The Lost Trees podcast launch
Launching on Tuesday 21st February 2023, over three parts, the Lost Trees Podcast, follows a trail to explore Stalybridge’s fruit trees, revealing the rich ecological and food heritage of orchards in Greater Manchester and encouraging people to get out into nature and explore the town for themselves.
Listen to the podcast and subscribe for notifications here: https://anchor.fm/operation-farm
Commissioned as part of Stalybridge’s Town of Culture celebrations, the show was made and produced by Operation Farm. The podcast follows the route of a specially designed walk from the town centre through the lost kitchen garden of the now ruined Gorse Hall and on to another more recently planted orchard, with a downloadable route map enabling members of the public to track the route for themselves.
Host and Operation Farm stalwart, Anna Seward speaks to local fruit tree enthusiasts and experts, uncovering some of the ‘Lost Trees’ in Stalybridge from which the podcast takes its title. Local contributors featured include orchardist and cider-maker Rob Muir, local volunteer Alan Pickles of the Friends of Gorse Hall and Sam Bolton of the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit.
Anna Seward says:I wanted to try and communicate the sense of place to the audience, to offer an idea of where these trees are and recording the walk seemed a good way to do this. The sounds of climbing through the undergrowth of an old orchard gives a real feeling about what it’s actually like there and encourages others to get out and experience it for themselves. It was really fun to make this and speak to people who have so much knowledge and enthusiasm to share, be that about history, ecology or cider making!
The podcast will be available from 21st February via https://anchor.fm/operation-farm
The podcast is part of a project to map and explore Stalybridge’s fruit trees and local listeners are invited to add local fruit trees they know to an online map here.
We are a food and wellbeing organisation and orchards and green spaces have long been highlighted for their role in enabling people of all ages to connect with nature and improve wellbeing. But the show also highlights how many of our historic natural assets have been lost or forgotten with the group hoping to raise awareness and for people to spot forgotten orchards and fruit trees in areas where they live.
The project was supported by The Bridge and Stalybridge Heritage Action Zone Cultural Consortium and funded by Historic England. The podcast was put together with the help of lots of people and features a beguiling opening theme composed by musician Claire Knox of the band Shield Patterns with sound production from Simon Galloway.
