A GROUP of friends with interesting stories to tell have launched a podcast to spread their tales far and wide.
Totnes deputy mayor Cllr Georgina Allen and her pal and former Harlequin Bookshop owner, Paul Wesley, came up with the idea behind the Totnes Chain podcast over a chat one day.
Georgina explains: “It started off as a conversation between Paul and myself; we were talking about how many fascinating people there are in Totnes.
“We decided to invite some of those people to tell their stories. The aim is to record the stories of the people who live in Totnes, creating a part documentary, part oral history, part entertainment podcast for the people who live in this interesting little town.
“We've decided to make it a chain, so the interviewee becomes the interviewer and chooses someone they know to interview next - which means a wide section of the population will be covered and the interviews are more like a chat between friends than a formal interview.
“The first chain is loosely based on the theme of ‘peace, activism and music’ is five links long. It features me talking to Paul Wesley discussing his time in Haight Ashbury in the 60. It’s called ‘A Disappointing Dinner with Dylan’ and is full of seriously impressive names!
“Then Paul interviews his friend Tony Gee of Creation Myth Puppets, talking about his life travelling the globe putting on puppet shows. This one is called the ‘Peace Puppeteer.’
“Tony then interviews his cousin Martin Goldschmidt, the managing director of Indy record label Cooking Vinyl about his life in the music industry, and is called ‘Chairman of the Board.’ Martin then interviews atist Krystyna Bieganski about her parents experience escaping the Nazis in Poland, her life as an artist and the daughter of refugees.
“For the final podcast, Paul interviews me about my work in international museums.”
Georgina added: “Going forward we aim to get down on record as many of the wonderful people of this town as possible, so that they can tell their own stories and together write the story of the town.”
Plans for future podcasts include interviews with former Totnes Mayor, Cllr Ben Piper, former homeless man Graham Walker, poet Matt Harvey, Totnes Community Development Society director Pat Shepherd, artist Fiona Green, musician Sam Richards and the Rev Jim Barlow.
The Totnes Chain podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Music and major podcast platforms.