GUITAR GROUP

- Hi Coleman, how are you?

- Good, thanks.
- I wanted to have a chat with you because our friend Josh told me that you’ve joined a guitar group and it
sounds interesting. I’d really like to learn myself.
- Why don’t you come along? I’m sure there’s room for another person.
- Really? So - who runs the classes?
- He’s called a 'coordinator' - his name’s Gary Mathieson.
- Let me note that down. Gary. ... How do you spell his surname?
- It’s M-A-T-H-l-E-S-O-N.
- Right, thanks.
- He's retired, actually, but he’s a really nice guy and he used to play in a lot of bands.
- Thanks. So how long have you been going?
- About a month now.
- And could you play anything before you started?
- I knew a few chords, but that’s all.
- I'm sure everyone will be better than me.
- That’s what I thought, too. When I first spoke to Gary on the phone, he said it was a class for beginners, but I
was still worried that everyone would be better than me, but we were all equally hopeless!
- Oh, that's reassuring. So where do you meet?
- Well, when I joined the group, they were meeting in Gary's home, but as the group got bigger, he decided to
book a room at the college in town. I prefer going there.
- I know that place. I used to go to tap dancing classes there when I was at secondary school. I haven’t been
since, though and I can’t remember what road it’s in ... is it Lock Street?
- It's just beyond there at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout.
- Yes, of course.
- The guitar club is on the first floor in Room T347.
- Right. And when do you meet? Is it at the weekend?
- We meet on Thursdays. It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well, but now we meet at 11 . The class that’s in
there before us asked if they could have the room for another 30 minutes.
- Oh, I see. Well, I’d love to come, but I don’t have a guitar.
- Well, you can always buy a second-hand one. There’s a website called The perfect instrument' that sells all
kinds of guitars, violins and so on. I’m sure you’ll find something there.
- So what’s a typical lesson like with Gary?
- Well, he always starts by getting us to tune our guitars. That takes about five minutes.
- Some people have an app they use, but others do it by ear. Gary goes round and helps them. And while he’s
doing that, he tells us what he’s going to do during the lesson.
- Right.
- First, we usually spend about ten minutes doing some strumming.
- So is that using . . . what are they called . . . plectrums?
- No - we just use our thumbs.
- Much easier.
- Gary reminds us where to put our fingers for each chord and then we play them together. Sometimes we all
just start laughing because we're so bad at keeping
- time, so Gary starts clapping to help us.
- Do you learn to play any songs?
- Yes - we do at least one song with words and chords. I mean that’s harder than you think.
- Oh, I'm sure it is!
- That part of the lesson takes about 15 minutes. He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first.
Then he hands out the song and if there’s a new chord in it, we practise that before we play it together - but really
slowly.
- Do you do any finger picking?
- That’s the last ten minutes of the lesson, when we pick out the individual notes from a tune he’s made up. It’s
always quite simple.
- That must be hard, though.
- It is, but people like it because they can really concentrate and if we're all playing well, it sounds quite
impressive. The only trouble is that he sometimes gets us to play one at a time - you know, alone.
- That’s scary.
- It is, but I’ve got used to it now. At the end he spends about five minutes telling us what to practise for the
following week.
- Well, thanks Coleman. I’ll go and have a look at that website, I think.
WORKING AS A LIFEBOAT VOLUNTEER
- I never really planned to be a lifeboat volunteer when I came to live in Northsea. I’d been working in London as a
website designer, but although that was interesting, I didn’t like city life. I’d been really keen on boats as a
teenager, and I thought if I went to live by the sea. I might be able to pursue that interest a bit more in my free
time. Then I found that the Lifeboat Institution was looking for volunteers, so I decided to apply.
- The Lifeboat Institution building here in Northsea’s hard to miss, it’s one of the largest in the country. It was built 15
years ago with funds provided bv a generous member of the public who’d lived here all her life. As the Lifeboat
Institution is a charity that relies on that kind of donation, rather than funding provided by the government, that was
a huge help to us. When I applied, I had to have a health assessment. The doctors were particularly interested in my
vision. I used to be short-sighted, so I’d had to wear glasses, but I’d had laser eye surgery two years earlier so that
was OK.
- They gave me tests for colour blindness and they thought I might have a problem there, but it turned out I was OK.
When the coastguard gets an alert, all the volunteers are contacted and rush to the lifeboat station. Our target’s to
get there in five minutes, then we try to get the boat off the dock and out to sea in another six to eight minutes. Our
team’s proud that we usually achieve that - the average time across the country’s eight and a half minutes. I’ve
recently qualified as what’s called a ‘helmsman’, which means I have the ultimate responsibility for the lifeboat. I
have to check that the equipment we use is in working order - the crew have special life jackets that can support up
to four people in the water. And it’s ultimately my decision whether it's safe to launch the boat. But it’s very rare not
to launch it, even in the worst weather.

As well as going out on the lifeboat, my work involves other things too. A lot of people underestimate how quickly
conditions can change at sea, so I speak to youth groups and sailing clubs in the area about the sorts of problems that
sailors and swimmers can have if the weather suddenly gets bad. We also have a lot of volunteers who organise
activities to raise money for us, and we couldn’t manage without them.

The training we get is a continuous process, focusing on technical competence and safe handling techniques, and it’s
given me the confidence to deal with extreme situations without panicking. I was glad I’d done a first aid course
before I started, as that’s a big help with the casualty care activities we do. We’ve done a lot on how to deal with
ropes and tie knots - that’s an essential skill. After a year, I did a one-week residential course, led by specialists. They
had a wave-tank where they could create extreme weather conditions - so we could get experience at what to do if
the boat turned over in a storm at night, for example.
- Since I started, I’ve had to deal with a range of emergency situations.

But the work's hugely motivating. It's not just about saving lives - I’ve learned a lot about the technology involved. My
background in IT’s been useful here, and I can use my expertise to help other volunteers. They’re a great group -
we’re like a family really, which helps when you're dragging yourself out of bed on a cold stormy night. But actually,
it's the colder months that can be the most rewarding time. That’s when the incidents tend to be more serious, and
you realise that you can make a huge difference to the outcome. So if any of you listeners are interested. . . .

VOLUNTEERING IN AFRICA

- Interviewer: Visitors to the small Devon village of Whimpie might be forgiven for looking twice as they pass the
garden of Elizabeth Holmes. In the middle of the garden there stands a traditional African hut, a reminder of the two
years Elizabeth spent in Africa as a volunteer. Elizabeth, what persuaded you to leave your secure job in a travel
agent’s and go to Africa? [9]
- Elizabeth: Well, I’d been feeling restless for ages. I wanted to see the real world, not just tourist places. Then, I was at
the dentist’s one day, waiting to go in, and I’d read all the magazines in the waiting room, so I started looking at a
poster – it was all about volunteers working in Africa. [10]
- Interviewer: And it interested you?
- Elizabeth: Yes, I took down the name and address and applied. I had an interview locally and did some aptitude tests.
Then just before I left for Africa, there was a training weekend in London, which they call ‘Changes’ and which gives
you some idea of what you’re letting yourself in for. [11]
- Interviewer: What particular skills could you offer?
- Elizabeth: I had a degree in economics and I had done some teaching at one time. What they wanted to send me to
Africa to do was to train local farmers in the marketing of their produce. [12] I flew out with fifteen other volunteers,
all going to do different things, like nursing, teaching, and so on. When we got there, we were supposed to have a
four-week course at a training centre learning something about the local culture and the basics of the language – you
know, greetings and things like that. Anyway, there was a problem and it only lasted three weeks in the end – not
enough really. [13]
- Interviewer: Did it take a long time to get used to your new lifestyle?
- Elizabeth: I found it quite difficult for the first few weeks, but after that I settled in very well. My area covered 1200
square kilometres, and I had a truck for long-distance travel, but for more local trips I rode a motorbike. [14]
- Interviewer: How did you get on with the local people?
- Elizabeth: Very well. The men were very polite but they tended to keep their distance – unlike the women, who were
always inviting me to meals. [15] They showed me how they wove and dyed material to make clothes for themselves
and their children. I used to get magazines sent from England and we’d spend ages looking at them.
- Interviewer: I expect you found it very different when you returned to England?
- Elizabeth: Yes, I certainly did. After two years of living very simply, I found the supermarkets especially overwhelming
– just the enormous choice of food. Also, the traffic disturbed me. [16] I had to move from my flat in the city to a
small cottage in the country just to get some of the peace and quiet I’d become accustomed to in Africa.
- Interviewer: And what are you working on at the moment?
- Elizabeth: Well, I didn’t want to just go back to working in someone else’s office so I set up my own business, which I
run from home. I deal in African furniture. [17] I brought some small pieces back with me as souvenirs and everyone
loved them in Britain. However, I’m still in touch with the organisation that sent me to Africa as a volunteer. I
organise events to raise funds and give talks about my experience to encourage other people to go.
- Interviewer: Has the experience in Africa changed you at all?
- Elizabeth: Oh yes, in many ways. I used to spend all my time working, but now I make sure I have more time for
gardening – my favourite hobby. [18]
- Interviewer: Well, I’d like to thank Elizabeth for coming into the studio today. If you’re interested in…

TRIAN TREVOSE (A POP SINGER)

- Interviewer: ... Trina, you’re 15 and you’ve just come back from America where you’ve been making records.
- What was it like?
- Trina: It was wonderful. I had the six-week school summer holidays and, you know, went over there for a month
- and then started school again.
- Interviewer: What did your classmates at school think?
- Trina: I just told close friends what I was doing in the States... And I thought, well, if the records were successful,
- then I’d tell everyone...
- [24]
- Interviewer: And they were successful.
- Trina: Right. And my friends were very good about it. Not envious, or anything.
- Interviewer: Did you like being in the USA?
- Trina: Oh, yes, most of the time it was great - the people are so friendly.
- Interviewer: Did you manage to write any songs there?
- Trina: Well, yeah, I did. Most of the stuff I’d done in England had been about the people closest to me - you know,
- Mum, Dad, my sister. They weren’t with me in the States, and although I missed them and silly things like the rain
- in England and fish and chips, being surrounded with new faces gave me lots of material for my songs.
- [25]
- Interviewer: Now, your home in England is a long way from London.
- Trina: Yes, about as far as you can get!
- Interviewer: So, is it easy to get into the music business if you live that far away? Don’t you have to be in London or
near a big city at least?
- Trina: No, no. We did play in London once but we were actually approached at a local concert, so I don’t think it’s
- impossible to get noticed anywhere.
- [26] There are lots of record companies looking for bands, and they do go
- quite a long way from the cities to find them. I was lucky with my band, and there have been other bands like us
- that’ve been lucky as well, so you don’t have to come from a huge city to be discovered.
- Interviewer: Now, in the USA you did a song with someone who was a star when I was your age, David Pearson,
- and you hadn’t any idea who he was?
- Trina: No. It was embarrassing, actually. But he was a really pleasant guy. He was recording an album in the same
- studio, and he had this song that he needed someone to sing with him, and he asked me, and I was only too
- delighted to do it!
- Interviewer: But that wasn’t the only famous star you worked with in the States, was it?
- Trina: No, there was Lance Lakatoff.
- Interviewer: But you had heard of him...
- Trina: Yes. He’s a bit of a hero of mine, in fact.
- Interviewer: And you were in his TV series?
- Trina: Yes.
- Interviewer: And what was that like?
- Trina: It was a really good experience. I hadn’t done anything like that before. And they filmed us for three or four
- days, you know. That was the end of it. Or so I thought! But they had made some mistakes, which was such a
- shame. Because I had to go back to the USA!
- [28] I came home to England, and then they phoned up and said they
- had some bad camera work, etc., and I had to fly all the way back and do it again...
- Interviewer: Actually, in the USA your record did well. But not here in England. Why’s that?
- Trina: Because you’ve never been able to get it over here in Britain. The record company’s never had any
- arrangements to sell their records in Britain, so it’s always just been the USA, which is nice in a way.
- Interviewer: Why do you say that?
- Trina: Well, it’s good to come home and get away from it.
- Interviewer: But is it that the company don’t think your style will appeal over here?
- Trina: No, it’s purely the fact they don’t operate over here. But the company’s just been sold, and the new
- company does operate over here, so maybe they will release the record.
- Interviewer: So, where do you see your career going? Will you go back to the States?
- Trina: Well, not for a while I shouldn’t think, as I have another two years at school here in England. I know my
- schoolfriends are thinking of college but I’m not sure that’s for me, even to do music. Then, my agent has been
- trying to persuade me to do it full time, and my parents say it’s up to me, but I’m happy to wait a while before that
- happens.
- [30] I can still write, after all - in fact, one of my songs is in the American charts at the moment, but sung by someone
else.