with BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Mark Cummings
The Generation Game
When the picture and caption appeared in public of me “resting” before Liam Gallagher appeared at Knebworth, I decided just for once to fight back. My response went something like this… ‘I got you into Oasis, I paid for the ticket, I’d had a long, emotional week getting up very early. Hashtag Cheeky Sod, hashtag Live Forever.’
My daughters grew up to the sound of Oasis blasting out in our house and even tolerated the stripped-back acoustic interpretations emanating from my classical guitar. It had been a long-held dream for me and my youngest to see them live, so when the tickets went on sale for Liam Gallagher’s return to Knebworth, we snapped them up. On the great day we queued at the bus station and I was asked if I felt a bit old and out of place surrounded by such a young crowd? I launched into a rant about how this was my era, my music and my thing! Luckily, once there it was very clear that amongst the 80,000, many were of the original vintage like me. The historic site was full of dads with their offspring, exchanging knowing glances whilst maxing out on the credit card buying all the drinks. A wonderful day was had, and it’s a memory we will cherish as the ultimate cool dad-and-daughter day out. So, what other things do the younger generation think they invented? After the Netflix show Stranger Things, which features the Kate Bush hit Running up that Hill, many of our 20-somethings think they’ve discovered her by getting her to No1 in the charts! Also, the current trend for recycling and upcycling, pre-loved clothes and general thrift might just have happened a few decades before! Skateboards are not a new trend, and believe it or not sex had been thought of before the current generation claimed it.
Lost in music
One of life’s most mesmeric and uplifting experiences is to be at a live gig and totally and utterly immersed in a song that means a lot to you. Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter where you are, how big the crowd is or who you are with, once you in that moment you are “lost in music”. On a Saturday night I was squashed into the front section of 80,000 people screaming the words to Live Forever next to my daughter in what felt like a religious out-of-body experience. Fast forward just 24 hours, and I was in a crowd of a few hundred people at Cheltenham Racecourse at The Wychwood Festival, equally as lost in a song that I love. I nearly didn’t bother, having retuned home at 5am from Knebworth and the skies full of wind and rain. However, I love Deacon Blue, I love festival beer tents, and I was on holiday the following week. With a belly full of Gloucester Gold ale, the rain abating and the anthem Dignity belting out of Ricky Ross’s mouth, I found myself as lost in music as the night before. What made this night one of the best nights ever at a festival was also the company I was keeping. My good friend and fellow BBC Radio Gloucestershire presenter Steve Kitchen was next to me, and to my utter delight he was the one who had to get up the next morning at 3:30 to cover for me as I was on holiday!
Have you seen my phone?
Ever had that awful gut-wrenching panic of thinking you’ve lost your phone. The phone that has your whole life on it, and the phone you also meant to back up but hadn’t quite got around to it. I interviewed Owain Davies who had dropped his iPhone in the River Wye on a stag weekend in the Forest of Dean. He had given up all hope, until a year later when Miguel Pacheco found it when out canoeing with his family. He found it, dried it out and posted the photos on social media to track down the owner. This amazing story reminds me of the afternoon I spent with my wife searching every inch of our house for her lost phone. Our last hope was to re-trace a five-mile walk she’d done that morning. Sadly, it was a new route to her and we trudged off with little hope. After two miles, we got to a field and aimlessly headed to the far corner where, by some miracle, it was nestled in the long grass.
Centres of excellence
Construction work has just started on a new climbing centre on the outskirts of Gloucester that will draw in adventurous types from all over the country. The 270 Climbing Park is set to become a huge attraction for Gloucestershire and will be a mecca for expert climbers in a similar way to how the Matson Ski Slope brought in the skiers in the seventies. Eddie the Eagle joined me on the show to share his experiences of the slope when he was starting out. He spent every hour he could on the slopes just after it had opened, sharing the excitement with people from all over the UK. Other places past and present that could be classed as a centre of excellence include the Fire Training College at Moreton, diving centre at Tidenham, GP training hospital in Cheltenham, cyber at GCHQ, equine at Hartpury, and aerospace engineering at the University of Gloucestershire.
Email: cummings@bbc.co.uk
