Stromness Hometown | Commercial Hotel

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 fourth episode we hear about Stromness Shopping Week, George Mackay Brown and Orkney Fudge.

Narrator: Jake Watson

Featured speakers in order of appearance:
Eric Flett & Ian MacInnes circa 1990 (BBC Radio Orkney) / Tom Wishart 1967 (Orkney Library & Archive) / Ernest Marwick 1967 (Orkney Library & Archive) / Ella Duncan & Bryce Scott 2011 / Edgar Ramsay 1976 (Orkney Library & Archive) / George Mackay Brown reads from ‘The Death of
Peter Esson’ 1966 (estate of George Mackay Brown) / Lyndsey Rae 2011 / Jim Robertson 2011 / Eilidh McGacnie 2011 • Grace McGill 2011

Music: 1. Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley ‘For Eric & Gayle’ / 2. Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley ‘Skea Brae’

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.