Wolverton
Captain Swing describes the agrarian unrest in the north Buckinghamshire countryside during the 1830's, as portrayed in the play ‘All Change’.
All Change charts the migration of agrarian labourers from the villages into the railway works in the new town of Wolverton. It also draws parallels between the creation of a purpose built railway town and the creation of the new City of Milton Keynes nearby in the latter decades of the twentieth century.
James McConnell presents his CV and mission statement to the LNWR board and to the audience. James McConnell was one of the great Victorian engineers. A 7/8 size reconstruction of one of his magnificent 'Bloomer' engines can be seen outside Central Milton Keynes railway Station today.
I Would not Change A Thing is Mrs McConnell's reflection on her husband’s bold approach to changing the way that Wolverton Works made locomotives. His changes were not immediately popular with the workers!
Sheltered Lives is an idealised picture of life in what was virtually a single industry town.
The Permanent Way and Wolverton Refreshment Room are self-explanatory accounts of the early days of railway travel through this part of Buckinghamshire. For first-hand spoken accounts of the life in the works and the changes experienced by the workforce over the past fifty years or so, listen to ‘The Works’, produced by BBC 3 Counties Radio and the Living Archive, with music by the band.
Bletchley
The play ‘Bigger, Brighter, Better’ followed Bletchley's progress from a sleepy country town to a thriving London overspill town after the Second World War.
I Want A Little More From Life describes the feelings of a young woman getting by in bombed-out London. She wonders if there is any way of improving the quality of her life.
The Night the Stones Rolled Into Town is the story of a famous night at the Wilton Hall. Booked several months before as an unknown London R&B combo, the Stones have made it big in the intervening weeks and anyone who was anyone had to be there. Seen through the eyes of a young Steve
Flinn, who recalls that he got into the show despite not having a ticket because a wall was brought down in the crush and he was able to walk straight in.
Stony Stratford
Two snapshots from Stony between the wars. Tom Worker’s account of life in his home town was dramatised in ‘Worker By Name’
The Bunny Run was not unique to Stony. Northampton knew the same phenomenon, and
other towns had their own names for it.
A Few Coppers describes the excitement of the arrival of the annual fair which set up on
Horsefair Green and provided some light relief for the people of this hard working market town.
New Bradwell
Hawtin Mundy, born in 1894, was a resident of New Bradwell. His wonderful facility for anecdotes was captured on tape by Roger Kitchen and provided a vast fund of material for dramatic work. Most powerful without doubt is his account of his experiences during the First World War in France and Flanders. Two songs from the play ‘Days of Pride’ -
The Valley of The Shadow and Do You Ever Think of England? are based on Hawtin’s recollections. They were both recorded live at the 1995 revival of the play. Paul Clark based the final verse of Valley of the Shadow on Hawtin’s own words.
Much of Hawtin’s material is available from the Living Archive, and
Brad Bradstock brings the man back to life in an uncanny fashion in
his Sony award winning one man show ‘I’ll Tell You What Happened.....’
