Stromness Hometown

Voices of the past and the present weave an oral history of the town. This entertaining soundscape told by people of Stromness will lead you from the pier head to the cannon beyond Stromness Museum. In this second episode we visit the RNLI building to learn about the history of the lifeboat service, and drop into the Stromness Hotel to hear about its many uses over the last century.

Narrator: Jake Watson

Featured speakers in order of appearance:
Ernest Marwick 1967 (Orkney Library & Archive) / Tom Wishart 1967 (Orkney Library & Archive) / Ian MacInnes & Eric Flett circa 1990 (BBC Radio Orkney) / Stewart Taylor 2011 / Gerry Meyer 2007 (Fortress Orkney)

Music: 1. Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley ‘Luca’ / 2. Isla Wallace ‘Dreams of Orkney’ (Stromness Academy)

What is Stromness Hometown?

10 years ago an audio journey called Stromness Hometown was created, where voices of the past and, what was then, the present told the history of the town. The original version was available on headsets to listen to while you walked. We’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of Stromness Hometown by releasing it on all your usual podcast platforms, so that you can still listen while you walk, but also listen wherever you happen to be. 8 episodes plus a bonus track will be released daily from 16th December 2022.

Things were different 10 years before Stromness Hometown and they’ll be different 10 years from now. What’s valuable about Stromness Hometown is its blend of archive and contemporary recordings, which themselves have now become archive material. So roll back the clock and enjoy Stromness Hometown two thousand and twelve, the anniversary edition.

Download a map and find out more about Stromness here: https://welovestromness.wordpress.com/

NARRATORS: Bea Watson / Jake Watson
GUIDE: Erik Park
INTERVIEWERS: Mary Duncan / Diana Leslie / Alasdair Flett / Ingirid Morrison / Savannah Taylor / Mark Jenkins
EDITOR: Mark Jenkins
PROJECT TEAM: Lynn Campbell / Kathleen Ireland / Mark Jenkins / Diana Leslie / Cary Welling / Trustees, Staff and Friends of Stromness Museum
CO-ORDINATOR: Rebecca Marr
ARCHIVE RECORDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Orkney Library & Archive, BBC Radio Orkney, the Estate of George Mackay Brown, Orkney Heritage

A Stromness Museum community project supported by the Scottish Government and the European Community Orkney LEADER 2007-2013 Programme and the Stromness Townscape Heritage Initiative.