The concept for the audio walk was born following a visit by our Projects Officer, Paul Cundy, to York Castle, where he enjoyed an excellent audio guide. It was both highly informative and entertaining, as it told the history of the castle through the voices of the folk who actually lived it - not just the lords and ladies, but the ordinary soldiers, their wives...who complained bitterly that their husband was "...off to another war!". This sparked an idea of how we might bring the history of Oakham canal to life - but we had no idea how to go about it! Enter Joy Everitt, from Rutland Arts, a "can-do" lady, who put us in touch with Andy Barrett, of Excavate. Andy has a super track record in this field. As importantly, Andy was key to our successful bid to win funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which made all of this possible.

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The project was launched in July 2023 at Rutland County Museum, when around 20 people gathered to hear about our hopes for the project, and the previous work of Excavate who had been commissioned to produce the walk with us. A research group was formed, which enthusiastically embraced the challenge.

 

Working with writer Andy Barrett, the group delved into the archives to uncover stories and information about the canal, characters involved in its rise and fall, and wider aspects of the social and physical history of the town during this dynamic period. Andy Barrett also interviewed those who had memories and stories of the canal.

 

Working with Arts for Rutland, a cast was assembled for a series of characters created from the research material, and a route was designed with Paul Dadford. The final script was completed in February 2024.

 

The central narration, expertly read by Sue Curtis, was recorded at J.T. Soar in Nottingham, with the remaining 18 members of the cast gathering at Uppingham School, where Rob Persani from Rutland and Stamford Sound recorded individual and group scenes.

 

The audio material was then handed over to Adam P McCready, who stitched the walk together adding the music (including some recorded for us by Rutland Morris), ambience and sound effects that bring it to life. And whilst this was happening Tom Partridge was commissioned by Excavate to design a map for the walk, along with the logo that accompanies the audio files.

 

The original idea was to create a one-hour walk with a handful of voices, but because of the richness of the material it soon became apparent that the five-mile route could be accompanied by many more voices, resulting in a much more ambitious audio walk of 20 tracks, most of which are to be listened to on the move. There are over two hours of material in all, which has meant a great deal of work by many people.

 

We’re very proud of what we’ve all been able to achieve together, under the stewardship of Excavate, and hope you enjoy this community heritage project that explores the story, characters and legacy of one of the most important moments in the life of the town.

 

Credits:

 

Produced by Excavate.

In partnership with the Oakham Canal Green Corridor Project and with support from Arts for Rutland and Rutland County Museum.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

 

Written and directed by Andy Barrett.

 

Research team: Paul Dadford, Marion Drake, Jane Greenhalgh, Liz Sanders.

 

Cast: Mick Barker, Andy Barrett, Richard Billington, Trev Clarke, Rob Collis, Paul Cundy, Sue Curtis, Joy Everitt, Margaret Glenn, Steve Green, Barbara Jenkins, Paula McKillop, Reid McKillop, Tom Morley, Jamie Mulvany, Christian Obokoh, Rob Persani, Jill Weight, Chris West-Sadler.

 

Recorded by Rich Collins at J.T Soar and Rob Persani at Uppingham School.

 

Sound editing by Andy Barrett, Rich Collins and Rob Persani.

 

Sound design and original music by Adam P McReady.

 

Additional music by Rutland Morris.

 

Thanks to Martin Ball, Keara Barnett, Gary Berridge, Linda Biddle, Richard Blythin, Rob Clayton, Katy Eason, Bill Parsons, Paul Parsons, Selina Patel, Mike Robinson and anyone else that we may have overlooked (many apologies!) who helped or supported us in any way through this process.

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