Friday, 18 July 2025

Our July talk

Wild tracks, pitches and micing up a dog... Our July talk, by audio producer Rose de Larrabeiti

When Rose introduced herself with a photo of her unexpected encounter with a cheery death metal band while making a programme about driving an early electric car around Europe, we knew we were in for an interesting evening...

Rose's first job was with Whistledown Productions, initially as an internship. She has worked on The Reunion, on Feedback, for Radio 3 Between the Ears, for the World Service, for Vice (with young people during Covid), for The Guardian and pitching her own arts and culture documentaries. 

Rose told of the challenge of gaining an Irish Traveller community's trust while making a documentary on their displacement for the Olympics, and on making a track with Traveller boys and Traveller girls, who tend to live separately.

We heard about her work on a podcast called Being, where a musician chats with strangers on a bench, writing a song about each encounter.

Rose asked what we thought an audio producer does. It involves a broad skillset, from pitching to writing to editing via working with collaborators and 'talent'. Rose has always been freelance, often working with limited budgets and there's no specific union for audio producers. We heard about the BBC's two big commissioning rounds in Spring and Autumn, where community guidelines are sent out and a guide to what they're looking for. We heard about the work that goes into pitching, with an average programme fee £8,000 including the presenter. Challenges include AI, deepfakes eroding trust and the proliferation of podcasts.

Rose talked us through the process of making a programme, once she's come up with the idea and got it commissioned. She'll cast it, finding the best possible contributors. She'll draft the script, the format of which varies from presenter to presenter. As well as the voices, she'll record a 'wild track' – the sound of the place you're in – which is the 'glue' that makes edited sound fit together. There's editing, editing and more editing, to a time limit. Next, there's mixing with music, sound design and putting the final programme together. Then, the next step: "Hate it!" 

How did Rose get into sound editing in the first place? Well, she originally wanted to be a photojournalist but an accident injured her arm, which stopped her using a camera. So she wondered about audio and joined a community radio station.

We were treated to behind the scenes stories on dealing with 'talent' – or in some cases, getting hold of people in the first place, as was the case on The Reunion episode on New Labour, where Rose had also been keen to have the female voices in the room that had been important parts of its success. 

Rose's favourite work is on location. In Iceland, she worked with nature sound recordist Chris Watson on Jules Verne's Volcano, retracing the route and talking to people. They recorded geysers, mud pools, put a hydrophone into a creaking glacier...  and had to deal with an unexpected drop down a crevasse.

We had the delight of hearing an explosives dog at work, thanks to Rose's work micing the dog up so that listeners would hear it sniffing.

Tipped off about East End WI's interest in The Archers, Rose brought pictures of her visit to its set – including its collection of doorbells and the huge soundproof chamber needed to make actors sound as though they're talking in a field.

Rose rounded off her talk with a clip from Adam and Joe on Radio 6 commenting on the amount of sighing in The Archers. So they took an episode and removed everything except the sighing.

Much laughter...

"That's the power of editing!", said Rose.

A massive East End WI thank you to Rose for a fascinating and engaging talk.

Our monthly coffee and meet up – Root/25, 116B Bow Road, E3 3AA

Friday 25th July, meet at 10.30-11.00

A chance to revisit one of our favourite cafés and maybe browse their marvellous selection of pre-loved books.

Saturday, 12 July 2025

East End WI at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Community Fair




Sunshine, teamwork and sparkly cake 

There were cakes to bake that wouldn't melt on an extraordinarily-hot day. There were the logistics that make our cake stalls work. There was teamwork, bustling around each other to serve visitors at the lovely Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park; swapping in and out to give each other a breather; declaring a tea break to keep us all going. There were potential members to chat with about what we do. There was even sparkly cake...

A huge East End WI thank you to everyone who baked, helped and was there in spirit and thanks to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for having us.

Pictures by Christine and Lydia

Saturday, 5 July 2025

Coming up in July

 


Stall, sound production and snacks... coming up in July

No walk this month as we will be at...

Our cake and refreshment stall at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Community Fair

Saturday 12th July, 12-5pm, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove, E3 4PX

There will be baking... and if you're new to the WI and you're interested to find out what we're all about, come and say hello.

Our monthly meeting – Rose de Larrabeiti, audio producer

Thursday 17th July, St Margaret’s House, Old Ford Road,  21 Old Ford Rd., London E2 9PL, 7 for 7.30pm, entrance via the gate to the left

(If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road)

Rose sent us this snapshot of her exciting work:

"I’m an audio producer, which means I make audio documentaries and podcasts and I have now for over 15 years! I’ve made programmes for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, the World Service and the Guardian among others. It’s a job that has taken me to all sorts of exciting places: into the heart of the Great Pyramid in Giza; driving an early electric car around all of Western Europe; a huge dog refuge in Costa Rica and perhaps most excitingly… inside The Archers studio. It’s also led to a few strange encounters with Peter Mandelson… but more of that to come when we meet!"

Our monthly coffee and meet up – Root/25, Bow

Friday 25th July, meet at 10.30-11.00

A chance to revisit one of our favourite cafés and maybe browse their marvellous selection of pre-loved books.


Friday, 27 June 2025

Our June coffee morning


Chat, music and art in Bow – our June coffee morning, at the Nunnery Café 

Karen writes:

Vast and varied conversations, as always. From lack of water and overnight rain to funerals and travels and everything in between. A lovely setting with a soft guitar accompaniment in the background. Superb company as always. Apologies to Clare, I should’ve taken another photo when she arrived!

As we were in the vicinity, some of us browsed the Bow Open show in the gallery, an eclectic mixture. 

Great company as always. 

Pictures by Karen

Sunday, 22 June 2025

Our June talk


From management to civil celebrant – our June talk by Ruby Warnock

East End WI member Christine writes:

Our June meeting saw an engaging talk by Ruby Warnock, civil celebrant. Ruby changed career from corporate events management to celebrant, as helping people is important to her. 

We learned that celebrants began in Australia and started in the UK in the 1980s with humanists. Unlike registrars, celebrants' events do not carry legal status (for example, a legal marriage would be needed before a celebrant wedding). Celebrant events are therefore free to be bespoke and unique. 

Ruby told us about her training and the skills needed. Celebrations can include community rituals, one of which, 'handfasting', was gamely demonstrated by our volunteers Natasha and Heather!

Pictures by Christine


This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

One of our favourite cafés and a chance to continue the art theme of our June walk with a look at Bow Open: Connections. 

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.

Saturday, 14 June 2025

Our June walk


Hampstead Heath, Kenwood House and Sargent – our grand June walk

What a contrast... our last walk on the Heath had been on an icy day, Parliament Hill views obscured by mist; June saw us striding out in lush greenery and dappled sunshine. 

Our walks being chatty, we covered all manner of topics as we wound our way through woodland and grassland.

We were heading to Kenwood House for our café stop and for walkers who hadn't seen it, its exhibition Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits

In 2022, East End WI member Natasha, a Tate volunteer, had given us a tour of John Singer Sargent's portraits in Tate Britain's Wertheimer bequest, a rare opportunity to hear from someone who's related to the people in the paintings. On our walk, Natasha gave us the back-stories of some of the women in this exhibition, who included the UK's first sitting female MP. 

Those of us heading on to the exhibition (via a look at Kenwood's restored bath house) were fascinated by the freshness and modernity of the drawings and how his loose brushstrokes described cloth and drapery.

Two of us stayed to explore the house; one got interestingly lost – which presented an opportunity for a reprise of the view from Parliament Hill. It's nice when that happens.

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for our coming up blogposts or if you're a member, for the monthly e-newsletter.

This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

A chance to visit one of our favourite cafes and to continue the art theme with a look at Bow Open: Connections. 

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.

Pictures by Lydia and Christine

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Coming up in June



A grand walk to Kenwood, a civil celebrant, coffee at the Nunnery and exhibition news – coming up in June


Our monthly walk: Saturday 14th June, Hampstead Heath and Kenwood

Our walk takes us a bit further afield this month. Meet at Hampstead Heath station on the Mildmay line at 11.00am.

Then we’ll take a stroll across the Heath to Kenwood House for refreshments at its lovely café and a diversion if we wish to the John Singer Sargent exhibition Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits. On the Kenwood section of the English Heritage website'the real stories behind the fascinating American women who crossed the Atlantic to marry British aristocrats in an exchange of money for titles. These women include a war-time nurse, a helicopter pilot and the first sitting female MP.'


Our June talk: Ruby Warnock, Civil Celebrant, Thursday 19th June, St Margaret’s House 7 for 7.30pm

(If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road)

For this month’s meeting we welcome Civil Celebrant Ruby Warnock:

“My name is Ruby and I am a Civil Celebrant for all of life’s celebrations. I want to make sure every milestone is honoured in a way that truly reflects who you are, whether it is a wedding ceremony, a funeral service, a baby naming, or anything as outside the box as an office opening or a divorce! I love to work with clients, couples and families in depth, crafting bespoke, personalised ceremonies – from the style to the content – that mean no one will ever have the ceremony that you do, it’s yours.”


This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

A chance to visit one of our favourite cafes and to continue the art theme from our walk earlier in the month with a look at Bow Open: Connections. Bow Arts writes: 'work from our studio holders and artist educators, providing a snapshot of some of the most exciting art being made in east London today.'

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.


In other news

Our new Secretary Janet, who gave our talk on The Archers in April, has her fabulous quilts on show in the upcoming London Quilters exhibition Quilts at the Library, at Swiss Cottage Library, 88 Avenue Road London NW3 3HA, 3 June to 3 July.