Episode 5

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Published on:

18th Nov 2024

The Curly Wurly Bridge

A Spanish Village / Its Own Kind of Paradise

Out of the dust

A garden will grow

Vines intertwined

Kept safe from the roads

By the road

The children can play

Away from the smoke

And wait for the sun

Square pegs in round holes

So beautiful

Ah, who needs the sun

The hills will do us right

The sea breeze can reach

Right along the river

Its own kind of paradise

A Spanish Village was written and performed by David Brewis.

Credits

You’ve been listening to the Washington Community Podcasting group and 5. Curly Wurly bridge You’ve been listening to Fatfield resident, Roger Morris; Mike Laws, Linda Laws, Ged Parker – who worked at Washington Development Corporation, Washington Newtown Architects, David Robson and Ricard Robinson, Ursula Robson, Martin Stephenson and Peter McAdam, Liz Greener and April Welby.

The Crocodile and the Underpass ballad podcast is produced by Grace Stubbings and the Washington community podcasting group, with songs composed and performed by David Brewis and Paige Temperley. The project was developed by Washington Heritage Partnership, Sunderland City Council’s Washington Area Committee, Sunderland Culture at The Arts Centre Washington, Baseline Shift and We Make Culture, with support from the University of Sunderland. and The National Heritage Lottery Fund. This project has been made possible by the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund with many thanks to National Lottery players.

Executive Producers: Caroline Mitchell and Jude Murphy

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About the Podcast

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass
Collecting and Sharing Stories of Washington New Town
‘The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass' - Stories of Washington New Town’, is a podcast ballad partnership between Washington Heritage Partnership, We Make Culture, University of Sunderland, Baseline Shift and Arts Centre Washington. Since April 2024 this partnership, podcaster and musician Grace Stubbings and the Washington community podcasting group have been working with people and organisations in Washington to collect and share experiences of life in a new town.

Musicians Paige Temperley and David Brewis (Field Music) have been working with community members and young people at Arts Centre Washington to turn stories of Washington into songs.
The songs, interviews, sounds and archive recordings have been woven together to create unique ballad podcasts. The group have been influenced by the radio ballad work of Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger who made radio ballads about working class stories in the 1950s and '60s for the BBC.

In the first series, 5 episodes will tell the stories of:
1. The Town of Roundabouts: how the new town was delineated by new roads, roundabouts, concrete crocodiles, and the ever-so-controversial district numbering system.
2. The Underpasses - These features aren't unique to new towns but they are very prevalent. We explore the ideal that no child would ever need to cross a road to attend school and the modern day realities of these 'betwixt and between' spaces.
3. H’way Jimmy - Memories of the 1977 visit of US President Jimmy Carter to Washington Village, the ancestral home of George Washington.
4. Ghost and Witches - Just because you're in a new town doesn't mean that you're free of legends, superstition and the ghosts of earlier settlements. We hear personal stories of the supernatural, as well as the sad tales of women accused of witchcraft.
5. The Curly Wurly Bridge - Did you know that Fatfield is home to a concrete icon? This episode looks at the so-called Curly Wurly Bridge, the design that took Fatfield from pit village to modern development, and busts a myth or two about Mediterranean influences.