Full Circle

The big clean up continues apace. I've done loads more filing today and the two drawers of the filing cabinet which belong to me are filling up nicely with green suspended files, each neatly labelled. It has been quite a novel experience today to come across piles of handouts and to think, 'Ah, yes, I've seen some like these - they're in the filing cabinet,' and to be able to reunite them instantly with their lost companions.

I've also discovered I have far more resources and handouts than I thought, especially for Modern Languages (as French is another of my specialities). I had obviously spent quite a lot of time surfing the net and printing out useful items. The one that surprised me most was a thirty-two page printout of French tongue twisters (virelangues), as I had no recollection at all of having found such a thing on the internet. I dare say they will come in useful some day. Here's one to whet your appetite:

L'assassin sur son sein sucait son sang sans cesse.

That translates roughly as 'The assassin on her breast sucked her blood without a rest.' A strange thing to say, but at least it will get you to move your lips.

I also found some stuff from my days on the Core Group (management committee) of Huddersfield Community Radio, a group which campaigned for Huddersfield to get a licence to have its own radio station. I had been very involved in it, and had devised and run training courses on interviewing and presenting as well as producing and presenting hundreds of shows in the Restricted Licence Broadcasts that we would run for a month at a time, twice a year.

One strange thing I found today was some feedback from a Listeners Panel on my presenting. At one stage those of us who already presented shows or who wanted to present were asked to submit a showtape. These were played to a selection of volunteers who gave us points for professionalism, clarity, radio voice and personality and made comments about our performance. What I found most surprising about my feedback was that someone had said I was 'Perhaps a little reminiscent of Hi-de-Hi's Gladys'. Someone else had written 'Makes me want to shout Hi-de-Hi!' Two Hi-de-Hi comments out of a sample of fifteen! Should I have been worried?

Fortunately, I wasn't traumatised for life by the Gladys comparison, although you might find a rather gaudy yellow blazer tucked away in the back of my wardrobe. I shall have to ask my students whether I remind them of Hi-de-Hi. Fortunately, many of them weren't even born when the show was on TV, so they won't know what the heck I'm talking about.

Strangely enough, this bout of Huddersfield Community Radio nostalgia took place just a day after Pennine FM has apparently gone bust. Pennine FM was Huddersfield's commercial radio station, a successor to Huddersfield FM, which got its licence through our campaigning. I haven't really had any dealings with the full time Huddersfield commercial radio stations, partly because when the licence was awarded, I had my hands full looking after my baby son, partly because I cared deeply about the community aspect and the speech content and had no wish to be involved in just another commercial station.

Still, I do feel sorry for the staff who have lost their jobs and for those members of the community who enjoyed listening to the station. It seems as if what we began all those years ago has now gone full circle. With or without Gladys at the microphone!