Marconi: Where it all started

The Chelmsford Broadcast

Series 1, Episode 1

Transcript

Helen: We are Chelmsford, the birthplace of broadcasting,

Rachel: we're the city that started all the titans of transmission,

Helen: the precursors to podcasts, and whilst we're at it, the home of the best museum in the world. But that's not all.

Rachel: Chelmsford’s home to histories a plenty. We were once the capital of the UK don’t you know? Well sort of. And it’s the people past and present who make us, us.

Helen: So hear from them yourself as we tune into stories past and present in

Helen and Rachel: The Chelmsford Broadcast

Rachel: Brought to you by the Museum of Chelmsford.

(theme music)

Intro

Helen: I'm Helen, the learning officer here at the Museum of Chelmsford.

Rachel: And I’m Rachel one of the duty managers here.

Helen: So Rachel, my kids have been driving me nuts because they've been absolutely glued to their phones. They don't even text anymore. Everything is voice notes. It drives me nuts. It might be quicker for them to send, but then I have to take more time listening to it. Do you remember when we wanted to make a phone call and we had to sit on a seat in the hall where the telephone was plugged in, then someone would try and connect to the internet and you'd get -

Shall I make some modem noises or will you add that in as a sound bite? Or.. 'I thought it's great, but we made like' 'well you make them really good? I can't do itl, show me again what you did'

Maxine: ‘Wherrr back back back back back back back back back back back back back, ehm’ I think that's a dial up modem sounded like. (laughter)

Rachel: Absolutely, that's always a thing with us where we couldn't use the internet from around 7 to 8 o'clock as my grandma will be calling up before Emmerdale and Coronation Street starts

Helen: and get it in before our soaps, but it was also cheaper to call it that time in the evening, wasn't it?

But only for up to an hour, so we actually kept a little clock next to the phone on the hall table and at 59 minutes, you'd hang up and call back so that you could keep it on the cheaper rate. Those were the days.

So, how old were you when you got your first mobile phone?

Rachel: I must be about 11, but it was a Nokia 3310.

I always think that Nokia, if there was an apocalypse, it would survive it.

So what really I think about is ringtones now. Back then we had to pay for them, god forbid, remember like magazines like Mizz, they'd have little codes at the back of the magazine.

Helen: but it was very much DIY operation, hours of practicing, and then you'd hit it back and hope that everything had worked and you haven't missed a pause or something. And you actually had it.

Rachel: Absolutely, and hopefully my destiny child’s song had become my ring tone.

Helen: Not Spice Girls?

Rachel: Ah it’s a bit after that, a bit after. I know my pop, I got to say it I know my pop.

Helen: It's crazy how time flies, though, like the way technology has changed, I was teaching about Marconi this morning, and the idea that you could send something wirelessly, was just mind blowing, and so many people didn't even believe that it was possible.

Rachel: Yeah, it was like magic, yeah.

Helen: And yet, here we are. So on this episode, we're going to hear a bit more about Marconi and his innovations that change the world. Right here in Chelmsford, in a section we're calling Curator's Corner, one of our wonderful curators here at the Museum of Chelmsford will regale us with hidden insights from objects in our collection.

Rachel: We also have a section each week about a famous Chelmsfordian, or maybe someone not so famous, who we think people Chelmsford should know about. We're also looking forward to hearing from one of our amazing volunteers at the Museum. They get fascinating insights into the life of the Museum, so it'll be great to hear about what they have noticed on site as well this week.

Helen: So Rachel, I know that one of your specialist subjects is the Museum's origin story.

Rachel: Looking back at what it was when it was a Victorian home and you're going to come back later in this episode and tell us more about who walked these corridors before it became home to the treasures of Chelmsford. Thank you. I'm looking forward to that. Stay tuned as we head over to Sarah, our curator is going to tell us more about the marvellous Marconi and why Chelmsford is called the Birthplace of Radio.

Helen: And enjoy everyone.

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Curators Corner

Sarah: Hello, welcome to Curators Corner. My name is Sarah and yes, you guessed it, I'm one of the curators here at the Museum of Chelmsford. Now, if you can hear a slightly strange, popping in the background, that is because it is a beautiful, rainy day here in Chelmsford.

So curators corner is my opportunity to tell you all about one of the objects from the museums collections and we thought in this first episode. This very first episode. We would start out with something linked to a local company that has had an enormous global company. And that is the Marconi company.

So this is your opportunity to grab a cup of tea and settle down.

Now, if you live or visit Chelmsford regularly, it's pretty difficult to miss Marconi legacy in the city. All the road signs, herald Chelmsford, as being the proud title holder of birthplace of radio, and that isn't an idle claim.

Chelmsford was the site of the world's first radio factory, and much of the groundbreaking research and development that has led to our own hyper-connected world. Listening to this podcast on a mobile phone, well, it was Guillermo Marconi and his experiments with what we now call radio waves that first allowed us to step into the mobile world and communicate without wires. (gasp). Yes, it's pretty hard to imagine a world now where we aren't constantly attached to our mobile device. Let alone imagining the world in 1896, when Marconi first came up with his invention. Back then, the only form of long-distance communication were via cable or the postal service. When a ship left port there was no way of communicating with it until it arrived at it’s destination. And if it didn't arrive, then what had happened to it was anybody's guess. Early demonstrations of his communication system left audiences absolutely spellbound. Now, watching a man tapping a morse key and then hearing a bell ring on the opposite side of a room may not sound like high-octane entertainment today, but many of his audience literally thought it was magic. Even Marconi himself didn't fully understand how the signal moves through the air at this point. So, who was this magician, Marconi? You’d be right in thinking that his name really doesn't sound very Essex. He was actually Italian, but his mother was Irish, granddaughter of the Jameson Whiskey founder, and he had a lot of contacts in London. So, when in 1896, Marconi had designed his first working wireless communication system and sadly found that the Italian government really weren't interested at all. He naturally came to London to try his luck in England instead. Long story short, British were interested in his invention, and Marconi founded the wireless telegraph and signal company in 1897, setting out the world's first ever radio factory right here in Chelmsford. Not 10 minutes walk from where I'm recording this.

So, why Chelmsford? Well, the world hasn't changed that much since Marconi’s day. Property in Chelmsford was significantly cheaper than London. But what made us really special was that there were also several other electrical engineering firms based in Chelmsford, which meant there was already this really skilled workforce ready to make his radios in the local area.

So, that's how the Marconi company, as it later became known, ended up in Chelmsford. But I haven't actually told you anything about my object yet, have I?

Well, I could have chosen the pair of marionette puppets that illustrates Marconi sending his first ever radio message across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901. Or, I could have chosen our replica Titanic radio room, but I figured everybody already knows that story, and how Marconi equipment made in Chelmsford and the Marconi radio office was on the Titanic in 1912. (fade out)

So, instead of that, I have decided to jump ahead all the way to 1922, where Marconi’s wireless telegraph company was moving away from the dots and dashes of morse telegraphy, and had played a major part in inventing radio as we know it today (radio sounds). And that's radio that carried the human voice and music and was broadcast to an audience for entertainment, not just point-to-point for communication.

So, the object I've chosen is a Marconi V2 domestic radio receiver. It's a simple but beautifully crafted mahogany box with two round, port-hole-like mesh-covered speakers at the front. The top lifts up (creaking door) to display all the controls and the key working components inside, including two glass vacuum valves which look a bit like shiny light bulbs. It's roughly the same size and shape as a large domestic radio today, or at least it's roughly the same sort of shape as my retro-designed digital radio at home. Actually, as I'm saying this, I'm just wondering if anybody else actually has radios now or if it's all just smart speakers, hopefully you can still picture a radio. But inside, it is totally different to what we have today (oooh). Where a modern radio uses integrated circuits, this one has two valves. One detects the radio wave and converts it into an electrical signal that can be made into sound. The other amplifies that signal, making it louder and clearer for the headphones, or later for a speaker that can be attached (aaahhh).

So whilst the valves were a huge improvement on technology that had gone before, they could still only pick up a radio signal from within 50-mile radius of the broadcasting station. The V2 is the first British radio designed for people to use in the home. Its manufacture began in 1922 after the success of the first regular experimental radio show. Yes, that was another Chelmsford first (cheer), a show made by Marconi engineers and broadcast from a small hut in Writtle, just outside Chelmsford. This experimental show was radio made by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. And the audience absolutely loved it (ooh). It led directly to the foundation of the BBC, later in 1922. But don't be fooled into imagining it was anything like the stiff and formal early BBC programmes. The show was fun, it was silly, it was quite anarchic, and it was greatly missed when it was replaced by the BBC.

The radio show was an extra task for the young Marconi engineers who were designing radio equipment as their day job. And it was those same engineers who designed our V2. We can date ours to late 1922 or 1923, because as well as the Marconi phone name, it also has the BBC logo on it. This hints at one of the enduring problems that broadcasting and the BBC have faced throughout the years. There was no easy way to make money out of broadcasting (coin jingle). The answer in 1922 was to include a charge in the sale of every commercial built radio set, which went to the BBC. The V2 was high end technology, costing a whole 19 pounds, 4 shillings and 6 pence, which today would be well over a thousand pounds (whistle). Of course, a lot of the original amateur radio enthusiasts got around this by just building their own sets, but they probably weren't quite as pretty as our V2 (wolfwhistle).

You can see our V2 and our Bright's spark's Gallery on the ground floor of the museum alongside a plethora of other objects telling the story of the Marconi company in Chelmsford, so come along and visit. Speaking of stories, I think it's time for me to hand over to our next segment, Rachel's Story Time.

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Rachel’s Stories

Rachel: Hello everyone, my name is Rachel and welcome to the Rachel Stories Corner of the podcast. And today I'll be doing a whistle-stop tour of Oakland's House, meeting first of all who I class as our very own Royal family, the Wells family. So, Oakland's House. To look at it, you'd think it's quite out of place in Chelmsford, with the Italian architecture, transporting you back to Italy. Well, that’s what I tell myself when I'm driving in the morning, especially a horrible morning like it is today. It's beautiful, yellow stone, beautiful turrets, a bell tower, and porches. The next time you do comes to the museum, so come, see the beautiful bell tower. A lot of people do miss it when they come through.

So, the original land was around 14 football pitches big (wow). So it’s a huge amount that we’ve lost throughout the years.

Helen: Yeah, because it’s a lovely park nowadays, and you’re saying it was even bigger?

Rachel: Even bigger yes, And we had a lake there as well, cattle shed, dairy, so it's a huge, huge house.

Helen: Nice.

Rachel: So, a lot of people asked why the original name of Oakland's, and to put it bluntly, it's because of the beautiful Turkey Oak Tree.

Helen: Turkey Oak.

Rachel: A Turkey Oak. A Turkey Oak. Yeah, got a beautiful Turkey Oak Tree. Unfortunately, this oak tree was blown down in the great store in 1987.

Helen: Oh, I slept through that.

Rachel: So, before my time, I've got to say.

Helen: Oh, rub it in.

Rachel: And if you would like to see the original piece of Turkey Oak, if you come to the museum, buy the beehive, you can actually see a piece there that you can still see.

Helen: Yeah, fascinating. Count the rings and see how old it was. Absolutely, yeah.

Rachel: And we think it's around 18th century, so Georgian Chelmsford’s. Ah, yeah. Very old. So, who lived in a house like this originally? That is Fred Wells and his family. And they were, shall we say, a very Victorian family and Fred liked ordering both the house and at work. So, very typical Victorian man at the time. He was a great admirer of Queen Victoria. With the choice of holiday, her holiday home in Osborne was the main blueprint of Oakland's house. But when you put the two together, you can see it, they are very, very similar in architecture and the colour of the stone as well.

Helen: Right.

So, he was totally fan-boying over Queen Vick.

Rachel: Absolutely. And he even tried to have as many children as she did as well. Just one less. So, he had eight children. So he did try, nearly there (laughing)

Helen: Yeah no something I’ll join in that competition.

Rachel: Yeah absolutely not. Yeah, I've got two cats. That's enough.

We just have one picture of Fred, unfortunately. Of course this is also a shout out if anyone's got any information about Oakland's house and photographs. Please come and see me at the reception. That'll be amazing.

So, Fred was a very charitable man. His dad was a brewer and he passed it down to Fred, and Fred then also became a tradesman in wood, which must have helped a lot with the house, that’ll we'll cut costs. He was a wine merchant, he owned lots of pubs around Chelmsford as well. And of course, at the time in Chelmsford in the late 1800s, it was a booming town. So, of course, we had the railways come along, lots of industry came here of course, including Marconi, of course, people after work, what do you do? You go for a drink.

Not too much, not too much now. But of course, back then you would have done. So, he made absolute fortune with this industry. His first marriage, he married to his business partner's daughter, who was called Clara Wells. And unfortunately she died a couple of years later, but not one to wait around our Fred. 18 months later, he married to a Scottish lady called Jane Thompson, who was 18 years his junior.

Helen: Oooh Sugar Daddy

Rachel: And they had, and they had four children together. As I said earlier, Fred was a charitable man. A philanthropist. Oh, so pleased I said that because I hate that word. A philanthropist. So, you probably think a bit Victorian industrialist was a sort of, scrooge like character, very stingy, very, I think very stern. But no, he was quite, as we know from his servants, which I'm going to talk about a bit later. He was very friendly. He gave lots of money to charity, including founding the YMCA in Chelmsford, which is now opposite the back in time restaurant. He also ironically gave money towards the original Museum of Chelmsford, which was in the prison originally

Helen: in the time of these Victorian collectors.

Rachel: Absolutely. Absolutely. So it also helps in that way as well. He went to worship at New London Road, Congregational Church, and he was a big figure in there. So we know when he died in 1908, it was huge outpouringt of grief around Chelmsford. He was such a well-known figure. Oh, wow. And if you have this to the museum, if you haven't, where have you been?

Helen: Get over here

Rachel: Absolutely. Where we are in the museum reception was originally the servants' quarters. So we had the original house and the servants' quarters, and they were demolished in 1920s, but it's a huge space. So if you have been to the museum, from the Victorian hallway, all the way to the beautiful walled garden, that was the original servants' quarters.

Helen: And how many servants? Do we know how many servants he had?

Rachel: We will, I will tell you a bit later in our next podcast

Helen: What a teaser Rachel

Rachel: Absolutely.

Helen: So he had eight children, but he didn't have to make a single pet lunch himself as I was saying.

Rachel: Absolutely. I think that's correct, yes, and even Jane, probably, and his wives, they wouldn't have to do that much work.

Helen: I'd have eight children if I had that much help.

Rachel: You’re mad

Helen: I'm halfway there.

Rachel: I'll talk about my servants next time, but Fred dies in 1908, and the house is put up for sale, along with all the house belongings. And unbelievable There is just one single photo of the house inside when Fred was alive.

Helen: One photo of Fred, and one photo of the house.

Rachel: Indeed how frustrating. So it's actually of the dining room, which is now, if you've been to the Hive Cafe, which I would strongly recommend you do. This is the original dining room. Seated around 15 people. Lots of Knick knacks everywhere. A cleaners, nightmare. I've got to say.

Helen: Dust Collectors

Rachel: That's the only picture we have. And when he did put the house up for sale, there was a booklet, an auction booklet, which had every single piece of furniture, which is also included in the house sale.

Helen: Fascinating.

Rachel: The only reason why we have that much information about the house is purely because of this booklet.

So after Fred died, yet the house was sold to the Willing family, who moved in 1910, so two years after Fred's passed. So Daniel Willing was a land owner, but we'll give bit more into him next podcast.

Oaklands was used during the First World War, not a lot of people know, so like a lot of big country houses, they had a field hospital, which they had inside the museum with isolation huts around the garden as well. Because we had lots of... I think it was meningitis or spotted fever, but So they would be isolated.

Helen: A bit of a quarantine.

Rachel: So a little bit about another podcast, maybe next series, about the First World War?

Stay tuned.

And after the First World War, we had the lovely Flower family, who really were a 1920s family. I like to think like a great Gatsby family, where they held parties here, they built a tennis court, they held lemonade on the veranda outside.

Helen: So fun! I love that era. The dresses. And their hairstyle.

Rachel: My Wedding Dress had a bit of a 1920s feel, I absolutely love it.

Helen: Thank you so much Rachel, that has been really fascinating. I can't wait to hear more next week on the next instalment of your stories about the house. Thank you.

Rachel: Oh, you're very welcome Helen, that's a story of Oakland's for you. And next up it's the Chelmsfordian of the Week and my question is if you could spend an hour with your Chelmsford Chum in town, where would you take them?

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Chelmsfordian of the Week

Rebecca: So should I just do it then? OK, it's not recording now, is it? Uh, oh (laughing). Oh lovely. I hope it makes it to the final cut.

Hi, I'm Rebecca, I'm the Administrator at the Museum, and this is my Chelmsfordian of the week, Thomas Clarkson Neil.

Um, well Rachel, I suppose for good reason I would probably take him to the Museum, or perhaps the coffee shop in Chelmsford, er, that occupies a property where a certain society first met. Because, in keeping with this being the first episode, I’d like to talk about a man without whom our Museum of Chelmsford may looked have very different - or perhaps, may not have existed at all. In fact, the beginning of our dear museum is quite unexpected and, to tell it’s story, I will be talking about the great Chelmsfordian, Mr Thomas Clarkson Neale – Governor of Chelmsford’s very first convict gaol!

Thomas’s early profession was as Principal Turnkey at what was known as Moulsham Gaol. This was situated, with a House of Correction beside it, on the banks of the river Cam, next to where the stone bridge was built and, if you are familiar with the area, where a hairdresser’s and recently closed-down department store now stand. In fact, a portrait of Thomas Neale and reference to the old gaol can be found on an information plate, on the side of the present-day buildings.

Both the gaol and House of Correction were impressive buildings for their time, but this belied the often-gruesome conditions that historically lay within. For example - reporting on his visit to the House of Correction in 1803 - prison reformer, James Neild, found, in quotes, ‘the good old keeper dead’ and ‘the whole prison filthy and out of repair’. He also found many prisoners naked, sick, desperately dehydrated and in need of medical attention. Indeed, during inspections, the gaol was reported as offering very poor conditions, and bouts of ‘gaol fever’ were common among inmates who were locked in cramped rooms, close to sewers that were also in need of attention.

By the time Thomas Neale became Principal Turnkey, his role must have been a challenging one. A Turnkey had a spectrum of responsibilities ranging from maintaining the safety and well-being of prisoners, such as ensuring food was fresh and served according to regulation - to upholding law and order within the gaol. Thomas must have carried out his contrasting duties well - as he rose to the role of Prison Keeper and, when the new gaol that now stands in Springfield Road, was built in 1822 - it was Thomas who was appointed as the first prison Governor.

This was a more austere, more substantial and secure gaol, built for the purpose of housing convicts as an alternative to transportation, and the more serious nature of its purpose was reflected in its design as it included a flat roof to accommodate the gallows’ scaffold and drop - and a forecourt to accommodate the eager and substantial masses who enthusiastically assembled to witness such events.

Descriptions of Thomas’s good character and diligence are present from the beginning to the end of his career and life. He retired in 1861 and died after what was reported as a ‘short and painful illness’ in 1862. An early report describes him as having ‘uniformly conducted himself with a degree of intelligence, vigilance, temper and exertion, which has done him the highest credit’ and his obituary referred to ‘his honesty of purpose, his unswerving integrity, his nice sense of honour and his scrupulous and rigid firmness of character’.

It is true that he was criticised by prison inspectors when a boy of 10 received 18 lashes, but we must remember the social context and general temperament towards children at that time. They were considered mini, and if anything, corrupt, adults – the concept of ‘childhood’ hadn’t emerged – and thus they were thought to be fully responsible for their actions.

But what did this man, who was busy with a demanding occupation that required him to daily deal with the complexities and darkest sides of human nature – have to do with the founding of our beautiful museum?

Well - Thomas had passions in fields far away from those of incarceration. He was, all through life, a keen geologist and antiquarian. Pursuits, that I’m sure served as a perfect antidote, to his heavier commitments.

Thomas had always held an enthusiasm for knowledge and education and was a driving force behind the formation and endeavours of the Chelmsford Philosophical Society - that he founded in 1828 alongside 17 gentleman enthusiasts. This was a polite society, that met in buildings in the high street, where members would discuss and consider literary and scientific pursuits – and topics such as religion and politics were banned. Thomas also felt that learning should be shared for the betterment of others and he aspired to start a library and museum as extensions of the Society in support of this belief.

The Societies’ collection began as an assortment of antiquities, natural curiosities, books and scientific instruments that grew naturally and robustly - and it was soon agreed that a museum should be established to house it. It was also agreed that the Society’s purpose, through the establishment of the museum, should be extended for the first time beyond the confines of membership – and current members were encouraged to, and I quote, ‘use every endeavour to recommend their friends to contribute specimens of natural curiosities and other articles suited to the purpose’.

And this - is where we see the two, quite different, sides of Thomas’s life overlap – Thomas arranged for the first site for the museum - for the collection of curiosities, of objects of literary and scientific interest and undertaking - to be moved to the Keeper’s parlour in Moulsham gaol. And In 1835, as a 7 year Society anniversary event, the museum was opened to the public. and there it stayed for another 7 years.. before being rehoused in the larger and purpose-built setting of ‘Museum Terrace’ in New London Road, in 1842.

Our current location is of course the Wells house, in the – ever popular with dog walkers – lovely Oaklands Park, but the collection only moved here in 1930. You are very welcome to come and visit, and when you do, you might like to look upon the portrait of Thomas Clarkeson Neale, which was acquired in 2006, and is now proudly displayed at the top of the staircase on the Victorian landing.

I do feel that the museum must have felt somewhat incomplete without it.

So that's Thomas Clarkson Neale, Chelmsfordian of the Week, now over to Overheard at the Museum.

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Overheard at the Museum

Nick: Do we, so do we introduce ourselves or just, okay? Yeah, hello, my name is Nick. I am a volunteer here at the Museum of Chelmsford. And I'm sitting opposite Eleanor and she and I have only just met for the first time today.

Eleanor: Fast friends already.

Nick: Absolutely. And I guess the reason we haven't met before is, uh, I normally work as a gallery assistant, uh, above ground and, uh, Eleanor is consigned to the basement.

Eleanor: Yes, my office is the basement and it's underneath the cafe, so it at least smells nice.

Nick: And what do you do down there?

Eleanor: At the moment, I've been going through all the costuming, so going through bits, getting rid of lots of things and cataloguing them.

Nick: Excellent. Yes. Well, the, the unseen work, as opposed to running around after noisy school children, which is part of what I, I do.

One of the things that we might start off talking about is some of the things that sometimes we overhear in the museum. I, and I suspect a lot of other volunteers, often heard visitors to the Bright Sparks area museum where we showcase some of Chelmsford’s industrial heritage. Talk about the people that they have known, members of their family and friends who have worked in some of those factories. And it's quite fascinating listening to the hearth door of all perspective that they can give. I don't know whether you've heard any, probably they wouldn't have reached you down in the, in the depths of the basement.

Eleanor: Not quite, but I do remember like talking to my granddad and he was deaf as anything and would often switch off his hearing aid, but if you talk to him about engineering and kind of cars or anything like that, click right back in, so I'm sure that happens along the galleries as well.

Nick: We had a small group of visitors recently and they were talking about the way in which, in their view, the character of Chelmsford had changed over the years, with the closing of some of the biggest factories and industrial premises that were there, including Marconi and RHP Crompton, EEV and other industrial firms during the '60s and '70s. And they were talking about the huge numbers of people who used to throng through Chelmsford, particularly in the evenings, once the daily work had finished. And you don't just don't see that anymore. And the centre of Chelmsford is very, very quiet in the evenings, other than on Friday evenings of course.

The group that I was listening to and I did interact with them briefly, were talking about the time when they knew somebody who worked in one of these industrial complexes. Marconi was obviously the largest one of them we're showcasing, I guess, more than any other here at the museum. It's the one that we all associate with Chelmsford, but they were talking about the way in which people travel to and from their work, almost nobody by car in those days, on foot or by bicycle and somebody described it as being like a flock of starlings coming out of the gates of Marconi at five o'clock when the hooter went. And you know, if you weren't very careful, you would have been knocked over in the rush of people, anxious to get home for their tea.

In the time that I'm known Chelmsford, I've seen enormous changes, simply with the falling away of that huge amount of industry. And you know, I think it's wonderful that we can showcase that. I think that gallery, the Sparks gallery is probably my favourite place in the whole museum.

Eleanor: I'm quite biased to the Roman section and actually I was with a school group recently looking at the Stone Age and maybe that's a new favourite bit because I got to see all their faces light up and look at everything and I think quite a lot of them liked the axes and maybe more violent things like the daggers. But actually something I did over hear from the school group is they were looking at the accession numbers on all of the objects. And quite a lot of them thought that they were dates but obviously no dates start with zero. So it's quite fun to hear them bouncing ideas off each other and it's always interesting to hear what kids think things are.

Nick: Absolutely. I find those object handling sessions when items that are not normally available for people to look at or to touch are produced. I think it's a really good thing the museum does.

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Outro

Helen: Oh my goodness. I have just learned so much and it's only our first episode of our series. I can't wait to weave some of these facts into my learning sessions. The kids are going to love it. I've got lots of schools booking to come to the Museum to learn about the town's famous inventors and engineers. This week I'll have 60 children all using Morse Code Tappers to send messages to one another. So, Paracetamol at the ready for that.

What about you Rachel? Anything planned for week?

Rachel: Probably not. The weather's absolutely appalling as we sit in our studio. probably much going on this week. My usual zumba. And my badminton, I like to keep fit.

Helen: Yeah, you might be needing the paracetamol. (laughter)

My favourite fact was when Sarah told us about the early V2 radio sets and how they used headphones. So, as a family sitting round a radio they're going to have to wait their turn to use the headphones or share them so that they can listen in on the radio. Goes back to the telephone conversation all over again.

Rachel: Absolutely. I loved Rebecca's talk on Thomas Neale. I love that link that we have to the museum with the prison and I do like a bit of prison history, gory, so that's right up my street.

Helen: Yeah, back to our origin stories. Fantastic. And Rachel, you told us how Fred Wells founded the YMCA in Chelmsford. Maybe I could have a sing along with the school that visits this next.

Rachel:

Oh, maybe not, yeah.

The kids won’t know YMCA now.

Helen: Oh, it's so retro.

Well, I know that every podcast says it, but if you enjoyed our very first episode of the Chelmsford Broadcast don't forget to subscribe. Write a review, spread the good word to anyone who listens.

Rachel: It really does help and take a look at membership options on our website. So if you've been, not sure about coming to the museum, please do come, always open for you. If you can come and see us, there's plenty more Marconi, what that came from, on the ground floor of the museum.

Helen: And tune in next episode as we delve into the Iron Age Chelmsford and find out all about more residents of Oakland’s house.

Rachel: That's all from us now. Bye. Bye.

(cheering)

Maxine: I liked that you said studio!

Rachel: Haha, big it up a bit!

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