Debenham Arts Festival

Memories of Debenham past will be brought to life during the festival. You will be able to wander around the Market Green area and listen on radios to people of all ages telling of their memories of living in the village.

Wandering around you will drift in and out of range of low power transmitters all on the same frequency, each running a loop of people telling of their memories, explained Mike Challis who is creating this innovative oral history sound installation.

Mike said: "It will explore the memories of peoples’ lives in Debenham 'Half my life ago'. I am not going to be strict on this. The main aim of the title is to try to include all ages talking about significant memories of life in the village.

"I grateful to Aspall Cyder for their generous support."

More details including the loan of radios will be available closer to the festival.

Mike explained the kind of things he is looking for: "Just to get you started here are some things I would talk about

"I remember the Sealed Knot coming in the early 1970s and blowing up a mock extension to Crows' Hall after drinking the pubs dry the night before. And then there was the village Hall burning down in the middle of the night in 1975. Then there were the fantastic egg throwing matches in the street fairs. I remember picking stones off the field to turn a crop field into a playing field at the leisure centre. Now that is well over half my life ago but, as I said, I am not too fussy.

"Then of course there are all the characters Ronnie Watson, Hav Wilkins, Mr Brown in the Post Office, Neil Innes, Mr Rainey, Dr Hutt, Geoff Ridge, Henry Pearson..... the list goes on.

"Then there are the schools that have changed over time, both the buildings and the people.

"You could talk about the businesses that have come and gone. Do you remember the Saddlers? Roses Butchers? Clem Styles, Bloomfields, The Rush Weavers?

"What about events like floods, snow, heat waves and droughts.

"Then there are events like planting trees in Hogg’s Kiss woodland for the millennium.

"Then there were memories passed down to us from before. The fact that at the turn of the century (1900) Debenham was a rather rowdy place on a Saturday night. Or the fact that Debenham used to have something like 16 pubs, or so I’m told."

Last year Mike was responsible for the HORARUM sound installation in St Mary Magdalene church which explored the roll of the church bells and clock. (link to web story from last year.

If you have memories of Debenham you would like to share please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Mike Challis.

There is some small print: "Obviously if you record memories then you tacitly give your permission for these memories to be used.

I will try and use as much material as I can but the raw recordings will be heavily edited for the actual event and I may not be able to include everybody, let alone everything that is recorded. I will, however, do my best to make sure a complete archive of the recordings is made."