The BBC Listening Project on tour arrives in Northern Ireland

 

The BBC Listening Project On Tour has arrived in Northern Ireland.

The project, a collaboration between BBC Radio 4 and the British Library in association with BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, brings a state-of-the-art mobile recording booth to Northern Ireland, part of a UK-wide tour.

The award-winning BBC Radio 4 Listening Project would like to hear from local people as it visits Northern Ireland to record another series of real-life encounters.

The booth’s first port of call will be at Project 24 on Bangor’s Queen’s Parade from tomorrow until July 24.

It will then move to outside Omagh Library and will be there from 25 to 28 July, before finishing its tour at the Verbal Arts Centre, Londonderry from 30 to 31 July, and 1 and 3 August.

The local Listening Project team is keen to encourage as many people as possible to come and record a conversation between two people with a loved one, friend or colleague at one of these locations.

The conversation can be about anything, whether it’s something which is close to your heart, an issue that is important to you, or something you’re passionate about.

A member of the local team will be on hand to help and guide participants. They can help participants decide what they want to talk about and who they might want to talk to. You can talk for as long as you like – generally it takes around 30 mins to an hour, but you do need to book your place in advance.

Many of the conversations will be selected for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, and all conversations are stored in the British Library in London, so in hundreds of years our ancestors will be able to listen to conversations recorded across the UK, including in Northern Ireland.

Everyone whose conversation is broadcast will get a copy of their conversation to keep.

During the Booth’s visit to Northern Ireland there will be an opportunity for listeners to BBC Radio Ulster to hear some fascinating real-life encounters and compelling conversations from across Northern Ireland recorded previously for the project, introduced by radio producer Conor McKay, who is part of the local team.

The Listening Project NI is on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, Monday to Friday at 4.55pm & 11.50pm.

BBC Radio Ulster presenter Kerry McLean paid a visit to the Booth when it arrived in Belfast earlier today.

She said: “This is an amazing project and a great opportunity for local people to talk about things which really matter to them. It is a fantastic chance to record a living, breathing piece of oral history and also to hear some of the conversations previously recorded by Conor at the end of my show each day. So why not get in touch with the team and come on down to the booth?”

The Listening Project tour was launched in association with BBC Learning.