, a Radio Walk with Dennis Furnell

Paula Gamester is the CEO of a small ‘social enterprise’ business operating in Skelmersdale in the north of England. Her business survived the first Covid lock-down in the UK by refocusing their manufacturing model towards personal protective masks and launching MASK COMMUNITY. All staff remained in employment throughout.
However, by the end of the year, Britain emerged from lockdown with advice to discard masks and ‘get back to normal’. With the recent deterioration in pandemic conditions, masks are back in fashion with government restrictions being reimposed, and masks becoming mandatory once again. Suddenly, The Sewing Rooms is back in business, and it looks like business will be booming.
Paula spoke to reporter Jonathan Kempster from the shop-floor at The sewing Rooms.

An edited version of this interview was broadcast on the BBC World Service 17/12/2021.
[https://www.the-sewing-rooms.co.uk/]

The Sewing Rooms - social enterprise to fight Covid

The Christmas story, as heard in churches in the Diocese of St Albans, Church-of-England.
Narrator, Jane Levy
Producer, Jonathan Kempster

12/2020

Concertino from Eastern Promises, Live in The Greene Space

The Nativity

Here at The Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM), storytelling is our mission. We tell the stories of the people of the Chilterns - their lives, and the places in which they lived and worked, the buildings, their crafts, the landscape. What could be better than sitting around a campfire and telling our stories?
We invited three special guests, who live in Buckinghamshire, to tell their stories round the campfire. Mei Sim Merry from the Chinese community, Irfan Arif of the Chesham Mosque, and Rabbi Neil Janes, who leads the South Bucks Jewish Congregation. 
Join us round the campfire now to listen to their family histories, their journeys, life experiences, and hopes - and those of some of our visitors. It turns out there is more that unites us than divides us!
-
-coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamsh…e/heritage-stories/
[Image copyright: CWMGary via freeimages.com]

Campfire Stories 2021 - storytelling at COAM

Young people around the country are spending Saturday mornings at their local university, college or museum discovering subjects they love. Saturday Clubs are open to 13–16 year olds, and free to attend. At the beginning of the National Saturday Club year, the annual self-portrait project introduces Club members nationwide to ideas of self expression. Young people are encouraged to explore their sense of identity as well as themes including gender, class, race and representation.
Reporter Jonathan Kempster caught up with the team at the start of a national tour of a banner carrying some of the self-portraits produced as part of the project.

https://selfportraits.saturday-club.org/Self%20Portraits%202021/self-portraits

National Saturday Club - Self Portraits

Heritage Stories at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) is all about storytelling. What do we know about our neighbours? Where did we come from? Where will our journey take us? We'll only find out if we tell each other our story.
In preparation for Campfire Stories at COAM, we gave our special guests a list of special words, and asked them what meaning those words had for them.
Listen now to the reactions of Rabbi Neil Janes, Mei Sim Merry, and Irfan Arif, all of whom have made the Chilterns their home.

https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
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Words & Meanings - Heritage Stories at COAM

We ended the season at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) by sitting around our campfire, toasting marshmallows, and telling stories.
Listen now to some of our visitors who told their stories that day.

https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
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Visiting Storytellers at COAM Campfire Stories 2021

Irfan Arif lives in Chesham with his wife Rabbiah and baby daughter Safa, but his journey started many miles away in Pakistan. Listen now to Irfan's story.

Our mission at Chiltern Open Air Museum is to capture and preserve stories - of people, places, objects, buildings, and landscape.

https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
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Irfan & Rabbiah Arif - Oral History Collection at Chiltern Open Air Museum

Mei Sim Merry lives in Amersham, but her journey began thousands of miles away in Hong Kong. Listen now to Mei Sim's story.

Our mission at Chiltern Open Air Museum is to capture and preserve stories - of people, places, objects, buildings, and landscape.

https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
-

Mei Sim Merry - Oral History Collection at Chiltern Open Air Museum

Neil Janes is the Rabbi of the South Bucks Jewish Community (SBJC), who hold their services in Amersham. The Jewish community in Buckinghamshire has a heritage dating back centuries - Neil says "Local community is more important than ever" - listen now to Neil's story, documented as part of COAM Heritage Stories.

https://coam.org.uk/museum-buckinghamshire/heritage-stories/
-

-

Rabbi Neil Janes - Oral History Collection at Chiltern Open Air Museum

In April 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. BBC radio reporter Laurie Margolis gained the first confirmation from the Islands, via a fragile shortwave radio link, that the invasion had taken place. He told his story to the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive.

Oral history interview by Jonathan Kempster for Imperial War Museums, https://www.iwm.org.uk/

An edited version of this material was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Falklands 40

Falklands War - The Reporter's Story, Laurie Margolis

Pablo Behrens was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and has lived in London since 1980. He is an award-winning producer, writer, and director. In 2021 he bought a boat for £1 and navigated the Thames Estuary, producing the short film 'The Crossing'. The work demonstrated the forces of nature - and the vulnerability - of the river environment. That intimate experience has motivated him to buy a bigger boat and to embark upon a more ambitious expedition to continue his mission of documenting the surviving wilderness of the Thames Estuary.

View ‘The Crossing’ here: https://vimeo.com/535981537

Pablo’s feature film ‘Adrift in Soho’ set in 1950s, and based on the novel by Colin Wilson, is available on DVD in the U.S. and UK, iTunes, and on Amazon Prime Video: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adrift-Soho-Owen-Drake/dp/B089RCQY6J/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2PGJB7BTA3AUB&keywords=adrift+in+soho&qid=1648401177&s=instant-video&sprefix=Adrift+in+Soho%2Cinstant-video%2C104&sr=1-2

If you know someone who can walk and talk at the same time, or if you'd like to be a guest on the programme, please get in touch via: jonathan.kempster@gmail.com

Produced by: Jonathan Kempster for Oral History Sound Recording, April 2022.

Thames Estuary - interview with Pablo Behrens (Radio Walks Podcast)

Organist Sergei Lukashuk interviewed in the Crimean Memorial Church, Istanbul, by Jonathan Kempster. 
Recorded during the IASA Conference at Istanbul University, September 2023.
_
https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/33329/
https://2023.iasa-web.org/
_

The Russian Organ Scholar of Istanbul

To what extent does the history of Israel-Palestine inform the response to human suffering in present day Gaza? 
This discussion took place in Bristol on Saturday the 4th of November 2023 during a march and rally co-ordinated by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Jonathan Kempster spoke to Linzy Na Nakorn, a human rights and cycling campaigner (co-director of The Big Ride for Palestine, https://www.thebigride4palestine.com/), and with Kathe Jacob, a local resident and activist who is of Jewish heritage.

Image © Bristol PSC
_

Gaza - does history matter?

"If you can't find a photograph within ten yards of where you are, you're not looking hard enough". Paul Haley has been a professional photographer all his working life. As the youngest ever Senior Photographer at Soldier magazine he was posted to the South Atlantic to document the Falklands War of 1982. He recorded more than 2000 images, now conserved in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, London. The museum's Head of Photographs, Helen Mavin, included some of Paul's photographs in the recently published book War Photographers (ISBN 978-1-912423-66-8).
In this Radio Walk, Paul Haley guided Jonathan Kempster around his windswept and rainy hometown of Morley, Leeds, demonstrating that there is an inspiring image to be found around every corner. 

(A stereo recording - listen on headphones if you can.)

Paul's life story was recorded by the IWM's oral history unit and is conserved in the museum's sound collection under catalogue number 37195.

Title image © The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, 2023

https://shop.iwm.org.uk/p/29017/War-Photographers---IWM-Photo-Collection
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/blavatnik-art-film-and-photography-galleries

Radio Walks Podcast - Interview with Paul Haley

Everything we do at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) is about bringing history to life and stimulating the senses of our visitors. In our exhibits you can see, smell, and touch history, and storytelling is integral to our mission. 
 
Listen to the latest edition of Campfire Heritage Stories – an annual event when we gather to hear about the heritage and life journeys of people who have made the Chilterns their home. 
This year’s Storytellers include Karen Bonner (Chief Nurse at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, a descendent of the Windrush generation), Elizabeth Dench (Jamaica), Sejal Sechdav (Uganda) and B J Taylor (Keyna).
[A stereo recording, best heard on headphones].

Curated and organised by Jacqui Gellman, Outreach Officer.
Audio production and Oral History by Jonathan Kempster (MIPS).
Photograph by Cat Humphries (https://cathumphries.wordpress.com/). 
Helen Light, Marketing and General Manager.
https://coam.org.uk/
Funded by The Rothschild Foundation (https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/).
 
Chiltern Open Air Museum, Newland Park, Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, HP8 4AB
01494 871 117
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chilternoam
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/chilternopenairmuseumevents
 
Chiltern Open Air Museum is a registered charity (no. 272381) inspiring present and future generations with stories of Chilterns historic buildings, people, and places.

Living History at Chiltern Open Air Museum - Heritage Stories 2024

What is the value of sitting around a campfire and telling stories? Visitors and storytellers react to Heritage Stories 2024 at Chiltern Open Air Museum.



Curated and organised by Jacqui Gellman, Outreach Officer.
Audio production and Oral History by Jonathan Kempster (MIPS).
Photograph by Cat Humphries (https://cathumphries.wordpress.com/).
Helen Light, Marketing and General Manager (https://coam.org.uk/).
Funded by The Rothschild Foundation (https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/).

The Power of Storytelling - reaction to Campfire Heritage Stories at Chiltern Open Air Museum 2024

Eighty years ago, on the 5th of April 1944, the Yellow Star Order was imposed on the Jewish population of Hungary - one of hundreds of anti-Jewish laws which led to the deportation and murder of over 400,000 Hungarian Jews. 
John Hajdu MBE, was 7-years old when he was imprisoned in the Budapest Ghetto, and his mother was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. 
In this Radio Walk, John tells his story to Jonathan Kempster of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive as they walk through the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London.

Visit the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/the-holocaust-galleries

Learn about the Holocaust:
https://www.hmd.org.uk/

Oral History and Audio Production by Jonathan Kempster (MIPS).

The Jewish Hungarian Experience of The Holocaust - A Radio Walk with John Hajdu

Ron Yardley served on HMS Belfast during the Korean War. Following a recent audience with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, the 92-year old veteran feels that the conflict is no longer 'the forgotten war', but he still has work to do in educating the younger generation about events on the Korean Peninsula in the early 1950s.
Interview by Jonathan Kempster, Imperial War Museum Documents & Sound Archive, London, (5/4/2024).
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/sound 
Part of 'We Were There', https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/we-were-there

No Longer The Forgotten War...

Bernard Morgan was the youngest RAF sergeant to land on Gold Beach during D-Day, 6th June 1944. He enlisted on his 18th birthday in 1942. In this interview with Jonathan Kempster of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, Bernard explains how and why he ended up under fire on a Normandy beach, serving as a code and cypher operator. His unit fought on through Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, before hearing the news of Germany’s surrender in May 1945. 

Meet eyewitnesses to conflict, at the Imperial War Museum, https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/we-were-there
Search 33,000 recordings related to conflict in the IWM Sound Collection, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/sound
_

The Road to D-Day, Bernard Morgan's Story

We all love a story, and here at Chiltern Open Air Museum, we have plenty to tell! On Sunday 13th October 2024, around the campfire in our beautiful surroundings, we heard from members of our community whose heritage comes from further afield. Storytellers Tetiana Pantielieieva and Vitalina Darnopykh, both from Ukraine, were joined by Sadat, a refugee academic from Afghanistan. All three have found safety and support in Buckinghamshire.

Event curated by Jacqui Gellman
Location recording by Glenn Keiles
Editing and post-production by Jonathan Kempster
(A stereo recording)

https://www.coam.org.uk/heritagestories?rq=Heritage%20stories

Campfire Heritage Stories oral history programme at COAM is supported by The Rothschild Foundation
https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/

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Refugee Journeys - Campfire Stories at Chiltern Open Air Museum, October 2024

Join indefatigable octogenarian walker and talker, landscape historian and naturalist Dennis Furnell as he guides Jonathan Kempster to the summit of Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire, the site of an Iron Age hillfort now under the care of the National Trust. Witness the changes in the physical and aural landscape that have occurred during the past 3000 years. 
 
A stereo recording, best heard on headphones.

https://www.chilterns.org.uk/map_marker/ivinghoe-beacon/
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/essex-bedfordshire-hertfordshire/ashridge-estate

Audio production by Jonathan Kempster, MIPS, NUJ

Also available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fCtp9vFitIId6Z5a6ehPt?si=4a1b9cd6a7254817 

Title image by Snapshooter46 (via Flickr) under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

If you are able to walk and talk at the same time, or if you know anyone who would like to appear on the programme, please get in touch via jonathan.kempster@gmail.com

Radio Walks - Ivinghoe Beacon with Dennis Furnell

Interviews with historical interpreters, reenactors, and visitors captured during Britain at War, Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM), 9th/10th August 2025.

Featuring the voices of: Rich Sage, Richard Pinches, Pete Harrod, Kay Spanswick, Simon Selmon and Justin (Jeep Jump Jive), Roger Gladhill, Utility Jude, and Tony Harris.
(Includes BBC archive material).

Recorded and produced by Jonathan Kempster (NUJ).
Title photograph by Jane Elizabeth Photography (www.facebook.com/people/Jane-Eliz…/61573164204101/)

www.coam.org.uk/
www.coam.org.uk/heritagestories
https://www.stationentertainment.co.uk/jon-meet-and-greet-tony-harris
_

Remembering the Second World War at Chiltern Open Air Museum

Listen to stories of trial, tribulation, and triumph by our four storytellers drawn from the LGBTQ+ community living here in the Chilterns Hills. 
Join Sue Shave, TJ Richards, Conor Walsh, and Waz Arfan as they tell their stories around the campfire at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM).

Curated and organised by Jacqui Gellman. 
Recorded and edited by Jonathan Kempster. 
Photography by Cat Cross. 
Collections Management by Kayleigh Bateman.

Generously supported by The Rothschild Foundation, https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/ 

Learn more about the heritage of the Chilterns: https://www.coam.org.uk/heritagestories

Visit Lost Victorian Voices at Buckimnghamshire Archives: 
https://www.lostvictorianvoices.org.uk/ 

A stereo recording, 12th October 2025, Buckinghamshire UK. 
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

LGBTQ+ Campfire Heritage Stories at Chiltern Open Air Museum

Reactions to LGBTQ+ storytelling at Chiltern Open Air Museum, 12th October 2025, including interviews with Waz Arfan, Cat Cross, Daniel Williams, and Sue Shave.

Reporter: Jonathan Kempster (NUJ)

https://www.coam.org.uk/heritagestories
https://www.lostvictorianvoices.org.uk/

Why We Do Campfire Heritage Stories at COAM

Author, journalist, and historian Nick Higham discusses his latest book Mavericks during a signing event at Imperial War Museum London.

Interview by Jonathan Kempster, IWM Documents & Sound Archive, 24th October 2025. 

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mavericks-9781526676771/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/



Interview with Nick Higham - book signing of 'Mavericks' at IWM

Dawn chorus and church bell, Hertfordshire village-scape.

Soundscape: dawn in the Chiltern Hills

In 2020 the Gaddesden Estate celebrates 500 years of continuity. We are extremely fortunate in having oral historian Jonathan Kempster [@jonathan_kempster ] living nearby, and that he has found us interesting enough to want to undertake a special project interviewing members of the Gaddesden Estate community over the course of the year. The edited file here forms the first three releases of clips taken from a group interview with former farming team members in February 2020. It features the voices of Reg and Jackie Cornthwaite, Avril Burns, Mick Matthews, Michael Frewin and Nicholas and Guy Halsey.

Gaddesden 500 Oral History Project Parts 1, 2 & 3

'We Were There' is a unique experience for museum visitors to meet veterans and eyewitnesses to conflict and ask them questions about their lives and experience of conflict, hearing their true stories first hand. The team, led by the IWM's Public Engagement & Learning Producer Ngaire Bushell, won the Marsh Award for Volunteers in Museum Learning. 
This radio package, by Jonathan Kempster of the IWM's Sound Archive, takes a glimpse at one of the 'We Were There' days held at IWM London, including the voices of war veterans, and visitor reaction to their stories.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/we-were-there
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'We Were There' - eyewitnesses to conflict. Imperial War Museum - winners of the Marsh Award

Ron Yardley, President of the HMS Belfast Association, is a veteran of the Korean War. He served as a Radio Officer on board the battle cruiser HMS Belfast, now a part of the Imperial War Museum collection. Ron works tirelessly in educational outreach for the museum, relating his experiences to young people and museum visitors. This interview was recorded by Jonathan Kempster of the IWM Sound Archive in 2018, the day that Ron laid a wreath during the ceremony on the ship's Quarter Deck marking the Centenary of the Armistice of the First World War.

Ron Yardley remembers - HMS Belfast on Armistice Day

Oral Historian and Audio Journalist, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, BBC Radio, Freelance. 
Visiting Oral Historian at Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM).
Member of Institute of Professional Sound, National Union of Journalists, Oral History Society, Subject Specialist Network (War & Conflict), International Association of Sound Archives.

Oral History Sound Recording & Storytelling

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