Great to hear an old friend, Kim Collis, on ‘The Listening Project’ live from Swansea on BBC Radio 4 earlier today. In an all too brief appearance, Kim, who is the County Archivist of West Glamorgan, took part in the programme hosted by Fi Glover, which reflected on the Welsh relationship with language and literature. Kim expressed a hope that the rise of digital content will not mean the loss of personal contact in archives and libraries and emphasised the joy of serendipity in making chance finds when looking through the archives themselves and not relying on a search engine.

‘The Listening Project’ is ‘capturing the nation in conversation’ and is an ambitious oral history project to gather a picture of life in contemporary Britain in which individuals volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about something they’ve never discussed before. It is a partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC local stations and the British Library.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cqx3b
​

What a glorious day to be on the South Downs, with barely a cloud in the sky. The Trundle is awash with wild flowers, including harebells, yarrow, scabious, ladies fingers and even scarlet pimpernel, creating a glorious carpet of yellows, pinks, blues and purples. We were entertained by the aerial acrobatics of some hawks and crows in what looked like a re-enactment of a World War I dogfight. The distant views were a bit hazy, unlike on a crisp winter’s day, but this is England at her summer best*. And what was even more glorious is that we had this delight almost to ourselves.

*In deference to my Yorkshire roots I ought to say almost best, as I’m sure that the Moors and Dales are looking equally glorious today but, sadly, I’m too far away to find out!
​