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| Exmoor Voices Go Worldwide |
The Somerset Archive and Record Service has launched its Exmoor Oral History Archive website
(www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/exmoor).
The new service can bring the voices of Exmoor into homes and work places around the world.
The site features audio clips from all 78 of the contributors to the archive, with nearly 3 hours of recorded material now available
on line. From Dr Mold’s concern for his patients, Dick Lloyd’s love of hunting and Mary Schofield’s friendship with Alfred Munnings, to hard winters when Hope Bourne stored snow in cardboard boxes and Joan Smith’s father trapped sparrows for the pot, it’s a vivid vignette of life in the national park at the turn of the century. Birdie Johnson, who made the original recordings, selected the audio clips from over 200 hours of material. She says: ‘The clips complement ‘Reflections, life portraits of Exmoor’, the book of the archive. They add another dimension to our understanding of Exmoor and highlight the special qualities of the contributors in a similar way to Mark Rattenbury’s evocative portraits.’ The addition of audio to the website has been achieved with the help and technical expertise of the Somerset Record Office, who developed the site and will maintain it as part of their own service. The site, which carries summaries of the recordings and other information, is already receiving 100,000 hits a year. Tom Mayberry, Somerset County Council’s Head of Heritage, says ‘Individually, these excerpts are fascinating and engrossing; taken together, they give an impression of Exmoor in a way no written record ever could. The archive as a whole is a wonderful gift to the future.’ The Exmoor Oral History Archive was produced as part of the Dulverton and District Civic Society Oral History Project. For further information please contact Birdie Johnson, Project Consultant, Tel 01643 831379 or email lifestories@cloveruk.net or Janet Tall, Assistant County Archivist, who designed and manages the website Tel 01823 278805. |