A recording from an old haunt today. I’m doing post production on the Class Divide audio documentary this week and I needed to gather some ambience recordings from Whitehawk, the area through which the subject of education inequality is explored in the Class Divide series. I grew up here and this recording was made on a spot overlooking my old secondary school, surrounded by the hills of the beautiful valley in which Whitehawk sits.
Children’s voices and cries of excitement can be heard amongst the sounds of the many birds that call this valley their home. The sun was bright and warm but the cold November chill had crept in to my toes. Along the valley to the West a new sound, rattling and plasticky coming from a flock of sheep fleeing an unseen threat. The acoustics of the valley blur all these sounds as they echo off the hill, rebounding and dispersing. A couple in walking gear make their way down a muddy path and one of them slips falling to the ground. Vans and cars come and go reaching the dead end where I’m recording and manoeuvring back the way they came.
As I look over at my old school I’m reminded of two things. First the embarrassment of being forced to duet with my twin brother at the carol concert in our first year, and then possibly the beginnings of something, a tiny seed of a creative future. In the school hall was a very basic lighting controller box with faders for lights hung on bars from the ceiling. It was a glimpse of something different, not academic, the opportunity to play with the environment, to change it. A magical power.. Thank you Mr Hubbard for letting us play. Sorry we used the smoke machine to fill the toilets and school office……