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“Catch a voice.
It might change how you see this place.”
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Each recording is anywhere from 10–30 minutes.
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FREE to download if you'd like to keep.
LISTEN TO OUR STORIES
Each recording here is a window into village life as it was lived - not from history books, but from the people who were there.
Whether you're revisiting your own memories or discovering stories from before your time, these voices connect us all to the continuing story of Legbourne and Cawthorpe.
And if you'd like to know about how we protect your recording privacy, it's here on our Privacy Policy.
1: Life In The Dark Age
Village life has changed in so many ways over the last six or seven decades that it's impossible to list them here.
People live in villages but mostly they no longer work there. Many shops, pubs, traditions and characters have disappeared, and transport has drastically changed. So have eating habits and the way people socialise. Houses look similar on the outside, but inside they're beyond recognition.
Legbourne and Cawthorpe Village Voices tells the story of the two villages through the voices of villagers who lived through distant decades and those who live and love village life in the here and now. But it's a long way from being a cosy, nostalgic look at the past. It'll also look at the two villages as they are today.
This is the first of a themed series, radio-style documentaries with voices painting full colour pictures. It'll look at school life, farm life, life in the home, rural traditions, fondly remembered characters and fine stories.
This first snapshot looks at home life in that long ago era before Facebook and smartphones - even before electric lights and flush toilets. This is Life In The Dark Age...
Click the arrow on the image below to play.
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2: Heart And Soul
Our first look at village life in Legbourne and Cawthorpe was at a life lived in semi-darkness. A life of candles and paraffin lamps, tin baths and dolly tubs, of water pumps and wells. It was a life of milk straight from the cow, of ponies and traps and pig stys.
The villages were small, and the many residents lived or worked near them. They were often virtually self-sufficient - in both actual food and food for the soul. They shared most things, left their doors open and knew everybody.
But life moved on and ways of looking at it changed. So, what attracted newcomers to Legbourne and Cawthorpe in the post-war decades through the late 20th century? What kept them here, what brought them together and how did new ideas blend with older lifestyles?
These are all questions Village Voices takes a close look at in the second programme in the series, this is village life - Heart and Soul.
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