Real Voices of Happy Valley

Nina Smith is very active. Chair of Yorkshire Rail Futures, founding member of Friends of Hebden Bridge Railway Station, active in campaigning for sustainable transport in the area. She is also a lon…

Sherel Rutherford and Dunc Foster love the valley and its natural resources. They forage natural ingredients for teas and wines and lead foraging and natural wine making events. There is more informa…

Dave chats with Ian Pepper who runs Technical Difficulties, an open mic night at the Puzzle Hall pub, Sowerby Bridge. Technical Difficulties is a home for experimental music, one of the few (though g…

Viv and Dave talk to Pam Warhurst about her role as Chair of the Todmorden Book Festival. Pam explains why it is called a 'book' festival and why it is important for the town and reflects the cultura…

Beth is a young mother of two who is always busy and always seemingly optimistic. After having had to give up on the hospitality trade due to the pandemic - restaurants in Hebden Bridge and Hipperhol…

Dave chats with Andrew Bibby, journalist and author of books on housing and worker co-ops, the Pennines and several crime novels set in Cumbria. Andre highlights the role played by people form the Ca…

Dave chats to Pip Fowler about his music, his band the Sentimentalists and Music for the Many, a project which brings music education to schools in Todmorden. Music for the Many attempts to reduced t…

Viv chats with Emily Watnick about u3a Todmorden, appearing on TV quiz shows and how a new Yorker ends up living in the Calder Valley. This series of podcasts highlights the people of Calder Valley, …

We continue a chat with Jack Straw. In this episode Jack tells of his adventurous move to Orkney and discusses the differences - and some similarities - in culture. Jack returns every month or two be…

Dave and Viv settle into their new home in Todmorden and Dave chats with Jack Straw. Jack lived in Sour Hall above Todmorden for many years. He was brought to the Calder Valley by his love of the cou…

After a quarter of a century Viv ad Dave Boardman leave Hebden Bridge and move along the valley to Todmorden - a town on the border of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Only 4/5 miles but culturally it feel …

Dave chats with Christopher Goddard about his maps and books - guides to walks in the Calder Valley, Yorkshire Moors and the English Coast. As Viv points out there are specific guides to walking in t…

Jill takes on the patriarchy via her gender politics, peace activism, and her relationship with the environment. She arrived in the Calder Valley in the 1980s, lived in a lesbian collective, spent ti…

Stephen May chats with Viv and Dave about his road to being a novelist, how he got to the Calder Valley, education and playing football in his 50s. 

This episode features Viv and Dave chatting with Liz Thorpe, former Mayor of Todmorden, volunteer at Cornholme Old Library Food Bank, Dementia Friendly Todmorden, Incredible Edible… Viv and Dave spea…

Viv chats with Chris Ratcliffe, a man ahead of his time. With Elain Connell Chris created Pennine Pens, published Jill Liddington's book on Anne Lister which informed the TV series Gentleman Jack, st…

Viv and Dave chat with Winston Plowes, environmental artists, surrealist poet, creative writer... AS much of Winston's work is outdoors that's where we met - on a narrow bridge at the top of Birchcli…

Dave celebrated a birthday - moving from mid-sixties to mid-to-late-sixties during the Women's World Cup, so Viv talks to him about his lengthy experience of football at various ages, regionals and l…

High Hurst was a couple of fields from an old farm. The top field is now an allotment and the bottom field is very special. A project to protect it as a special heritage environmental site has attrac…

Dave chats to Colin Lyall of Lyall's Bookshop in Todmorden. Colin started the UFO meet at the Golden Lion pub six years ago. His interest is in mysterious events and how people cope with them. He als…