Podcasts about Lake District

Clare joins Ian Teasdale in the north Lake District for a very personal walk. Ian and his wife, Catherine, are on a mission to climb all 214 Wainwright fells as part of their 'Terminal Hillness' project which they started following Ian's diagnosis of incurable bowel cancer. He wants to raise awareness of the lack of cancer support facilities in their region and he decided the best way to do this was by completing a full round of the Wainwrights. As they hike up Longlands, Ian shares memories connected to the landscape he grew up in. The forecast was grim before they set off, but the sun shone, and the only rain that fell created the most beautiful rainbow across the valley. They started at Longlands, Grid Ref NY266358, and completed a 6 mile circuit with views of Skiddaw and the Northern Fells. Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Octavia Hill, Hardwicke Rawnsley, and Sir Robert Hunter founded The National Trust on January 12, 1895, with an intention to preserve Britain's natural beauty and historic treasures for the public and future generations. The founders' efforts reflected the late Victorian spirit of social and environmental reform, championed by figures like John Ruskin and William Morris. Rawnsley led early efforts by opposing a Lake District construction project, rallying support to protect its pristine landscapes. This campaign highlighted the growing realization that industrial progress could irreparably harm Britain's natural treasures. Over the decades, the National Trust evolved into the cultural powerhouse it is today, with over 5.5 million members and 65,000 volunteers. Arion, Rebecca and Olly sniff a whiff of benevolent paternalism; consider whether the Trust offered a form of socialism by the back-door; and discover how shockingly long it took before the Trust started shilling its own merch… Further Reading: • '100 years on, Octavia Hill's battles are not won' (The Times, 2012): https://www.thetimes.com/article/eb932ff9-3810-4598-9bdd-e9a17feefa5d • ‘Cream teas and home truths: the National Trust at 125' (Financial Times, 2020): https://www.ft.com/content/24fee86a-3818-4769-929a-41b604010917 • ‘National Trust in the Lake District' (National Trust NW, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7588bsTQq8 Love the show? Support us!  Join 

​​​How to really enjoy your dreams. Today Katherine speaks with Stuart Bailey, a British lawyer who has met Queen Elizabeth and sung with Elvis. His book is My Secret Life of Dreams: One Man’s Journey Into the Hidden World of Night. He says dreams are like movies starring ourselves so why not enjoy them? Stuart starts by talking about his recurring childhood dream of flying down beautiful valleys, some of which date from before age 3 and a half. He speaks about how he might start to sink in those dreams but learned that by relaxing, he could keep flying. We also talk about precognitive dreams, deja vu, and an easy way to eliminate nightmares by daydreaming a better ending, his own version of Image Rehearsal Therapy. Here is a link to a short video clip of the conversation: https://youtu.be/hP5GXhtnEVg BIO: Stuart Bailey is a lawyer from the Lake District, United Kingdom, and lives with his wife and two teenage sons. He is the author of My Secret Life of Dreams which explores  how the dreams we have at night can guide, heal, and gently shape our lives. This show, episode number 345, was recorded during a live broadcast on January 10, 2026 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz. Here are links to some other Dream Journal episodes you might be interested in: Eliminating Nightmares with Dr Michael Nadorff It’s Always Been Me with Megan Walrod Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Erik Nelson for answering the phones. SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on LI, IG, YT, FB, & LT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com. The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites. A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means. The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/. Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts within 24 hours of posting. Thanks for being a Dream Journal listener! Available on all major podcast platforms. Rate it, review it, subscribe, and tell your friends.

Lee Child is a writer who is best known for his series of bestselling novels featuring Jack Reacher. Reacher is an enigmatic 6ft 5in, 17-stone ex-military police major who rights wrongs before disappearing off into the sunset. The books have sold in their millions around the world and have inspired two films starring Tom Cruise and a television series.Lee Child was born James - Jim - Grant in 1954 and grew up in Birmingham. He studied Law at the University of Sheffield and then joined the presentation department at Granada Television where he was a shop steward and became a thorn in the side of the management. At 40 he was made redundant and sat down to write his first Reacher novel Killing Floor. He found himself an agent and the novel was published in March 1997 - the franchise was up and running. In the UK Lee outsells both Stephen King and John Grisham and worldwide he sells between 12 and 15 million copies a year.In 2020 Lee announced that he was handing over the Reacher franchise to his younger brother Andrew Grant. The two brothers have worked on several novels since then and the thirtieth Reacher title features both brothers' names on the cover.Lee Child was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours. He lives in the Lake District with his wife Jane. They have one daughter.DISC ONE: She Loves You - The Beatles DISC TWO: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones DISC THREE: So What - Miles Davis DISC FOUR: Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23: I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito. Performed by Stephen Hough (piano) and Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vänskä DISC FIVE: Joe's Blues - Joe Pass DISC SIX: The Lemon Song - Led Zeppelin DISC SEVEN: Für Elise (Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor) Composed by Ludwig Beethoven and performed by Lang Lang DISC EIGHT: Delibes: Lakmé / Act 1: "Sous le dôme épais" (Flower Duet) Performed by Renée Fleming (soprano), Susan Graham (mezzo soprano), Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing BOOK CHOICE: Killing Floor by Lee Child LUXURY ITEM: A mechanical wind-up watch CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: So What - Miles Davis Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

...in which we embark on a memorial walk to Innominate Tarn on Haystacks to ask the question: How did fell-walker Alfred Wainwright impact on so many lives? Closing a year of AW anniversaries – including the 70th anniversary of the publication of his first Pictorial Guide – we set out from Honister in the company of a string of guests whose lives have been touched or changed by the Blackburn-born rambler, artist and guidebook writer. Chatting as we wander – through dense clag and worsening rain – we meet walker Richard Jennings, who completed his 214 at 2:14 on the 21st of the fourth, 2014 (definitely not an obsessive!), and who credits AW with his move to the Lakes. We catch up with geographer-legend Chris Jesty – the only person authorised by AW to update his Guides – who chats about camping on Scafell Pike for six months "waiting for clear weather", about the 10-year three-month update odyssey, and why the Howgills and Outlying Fells are his backwater favourites. Arriving at Dubs Hut, we are joined by brothers Mike and Paul Duff from Kendal. who accompanied dad Percy and Betty Wainwright onto Haystacks in March '91 to scatter AW's ashes, and who recall their old family friend – the "foreigner from Blackburn" who sunk roots deep in Westmorland. Anna Nolan from Keswick is our next guest – a bagging record-breaker currently on her 11th round of the Wainwrights by bus, with a cumulative tally of 6,000+ fells and counting. Sculptor Clive Barnard recounts his experience of working with AW on the bronze bust now resident in Kendal Museum, remembering the 'big, amiable bear' with a commercially savvy mind who made "awful" cups of tea. In thickening clag, we meet Chris and Lorena Linke from Florida, who fell in love with long distance walking, after completing AW's Coast to Coast Walk, and discuss the under-acknowledged community created by the C2C, life lessons taught by through-walks, and the unique storytelling artistry of the Guides. Arriving at our pilgrimage end-point of Innominate Tarn, we pay our respects to former Westmorland Gazette print manager Andrew Nicholl – one of the unsung heroes of the AW story, who did so much for the ex-fellwanderer, his book sales and his profile. Beside the hallowed 'gravely shore' of the misty tarn, Chris and his wife Priscilla reflect on Andrew's legacy, and the poignant 'guard of honour' final trip he made onto Haystacks to say farewell to his old friend. Happy New Year to all, from Mark and Dave! Chris's extensive archive of articles about AW's books and memorabilia can be found at alfredwainwright.co.uk/ Anna Nolan's books about fell-bagging and walking in the Lakes can be found at bookguild.co.uk/our-authors/anna-nolan Richard Jennings has created The Lakeland Way – a 144 mile walk through the valleys and mountain passes of the Lake District. See here for more. Inspired by the Coast to Coast Walk, Chris and Lorena Linke made a film about the Herriot Way. The story behind it can be found at alfredwainwright.co.uk/the-herriot-way/ The film of Andrew Nichol's journey to Innominate Tarn can be found at youtube.com/watch?v=UpLVp20qIJE&t=330s Chris Jesty's beautiful summit panoramas can be enjoyed here: viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/ChrisJestyPanoramas.html With many thanks to Chris for making the day and recording happen. And with thanks to the team at Honister for driving some of our guests to Dubs Hut, and for Tom McNally for arranging the transport.

In keeping with the tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, we offer you this expertly crafted submission from our sister podcast Haunted UK Fiction... Find this and over two dozen more stories on Haunted UK Fiction: https://linktr.ee/hauntedukfictionMy father was in a strange mood that day. He welcomed me with genuine warmth and appeared, to me at least, quite comfortable and content in his soft armchair and his cup perched delicately on the left knee. His words, however, were of the most serious sort; he betrayed no emotion by stating the facts clearly and with a certain stiff formality. I was informed that he had something very important to tell… Hello and welcome, dear listeners, to Haunted UK Fiction – a sister podcast to The Haunted UK which features original flash fiction, short stories, and novellas with paranormal themes. All stories you will hear were written by a collection of talented writers, authors, and storytellers, both independent and professional.In today's episode we'll be reading The Overcoat, an eerie, spine-tingling tale which was sent in to us by LD Brown. LD Brown lives in the village of Hawkshead, Cumbria with his wife and too many cats. They own a beer shop together. For the past seven years, he has been running Ghost Walks in the village under the name: Tallow Tales; The Hawkshead Ghost Walk. Twice weekly he takes visitors around the village, regaling them with stories of local folklore. This also gives him the opportunity to wear a top hat. In his free time, LD writes horror stories and has been fortunate enough to get a few published here and there. His fiction is influenced by the bleaker side of the Lake District landscape; rainy, dripping woodlands, mosses, tarns, wetlands and their sinister ilk. His literary influences include Arthur Machen, MR James, EF Benson, JH Riddel and Algernon Blackwood. He also enjoys Folk Horror films and Peter Cushing.We truly hope you enjoy this unsettling, atmospheric tale that is reminiscent of times gone by. If you would like to hear more from LD Brown, you can find his contact information, current and upcoming work, both as an author and as a ghostly tour guide, and follow him on social media with the links below:Upcoming Works: LD Brown is hoping to get a collection of his short fiction published in the near future. He has also written a short horror novella which he has been sending to publishers.Social Media Links: Instagram and Facebook @tallowtales              Website: www.kittchen.co.uk/tallowtalesEmail: lukebrown7@hotmail.co.uk If you have an original story that would send a chill down our spines, and you would like to submit it for review, simply send it in to hauntedukfiction@hotmail.com, that's hauntedukfiction@hotmail.com  Until next time, stay safe, and take care. Episode Credits:Story by L.D. BrownNarrated by Steven HollowayScript prepared by Melissa WestProduced by Pink Flamingo Home StudioBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/haunted-uk-podcast--6759967/support.

My Story   Talk 34   Overcoming New Challenges Welcome to Talk 34 in our series where I'm reflecting on God's goodness to me throughout my life. Last time I was mentioning some of the health challenges I faced in India and today I will be describing how these continued for some time once we were back in England. I will also be talking about the serious health challenges Eileen faced during the last ten years of her life. I take no pleasure in recording all this, but an honest account of my life must include the hard times as well as the good, and, of course, the Lord has brought me through. Challenges following India Fortunately, there was little in my diary for the first few weeks after our return from India and I soon began to feel better. I thought I was back to normal and in April we set off for two weekends of ministry in Essex. We would stay with Eileen's sister Joan in Billericay and the first weekend I would preach in Witham and a week later in our old church in Colchester. On the first Saturday we drove from our home in Paignton straight to Witham, a journey of about 250 miles, and I preached in the afternoon and evening meetings. We then made our way to Billericay, returning to Witham for the Sunday morning service. I had felt fine on the Saturday, but on Sunday I suddenly started to feel unwell again shortly before I was due to preach. The symptoms were like those I had had in India, and I went outside to get some fresh air. However, I managed to get through the preaching but was grateful to get back to Billericay. The next day Joan arranged an appointment for me with her GP who, hearing that I had been bitten by a mosquito in India and suspecting that I might have malaria, sent me for tests at the hospital in Basildon. Although these tested negative, I was still worried that there was something seriously wrong with me and just wanted to get back home to Paignton. Apologising profusely, I asked our friends at Colchester to release me from my commitment to preach the following weekend and we drove home later that week, unsure of what the future might hold. The next two years proved to be extremely difficult. I continued to experience similar problems every time I preached. In May 2010 I drove up to Huddersfield for the AoG conference but was so stressed that I returned home without attending a meeting. I immediately arranged an appointment with my GP, Mark Thompson, a good Christian man, and told him my whole story. He reminded me that as Christians we are not immune to such things and recommended some books that might help explain my condition. It appears that my experience in India, caused by extreme heat, dehydration, and overwork, triggered a rush of adrenalin which produced the symptoms I was struggling with. I learnt that worrying about the symptoms only made matters worse because that causes a further rush of adrenalin. I was caught in a vicious circle, and the only way out was to embrace the symptoms, tell myself that they would not harm me, and gradually I would get better. And that's what happened, although it did take a long time. Following my visit to the doctor I cancelled my two-week trip to teach at the Bible College in Finland in May. We did go to Madeira for a three week holiday in June, but this turned out to be disappointing because of my recurring symptoms. However, in September I did manage to teach for two weeks at Mattersey, preach for a weekend in Pocklington, and assisted by Bob Hyde, teach a course at CTS in Brussels for a week. I was still experiencing the symptoms but managing to cope with them – at least most of the time. But there were still occasions when I felt unable to preach. In October I cancelled a weekend in Poynton and in November I was unable to complete a weekend's ministry in Aston. I began to wonder if the time had come for me to give up. But less than two weeks later the Lord suddenly intervened. Eileen and I were in Exeter at a meeting for Assemblies of God ministers and their wives. The guest preacher was John Glass, the General Superintendent of the Elim Churches. He was preaching on Jeremiah 1 when he came to verses 11-12: The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied. The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." He explained the play on words that we find in these verses – the Hebrew word for almond is very similar to the word for watch. The almond tree is among the first to blossom in spring. It's something you watch for as a sign that spring has come. Winter will be followed by spring because God watches over his word to see that it is fulfilled. Now in England most of us don't see an almond tree too often, so John likened it to crocuses. In his garden they're the first flowers to bloom in spring. They're the sign or guarantee that winter won't be forever. Then John broke away from his notes and said something like this: There are some of you here who are feeling that your ministry has come to an end. You have been experiencing a bleak winter, but the Lord wants you to know that it will not be forever. You will experience a new springtime. Eileen and I looked at each other. Was this for us? Surely it must be. But there were a lot of other people in that meeting. Could it be that John's prophetic word was for them and not for us? We drove home after the meeting hoping, rather than believing, that this really was a word from the Lord for us. And then, that evening, Jill Cooper, one of our friends from church, arrived on our doorstep and said, I've brought you a little present. To be honest, I had bought it for someone else, but then I felt the Lord tell me to give it to you instead.  What was the present? A bowl of crocuses! How good God is! He gave us the assurance that I would emerge from this dark period of winter into a new springtime of ministry. We sometimes have to go through a valley of shadow, but he is with us in it all the way. So in 2011, whenever the symptoms reoccurred, I pressed through them, knowing that this condition wouldn't last forever. In March I flew to Scotland to speak to the AoG ministers, in May we went back to Finland to teach at Iso Kirja for two weeks, in September I taught for two weeks at Mattersey, and in October I was back at CTS again. None of these occasions was easy. In fact, I often felt really unwell, but everyone always said that, if I hadn't told them, they would not have known anything was wrong with me! I'm not quite sure how much longer it took to get back to normal. In fact, I'm not really sure what 'normal' is! We all deteriorate physically as we get older and our energy levels are not what they were. When I look back at what I was doing in the years before Mattersey and throughout my time there, I wonder now how I possibly managed it all. What was normal for me then is far beyond my capabilities now, but I have moved into a new springtime in my ministry and people tell me that at 87 I'm not doing badly for my age, for which I am grateful. Challenges to Eileen's health But my health challenges were nothing compared with those faced by Eileen in the last ten years of her life. On Sunday 21st December 2014 quite unexpectedly at about 9am Eileen started to experience severe pain in her stomach as she was getting ready for church. As the pain was unrelenting, causing Eileen to pass out a couple of times, by 3pm I decided I needed to call 999. I accompanied Eileen in the ambulance while Jonathan followed by car. After waiting with her a few hours, Jon and I were advised to go home and await the results of an MRI scan.  At about 10.30 that evening the surgeon phoned to ask us to go in to discuss options for Eileen. It was clear that the situation was very serious. On arrival at the hospital, we were told that the scan had revealed that the blood supply had been cut off from Eileen's bowel and that her smaller bowel had died. Without an immediate operation she would die. There was even the possibility that the condition was already too far advanced for them to be able to save her. Furthermore, even if they were able to save her, there was a strong possibility that she would need to have a permanent colostomy. Eileen agreed with us that we should agree to the operation and trust God for the best possible outcome. We prayed with her, of course, but as you can imagine, for the next few hours we were on an emotional roller-coaster, experiencing all the ups and downs from fear to faith, but with a determination to trust God, come what may. We simply could not believe that it was God's time for Eileen to go to Heaven and kept praying that he would spare her. Imagine our relief when at one o'clock on Monday morning the surgeon phoned to say that she had the best possible news for us. Eileen's bowel was alive! What had been causing the pain was an internal hernia which they had been able to fix. None of her bowel had needed to be removed and the blood supply had been restored.   Now bearing in mind the certainty with which the surgeon told us that Eileen's bowel had died we were convinced that this was not just a case of faulty diagnosis, but that God had worked an amazing miracle in restoring Eileen's bowel to life. God had allowed man to do what he could but intervened to do what man could not do – restore a dead bowel to life! We were so grateful for the prayers of the many people who interceded for Eileen throughout this difficult time and to God for his miraculous intervention. I never cease to be amazed at his wonderful grace and goodness to us. But the operation had been very invasive and left Eileen severely weakened for months. And she never fully regained the strength and energy she had lost, but that, of course, may have been partly caused by the fact that she was not getting any younger. And neither was I! In April 2015 we had a few days' break in the Lake District and neither of us felt like walking very far. It was much the same in September when we went to the Isle of Wight, but on both these holidays we contented ourselves with driving around in the car, visiting old haunts, marvelling at the beauty of God's creation, and, of course, enjoying the food. We planned two short holidays for 2016, the first in Longtown, a village in Herefordshire close to the Welsh border in May. After preaching in Rugby on the Sunday morning, we drove there in the afternoon and spent a few delightful days in a charming cottage on the banks of the River Monnow, returning to Brixham the following weekend. The second holiday, planned for a week in September at the southern end of Coniston Water, never happened. In June I flew to Ireland to preach for a weekend in Sligo where Daniel Caldwell, one of our former students, was leading a church. On Sunday morning I preached on Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 8 and I remember saying that sometimes unexpected problems suddenly arise in our lives, but Jesus is well able to see us through them and get us to the other side. Who knows what might happen this week? But whatever happens Jesus is with us. And I flew home that afternoon. I have preached that message many times, but little did I know what was to happen just two days later. On Tuesday evening, sitting in her armchair Eileen had a severe stroke and was rushed into Torbay Hospital. From head to toe she had no feeling down the right side of her body. The next Sunday, still in hospital, she suffered another stroke and we were told that the outlook was extremely bleak. She was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain. Her life had been saved. After eleven days she was transferred back to Torbay where she remained for eight days until a bed was available at Newton Abbot where she began a course of rehab. Throughout this time we were all looking to the Lord for a complete healing, whether instantaneous or gradual, but her progress was extremely slow, and it was becoming increasingly clear that she needed a miracle if she would ever walk again. And although the healing miracle we were praying for never happened, we could see the hand of the Lord at work in other ways. Firstly, on July 28th when we were sitting in the hospital day room and eating cake to celebrate our wedding anniversary, the Torbay doctor who had told us that the outlook was extremely bleak approached us and said, I'm looking for Eileen Petts. And when he saw her he said, I can't believe it. Which was something he repeated more than once during the fifteen minutes he was with us. He clearly had not expected Eileen to survive, and this encouraged our faith that God was at work in the situation. On 10th August, after eight weeks in three different hospitals, Eileen finally came home. And that, in itself, was a miracle. We had been told just a few days earlier that Eileen would have to be discharged as her bed was needed for someone else. To continue her rehab she could either go into a care home if we could find one that would take her, or the NHS would provide rehab workers to come to our home, but we would need to find a home care company to take care of Eileen's other needs. The problem was that at the time there were over 70 people in Torbay on a waiting list! I needed an answer – quick! And just in time the answer came. Just a day before Eileen had to be discharged, Trude Hyde came to me and said that she and her twin sister Sylvia would take care of Eileen if we would like them to. How wonderful! I didn't need to ask Eileen because I knew she would love it, but for the sake of all concerned, I felt I needed to ask the Lord for his guidance. And I did foresee one possible problem. I didn't know if I would be allowed to choose Eileen's carers or if they would require certain recognised medical qualifications. I needed an immediate answer to that question, and I didn't know where to find it. I was just going off to visit Eileen, and I didn't want to mention the twins' kind offer until I knew the answer in case it led to her being disappointed. And then I remembered that Katie, the daughter of our next-door neighbour, Sue, was the lead carer for the whole of Torbay. She would certainly know the answer. I was just about to go and knock on Sue's door when I changed my mind and said, Lord, if this is of you, before I get into the car, please let Sue come out without me knocking on her door. And that's what happened. No sooner had I prayed that prayer than Sue came out of her house. In less than five minutes Katie was on the phone and told me that I could choose whom I liked. Eileen was overjoyed, and Trude and Sylvia took care of her visiting our home four times a day for the next four years until we moved to a bungalow on the other side of town, when workers from Abide Care, Brixham, took over.  Eileen finally went to be with the Lord in February 2024 almost eight years after that awful stroke. She was always grateful that her condition was not physically painful, but frustrated at her inability to walk and do all those things we normally take for granted. And we both naturally wondered why the Lord had allowed this to happen. One Bible passage that Eileen found particularly helpful was 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 where Paul says: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. And the comfort and strength our Father gave to Eileen certainly did overflow to others, not least as a testimony to the dozens of carers from Abide who came into our home over the final four years of her life. Throughout this whole very difficult period both Eileen and I had been sustained by our Christian faith and by a particular word received from the Lord through Barrie Taylor, our daughter Sarah's father-in-law. Barrie and Sandra live some distance away and we normally only saw them once or twice a year. On one such occasion when Eileen seemed to be making little progress after her stroke we were all having a meal together at Berry Head Hotel, when Barrie said the Lord had given him a word for us: My Father is at work in your lives and situation which He is using as a platform to display his sustaining grace. God sometimes uses amazing miracles of healing to display his power and love, but it is often the sustaining grace that he gives his people in times of suffering that brings others to faith. Through Eileen's suffering the lives of many were touched, people who might never have otherwise heard the good news about Jesus. And since she died there have been many opportunities to share the gospel. The funeral staff at the crematorium were visibly moved and said they had never experienced a service like it and neighbours said the same thing about the church service that followed it. As Christians we know where we are going, and the knowledge that our loved ones are with the Lord is a source of great comfort and even joy. Although I still miss her every day, I sometimes weep for joy at the thought of how happy Eileen must now be in Heaven! And one day we shall meet again! But until then there is still work for me to do down here. But that's the subject of our final talk.

Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher. In this blog, Sam Moxon reflects on the discomfort many people feel when working in public spaces like trains or coffee shops. Drawing on British social norms and his own experience, he challenges the idea that working on the move is performative or attention seeking. Instead, he argues that flexible working can support focus, creativity, and better use of time. The blog encourages readers to let go of worries about how they are perceived and to take ownership of when and where they work. Find the original text, and narration here on our website. https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-working-on-the-move/ -- Dr Sam Moxon is a biomaterials Research Fellow at University of Birmingham. His expertise falls on the interface between biology and engineering. His PhD focussed on regenerative medicine and he now works on trying to develop 3D bioprinting techniques with human stem cells, so that we better understand and treat degenerative diseases. Outside of the lab he hikes through the Lake District and is an expert on all things Disney. -- Enjoy listening and reading our blogs? We're always on the look out for new contributors, drop us a line and share your own research and careers advice dementiaresearcher@ucl.ac.uk This podcast is brought to you in association with the NIHR, Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society and Race Against Dementia, who we thank for their ongoing support. -- Follow us on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/ https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/ https://twitter.com/demrescommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social Join our community: https://onelink.to/dementiaresearcher

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️In this episode we meet Arthur Hill for the first time.Arthur recently set a new winter BGR record in 14:54, taking 4 minutes off Gavin Dales record from last year! Arthur was helped during his legs by a host of Lake District royalty, including Kim Collison, Beth Pascal and of course Gavin Dale himself.In our chat we talk about his route into fell running in his early 20's, his obsession with the Bob and his training leading up to this round. Arthur speaks about the close knit community of trail and fell runners that jumped at the chance to support him on his latest attempt. Arthur is one of the most enthusiastic young runners I've had the pleasure to speak to and it seems certain that this won't be his one and done for the Bob. He is even more obsessed with the round than ever and I'm sure he will be back chasing the summer record when the time is right!HT@ultrarunning_sam @hometrails_ http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

"This composition is built from a field recording of a waterfall in the Lake District by Rob Parton. The waterfall has a broad spectrum of frequencies decaying and emerging; a metaphor for autumn: as each droplet's resonance fades, new ones emerge, echoing nature's descent into winter, its long sleep and quiet preparation for spring.  "The piece features a vocal sample of Karen McCarthy Woolf reading from her poem Conversations with Water, her contemplative words reverberating through this honouring of water and the transformative season of autumn. "Using the Torso S-4, I gradually transformed the raw waterfall recording into harmonic frequencies, shaping it into a sustained, droning chord that I then mirrored on my harmonium to form an ambient composition. I layered in a guitar motif to introduce a sense of optimism as the seasons shift." Lake District soundscape reimagined by Helen Copnall feat. Karen McCarthy Woolf.

Mountain Waters captures the sound of water flowing along the Stickle Tarn trail in the Lake District, near Stickle Tarn at the heart of the Langdale Pikes. The water moves over rocks and drops, creating a rhythmic, textured sound that reflects the natural processes shaping this landscape. The Lake District, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is defined by its lakes and mountains, and this recording highlights the water that connects them. It provides a sense of place, transporting the listener to a key element of this heritage site. The sound was recorded using a Zoom H3-VR Ambisonic microphone and decoded to stereo. Ambisonic or binaural versions are also available for a more immersive experience. Recorded by Rob Parton.

In this episode, Vicki and I talk about the role your images play in building trust and connection online, especially in network marketing. We look at how your photos and imagery shape first impressions, and why authenticity in this matters far more than perfection. We break down simple, practical ways to improve your photos without fancy equipment or complicated setups. From easy lighting ideas to small positioning tweaks, Vicki shares tips that help you look and feel more natural and confident on camera. We also dig into the deeper side of visual branding, including: aligning your images with your personality and values using relatable, current photos to build trust finding consistency in your visual messaging getting more comfortable being photographed understanding how imagery communicates your message quickly and clearly Along the way, we talk honestly about the challenge of figuring out who you are in your brand and why it's normal for that to evolve over time. If you want your visuals to feel more like “you,” or you've been avoiding the camera altogether, this conversation will give you practical steps and reassurance to start showing up with more confidence and clarity.   Vicki Head is a creative force passionate about empowering people through photography. Through her award-winning business, she helps individuals and brands connect with their audience by crafting imagery that captures attention, builds trust, and communicates personality. In a visual culture where first impressions matter, Vicki combines her deep understanding of semiotics and subliminal messaging with her theatre background and academic expertise to create imagery with impact. She holds a first-class honours degree in commercial photography, specialising in advertising and marketing, and has been recognised as Photographer of the Year for Central England for five consecutive years. Vicki is also a Craftsman with the Guild of Professional Photographers — a testament to her dedication to the craft. Her approach blends technical excellence with a warm, intuitive understanding of people. Drawing on over 35 years in theatre, where she has won local and national awards for acting and directing, Vicki brings a unique perspective on character, light, and storytelling to every project. (Her favourite role? The gloriously off-key Florence Foster Jenkins.) As a teacher, mentor, and image strategist, she has supported everyone from college students and photography hobbyists to business owners seeking to elevate their brand presence. A mum of three grown-up children, Vicki has always appreciated photography's power to preserve the fleeting and celebrate the meaningful. Known for her empathy and humour, she also loves walking in the Lake District, crime dramas and catching up with friends over a coffee.   www.vickihead.com https://linktr.ee/VickiHead     Grab yourself a free download from Anna here, 100 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/web-100ways    104 Post Ideas to Attract Your Ideal Teamie https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/104-post-ideas    Find me on socials here: Facebook www.facebook.com/annagreenmentor  My Facebook Community www.facebook.com/groups/directsellingsuccesscommunity  Instagram www.instagram.com/directsellingsuccess  TikTok www.tiktok.com/@directsellingsuccess 

...in which dazzling autumn light illuminates a breezy walk between Ambleside and Elterwater in the company of art historian Dr Lizzie Fisher, where we discuss the remarkable life of the groundbreaking 20th-century German artist Kurt Schwitters, who died in exile in the Lake District. Born in 1887 in Hanover, Lizzie introduces us to the pioneering modern artist, and the wandervogel ‘back to nature' youth movement that was a reaction against capitalism and industrialisation. Pausing to enjoy views over Fairfield and Wansfell, we consider the scientific and social revolution of the ‘fizzing' inter-war years and artists' subversive responses to the rise of national socialism. Finding himself on the Nazi's list of degenerate artists, we follow Schwitters as he abandons his first immersive ‘Merzbau' in flight to Norway and thence to internment on the Isle of Man, where the gregarious creative entertained inmates by crafting porridge towers and howling at the moon. Introducing Edith ‘Wantee' Thomas – Schwitters' latter-day support and companion – we enter the artist's Lakeland years, highlighting the confident, prolific and underacknowledged second artistic life (540 works in three years) that started when he settled in Ambleside, and the oft-epic walks he undertook as Westmorland became home. Finally, we learn about the chance encounter that led Schwitters to the Cylinders Estate in Great Langdale, opposite the Langdale Estate – a one-time hangout of intellectuals – bohemians and artists, and his last great, unfinished work, the Merzbarn, in the woods north of Elterwater. Dr Lizzie Fisher is a curator and art historian, and principal of Higham Hall College – an educational trust supporting lifelong learning in the arts and humanities through a year-round programme of lectures, events, short residential courses and retreats in the Lake District. www.highamhall.com For more about the Cylinders Estate and the Merzbarn as it now is – in the care of the Factum Foundation – see here. Part of the Merzbarn's wall was relocated for preservation to the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle in 1966, where it is on permanent display. For more information visit merzbarn.co.uk

Discover how a former science teacher from northern England became one of the most trusted names in global e-commerce tax consulting. In this episode of The Mike Litton Experience, Mike sits down with Reuben James Mattinson, founder of RJM Tax Exemption, ranked #1 on TrustPilot for U.S. tax-consulting reviews. Reuben shares his incredible journey—from growing up in the Lake District, becoming a physical therapist, pivoting into teaching, then launching a massively successful e-commerce tax consultancy that helps entrepreneurs boost margins by up to 30% simply through proper tax exemption. You'll learn: How to legally eliminate sales tax on inventory The mindset shifts required to scale an online business Why understanding AI-driven SEO is now the competitive advantage Real-world case studies of e-commerce sellers who turned 7% savings into massive profitability How human connection still wins in a tech-saturated world Reuben also shares insights on the future of e-commerce, the rapid rise of AI as a search engine, and how entrepreneurs can avoid being left behind. If you’re an entrepreneur, Amazon seller, dropshipper, TikTok Shop seller, or someone ready to start an online business—this episode could literally save you thousands. Book a free consultation with Reuben's team: RJMtaxexemption.com Subscribe to the channel to support the show and never miss insights from inspiring guests.Your subscription helps us grow and continue bringing powerful conversations like this one.

In this episode of Writes for Women, host Pamela Cook interviews Melbourne-based author Brooke Crawford about her debut novel, 'Better Than The Real Thing.' Brooke shares her journey to becoming a published author, which began after her 40th birthday and was accelerated during the COVID-19 lockdown. They discuss her writing process, the development of her relatable characters, and the support cast that enriches her romcom storyline. Brooke also talks about the significance of the settings in St. Kilda and London, and how these locations are integral to the story. Additionally, she provides insights into her research process and the challenges of balancing serious themes with a romantic-comedy tone. As Brooke prepares for the book's release, she reflects on the editing process and her experience working with HQ Harper Collins. Looking ahead, she offers a glimpse into her next writing project, set in England's Lake District. This episode provides valuable advice for aspiring authors and celebrates the release of a heartfelt and humorous novel. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and Acknowledgements 00:45 Meet Brooke Crawford 01:36 Brooke's Writing Journey 04:59 The Impact of COVID and Turning 40 06:49 Writing Process and Challenges 14:41 Character Development 21:29 Setting the Scene: St. Kilda and London 23:13 Exploring the Book's Settings 24:21 Weaving Backstories and Balancing Tones 27:10 Research and Expert Consultation 30:04 The Journey to Publication 34:06 Editing and Feedback Process 35:46 Cover Design and Title Change 38:14 Preparing for the Book Launch 41:11 Sneak Peek into the Second Book 42:43 Conclusion and Final Thoughts SHOW NOTES: Writes4Women www.writes4women.com Facebook @writes4women Substack: https://writes4women.substack.com/ Brooke Crawford Website: click here Instagram: click here Pamela Cook www.pamelacook.com.au Facebook: click here Twitter: click here Instagram: click here This episode produced by Pamela Cook for Writes4Women on unceded Dharawal Country. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/writes4women?fan_landing=trueSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A cold day falls across the Lake District as winter approaches. Inside a quiet cottage, a fire burns steadily in the hearth. When you sit down, a cat curls into your lap and begins to purr—soft, steady, and calming. The gentle soundscape combines the warmth of an indoor fire with the natural rhythm of a cat purring, creating a peaceful setting for deep sleep, unwinding, reading, or quiet rest. This podcast is entirely independent, and your support helps keep it going. When you like, share, or comment, it shows podcast platforms that people value Your Sleep Guru Podcast, enabling it to reach a wider audience. These small actions make a big difference in helping the podcast grow. Other ways you can support the show: Shop Your Sleep Guru Podcast exclusive T-shirts and baseball caps HERE: https://your-sleep-guru-podcast.printify.me/  created especially for you!

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Rob Greenwood - who interviewed me about my Dark Bob Graham in Episode 33 - returns to chat about his own adventure on the Fleetwood Lakes 40. Often called the 40 at 40, or Lakes 40, this route was devised by John Fleetwood as a 40 peak challenge to celebrate his 40th birthday. Hear more from John Fleetwood in Episode 42 "Beyond the View". Rob Greenwood has an impressive and broad resume in both the climbing and running worlds including headpointing E8, the Brandler-Hasse on the Cime Grande (Dolomites), and of course countless Dark Peak Fell Runners obscure Peak challenges (and a lot of racing besides)! No stranger to long distance runs, he has completed all 4 of our classic national Big Runs (Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley, Charlie Ramsay and Denis Rankin rounds), as well as the Spine Challenger.Rob talks about his introduction to the outdoors and early days as an obsessive climber. Before his more recent days as an obsessive runner! He brims with enthusiasm and we talk about how a positive mindset has helped him in the outdoors as well as in the very different challenge of recovering from a life-threatening ruptured appendix. Rob is one of only a select few people who have completed the 40 at 40, which was devised as a Lake District run that covers interesting and varied terrain with similar stats to the famous Bob Graham Round (BG), but by sharing as little terrain as possible with the Bob. The result is a route mixing big and small peaks, and which let Rob explore some new ground, in mixed weather. At 108km and with around 7700m of ascent, the route only shares 5km with the BG, and Rob recounts his memorable day on the round (completed in 19h35m).If you want to buy me a cuppa to help support the podcast, thank you and please do at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/finlaywild⁠⁠⁠

This episode was first published on 10 January 2025.Anyone who works outside of a major city, or has ever tried to get work done while on a trip to a more rural location, knows that rural connectivity can be patchy. Despite the UK's high population density and relative lack of difficult terrain, rural connectivity remains an uneven picture. Many rural businesses are still struggling to receive fiber optic cables, let alone leverage 5G signals to keep up with the demands of modern business.Is UK connectivity improving? And how far have we still got to go?In this episode, Jane and Rory speak to David Happy, non-executive director at JET Connectivity and non-executive chairman for transport at Wales Fiber, and Colin Wood, innovation lead at Dorset Council, to better understand the state of rural connectivity in the UK.Read more:UK rural businesses set for broadband improvementsInvest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategyUK gov has ramped up broadband roll-outs to tackle 'hard-to-reach' areas in 2023BT and OneWeb succeed in "game changer" satellite connection trialThe battle for space broadband dominance is hotting upUK government to run Starlink trials in Snowdonia, Lake District

Welcome to The Photography Pubcast (Season 6, Episode 5). This week Gary, Daz, Sam and Adam dive into patience in photography—how long to wait for the perfect light, from 3–4 hours on a Lake District fell to entire days with no keeper. We compare landscape vs street photography (reactive vs deliberate), talk wave photography addiction, wildlife hides, and practical fieldcraft. We also read your Facebook comments, share an image critique, and announce details of our ongoing photo competition (low entries = higher chance to win!)Then it kicks off: the panel debate Adobe subscriptions, Lightroom & Photoshop value, AI credits, and real-world alternatives like DxO PhotoLab and the “buy once, upgrade later” model. If you've searched for best Lightroom alternative 2025, Photoshop vs DxO, how long to wait for landscape light, or wide-angle vs intimate landscapes, this episode is for you.Subscribe, drop your questions in the Facebook group, and enter the competition—prizes incoming!

...in which we are joined by broadcaster, author, long-distance walker and former MP for Penrith and the Border, Rory Stewart, to discuss his new book, Middleland – Dispatches from the Borders. In a wide-ranging discussion about the 'lost kingdom of Middleland', Dave chats with Rory about long walks through the Lake District and Borderlands, about the joys of post-walk pub stays (warm socks, a book by the fire), and the meditative pace of multi-day rambles. Moving to farming, Rory raises the alarm over a new era of small farm 'clearance', urges caution over rewilding a heritage landscape, and argues that binary thinking is impeding a subsidy regime that would champion nature-based farming. Grappling with a 'Middleland' identity, we consider why the reality of Cumbria – sparsely populated, mountainous, complex – questions so many assumptions at the heart of modern politics, and learn why we should not lose confidence in our National Parks. Facing our quickfire questions, Rory describes his earliest Cumbrian memory (rescue from a snow-blocked A6 aged four), his fondness for Penrith fudge and his love of Striding Edge. Closing on a note of positivity; Rory reflects on the fact that – despite its challenges – Cumbria remains a place in which tens of thousands of people contribute to a place that brings "a type of joy, meaning and happiness that is elusive elsewhere". Rory's new book, Middleland, is out today.

In this haunting episode of Monday Mailtime, Producer Dom unpacks two unsettling stories where calm waters and seaside air conceal something far more sinister.First, Tom takes us to the tranquil Lake District, where a peaceful boat ride turns eerie when a mysterious patch of ripples, a sudden drop in temperature, and a ghostly sigh suggest someone, or something, beneath the surface hasn't let go of the past.A single wet footprint on the jetty hints at a lingering presence tied to a tragic summer storm from decades ago.Then, Demi recounts a quiet evening stroll along Brighton Pier that spirals into the uncanny.Strange knocking sounds beneath the boards, an unnatural gust of cold air, and the scent of wet rope and smoke all point to a hidden history below the tide.Locals whisper of lost deckhands and sunken structures, but could they still be reaching out from beneath the waves?Two stories.Two bodies of water.One chilling question: what happens when the past refuses to stay submerged?A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Rebanks is a farmer and writer based in the Lake District. His No. 1 bestselling debut, The Shepherd's Life, was translated into sixteen languages. His second book, English Pastoral, was also a Top Ten bestseller and was named the Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year. On this episode of Little Atoms, James talks to Neil Denny about his latest book The Place of Tides. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EP166 Interview With Mark & Simon From Elinchrom UK I sit down with Mark Cheatham and Simon Burfoot from Elinchrom UK to talk about the two words that matter most when you work with light: accuracy and consistency. We dig into flash vs. continuous, shaping light (not just adding it), why reliable gear shortens your workflow, and Elinchrom's new LED 100 C—including evenly filling big softboxes and that handy internal battery. We also wander into AI: threats, tools, and why authenticity still carries the highest value.   Links: Elinchrom UK store/info: https://elinchrom.co.uk/ LED 100 C product page: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-led-100-c Rotalux Deep Octa / strips: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-rotalux-deep-octabox-100cm-softbox/ My workshop dates: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/ Transcript: Paul: as quite a lot of, you know, I've had a love affair with Elinchrom Lighting for the past 20 something years. In fact, I'm sitting with one of the original secondhand lights I bought from the Flash Center 21 years ago in London. And on top of that, you couldn't ask for a nicer set of guys in the UK to deal with. So I'm sitting here about to talk to Simon and Mark from Elinchrom uk. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Paul: So before we get any further, tell me a little bit about who you are, each of you and the team from Elinchrom UK Mark: After you, Simon. Simon: Thank you very much, mark. Mark: That's fine. Simon: I'm, Simon Burfoot. I have, been in the industry now for longer than I care to think. 35 years almost to the, to the day. Always been in the industry even before I left school because my father was a photographer and a lighting tutor, working for various manufacturers I was always into photography, and when he started the whole lighting journey. I got on it with him, and was learning from a very young age. Did my first wedding at 16 years old. Had a Saturday job which turned into a full-time job in a retail camera shop. By the time I was 18, I was managing my own camera shop, in a little town in the Cotswolds called Cirencester. My dad always told me that to be a photographic rep in the industry, you needed to see it from all angles, to get the experience. So I ended up, working in retail, moving over to a framing company. Finishing off in a prolab, hand printing, wedding photographers pictures, processing E6 and C41, hand correcting big prints for framing for, for customers, which was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. And then ended up working for a company called Leeds Photo Visual, I was a Southwest sales guy for them. Then I moved to KJP before it became, what we know now as Wex, and got all of the customers back that I'd stolen for them for Leeds. And then really sort of started my career progressing through, and then started to work with Elinchrom, on the lighting side. Used Elinchrom way before I started working with them. I like you a bit of a love affair. I'd used lots of different lights and, just loved the quality of the light that the Elinchrom system produced. And that's down to a number of factors that I could bore you with, but it's the quality of the gear, the consistency in terms of color, and exposure. Shooting film was very important to have that consistency because we didn't have Photoshop to help us out afterwards. It was a learning journey, but I, I hit my goal after being a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer in my spare time, working towards getting out on the road, meeting people and being involved in the industry, which I love. And I think it's something that I'm scared of leaving 'cause I dunno anything else. It's a wonderful industry. It has its quirks, its, downfalls at points, but actually it's a really good group of people and everyone kind of, gets on and we all love working with each other. So we're friends rather than colleagues. Paul: I hesitate to ask, given the length of that answer, to cut Simon: You did ask. Mark: I know. Paul: a short story Mark: was wondering if I was gonna get a go. Paul: I was waiting to get to end into the podcast and I was about to sign off. Mark: So, hi Mark Cheatham, sales director for Elinchrom uk this is where it gets a little bit scary because me and Simon have probably known each other for 10 years, yet our journeys in the industry are remarkably similar. I went to college, did photography, left college, went to work at commercial photographers and hand printers. I was a hand printer, mainly black and white, anything from six by four to eight foot by four foot panels, which are horrible when you're deving in a dish. But we did it. Paul: To the generation now, deving in a dish doesn't mean anything. Simon: No, it doesn't. Mark: And, and when you're doing a eight foot by four foot print and you've got it, you're wearing most of the chemistry. You went home stinking every night. I was working in retail. As a Saturday lad and then got promoted from the Saturday lad to the manager and went to run a camera shop in a little town in the Lake District called Kendall. I stayed there for nine years. I left there, went on the road working for a brand called Olympus, where I did 10 years, I moved to Pentax, which became Rico Pentax. I did 10 years there. I've been in the industry all my life. Like Simon, I love the industry. I did go out the industry for 18 months where I went into the wonderful world of high end commercial vr, selling to blue light military, that sort of thing. And then came back. One of the, original members of Elinchrom uk. I don't do as much photography as Simon I take photos every day, probably too many looking at my Apple storage. I do shoot and I like shooting now and again, but I'm not a constant shooter like you guys i'm not a professional shooter, but when you spent 30 odd years in the industry, and part of that, I basically run the, the medium format business for Pentax. So 645D, 645Z. Yeah, it was a great time. I love the industry and, everything about it. So, yeah, that's it Paul: Obviously both of you at some point put your heads together and decided Elinchrom UK was the future. What triggered that and why do you think gimme your sales pitch for Elinchrom for a moment and then we can discuss the various merits. Simon: The sales pitch for Elinchrom is fairly straightforward. It's a nice, affordable system that does exactly what most photographers would like. We sell a lot of our modifiers, so soft boxes and things like that to other users, of Prophoto, Broncolor. Anybody else? Because actually the quality of the light that comes out the front of our diffusion material and our specular surfaces on the soft boxes is, is a lot, lot more superior than, than most. A lot more superior. A lot more Mark: A lot more superior. Paul: more superior. Simon: I'm trying to Paul: Superior. Simon: It's superior. And I think Paul, you'll agree, Paul: it's a lot more, Simon: You've used different manufacturers over the years and, I think the quality of light speaks for itself. As a photographer I want consistency. Beautiful light and the effects that the Elinchrom system gives me, I've tried other soft boxes. If you want a big contrasty, not so kind light, then use a cheaper soft box. If I've got a big tattoo guy full of piercings you're gonna put some contrasty light to create some ambience. Maybe the system for that isn't good enough, but for your standard portrait photographer in a studio, I don't think you can beat the light. Mark: I think the two key words for Elinchrom products are accuracy and consistency. And that's what, as a portrait photographer, you should be striving for, you don't want your equipment to lengthen your workflow or make your job harder in post-production. If you're using Elinchrom lights with Elinchrom soft boxes or Elinchrom modifiers, you know that you're gonna get accuracy and consistency. Which generally makes your job easier. Paul: I think there's a bit that neither of you, I don't think you've quite covered, and it's the bit of the puzzle that makes you want to use whatever is the tool of your trade. I mean, I worked with musicians, I grew up around orchestras. Watching people who utterly adore the instrument that's in their hand. It makes 'em wanna play it. If you own the instrument that you love to play, whether it's a drum kit a trumpet a violin or a piano, you will play it and get the very best out of your talent with it. It's just a joy to pick it up and use it for all the little tiny things I think it's the bit you've missed in your descriptions of it is the utter passion that people that use it have for it. Mark: I think one of the things I learned from my time in retail, which was obviously going back, a long way, even before digital cameras One of the things I learned from retail, I was in retail long before digital cameras, retail was a busier time. People would come and genuinely ask for advice. So yes, someone would come in and what's the best camera for this? Or what's the best camera for that? Honestly there is still no answer to that. All the kit was good then all the kit is good now. You might get four or five different SLRs out. And the one they'd pick at the end was the one that they felt most comfortable with and had the best connection with. When you are using something every day, every other day, however it might be, it becomes part of you. I'm a F1 fan, if you love the world of F1, you know that an F1 car, the driver doesn't sit in an F1 car, they become part of the F1 car. When you are using the same equipment day in, day out, you don't have to think about what button to press, what dial to to turn. You do it. And that, I think that's the difference between using something you genuinely love and get on with and using something because that's what you've got. And maybe that's a difference you genuinely love and get on with Elinchrom lights. So yes, they're given amazing output and I know there's, little things that you'd love to see improved on them, but that's not the light output. Paul: But the thing is, I mean, I've never, I've never heard the F1 analogy, but it's not a bad one. When you talk about these drivers and their cars and you are right, they're sort of symbiotic, so let's talk a little bit about why we use flash. So from the photographers listening who are just setting out, and that's an awful lot of our audience. I think broadly speaking, there are two roads or three roads, if you include available light if you're a portrait photographer. So there's available light. There's continuous light, and then there's strobes flash or whatever you wanna call it. Of course, there's, hybrid modeling and all sorts of things, but those are broadly the three ways that you're gonna light your scene or your subject. Why flash? What is it about that instantaneous pulse of light from a xenon tube that so appealing to photographers? Simon: I think there's a few reasons. The available light is lovely if you can control it, and by that I mean knowing how to use your camera, and control the ambient light. My experience of using available light, if you do it wrong, it can be quite flat and uninteresting. If you've got a bright, hot, sunny day, it can be harder to control than if it's a nice overcast day. But then the overcast day will provide you with some nice soft, flat lighting. Continuous light is obviously got its uses and there's a lot of people out there using it because what they see is what they get. The way I look at continuous light is you are adding to the ambient light, adding more daylight to the daylight you've already got, which isn't a problem, but you need to control that light onto the subject to make the subject look more interesting. So a no shadow, a chin shadow to show that that subject is three dimensional. There are very big limitations with LED because generally it's very unshapable. By that I mean the light is a very linear light. Light travels in straight lines anyway, but with a flash, we can shape the light, and that's why there's different shapes and sizes of modifiers, but it's very difficult to shape correctly -an LED array, the flash for me, gives me creativity. So with my flash, I get a sharper image to start with. I can put the shadows and the light exactly where I want and use the edge of a massive soft box, rather than the center if I'm using a flash gun or a constant light. It allows me to choose how much or how little contrast I put through that light, to create different dynamics in the image. It allows me to be more creative. I can kill the ambient light with flash rather than adding to it. I can change how much ambient I bring into my flash exposure. I've got a lot more control, and I'm not talking about TTL, I'm talking about full manual control of using the modifier, the flash, and me telling the camera what I want it to do, rather than the camera telling me what it thinks is right. Which generally 99% of the time is wrong. It's given me a beautiful, average exposure, but if I wanted to kill the sun behind the subject, well it's not gonna do that. It's gonna give me an average of everything. Whereas Flash will just give me that extra opportunity to be a lot more creative and have a lot more control over my picture. I've got quite a big saying in my workshops. I think a decent flash image is an image where it looks like flash wasn't used. As a flash photographer, Paul, I expect you probably agree with me, anyone can take a flash image. The control of light is important because anybody can light an image, but to light the subject within the image and control the environmental constraints, is the key to it and the most technical part of it. Mark: You've got to take your camera off P for professional to do that. You've got to turn it off p for professional and get it in manual mode. And that gives you the control Paul: Well, you say that, We have to at some point. Address the fact that AI is not just coming, it's sitting here in our studios all the time, and we are only a heartbeat away from P for professional, meaning AI analyzed and creating magic. I don't doubt for a minute. I mean, right now you're right, but not Mark: Well, at some point it will be integrated into the camera Paul: Of course it will. Mark: If you use an iPhone or any other phone, you know, we are using AI as phone photographers, your snapshots. You take your kids, your dogs, whatever they are highly modified images. Paul: Yeah. But in a lot of the modern cameras, there's AI behind the scenes, for instance, on the focusing Mark: Yeah. Paul: While we've, we are on that, we were on that thread. Let's put us back on that thread for a second. What's coming down the line with, all lighting and camera craft with ai. What are you guys seeing that maybe we're not Simon: in terms of flash technology or light technology? Paul: Alright. I mean, so I mean there's, I guess there's two angles, isn't there? What are the lights gonna do that use ai? What are the controllers gonna do, that uses ai, but more importantly, how will it hold its own in a world where I can hit a button and say, I want rebrand lighting on that face. I can do that today. Mark: Yeah. Simon: I'm not sure the lighting industry is anywhere near producing anything that is gonna give what a piece of software can give, because there's a lot more factors involved. There's what size light it is, what position that light is in, how high that light is, how low that light is. And I think the software we've all heard and played with Evoto we were talking about earlier, I was very skeptical and dubious about it to start with as everybody would be. I'm a Photoshop Lightroom user, have been for, many years. And I did some editing, in EEvoto with my five free credits to start with, three edits in, I bought some credits because I thought, actually this is very, very good. I'll never use it for lighting i'd like to think I can get that right myself. However, if somebody gives you a, a very flat image of a family outside and say, well, could you make this better for me? Well, guess what? I can do whatever you like to it. Is it gonna attack the photographer that's trying to earn a living? I think there's always a need for people to take real photographs and family photographs. I think as photographers, we need to embrace it as an aid to speed up our workflow. I don't think it will fully take over the art of photography because it's a different thing. It's not your work. It's a computer generated AI piece of work in my head. Therefore, who's responsible for that image? Who owns the copyright to that image? We deal with photographers all the time who literally point a camera, take a picture and spend three hours editing it and tell everyone that, look at this. The software's really good and it's made you look good. I think AI is capable of doing that to an extent. In five years time, we'll look back at Evoto today and what it's producing and we'll think cracky. That was awful. It's like when you watch a high definition movie from the late 1990s, you look at it and it was amazing at the time, but you look at it now and you think, crikey, look at the quality of it. I dunno if we're that far ahead where we won't get to that point. The quality is there. I mean, how much better can you go than 4K, eight K minus, all that kind of stuff. I'm unsure, but I don't think the AI side of it. Is applicable to flash at this moment in time? I don't know. Mark: I think you're right. To look at the whole, photography in general. If you are a social photographer, family photographer, whatever it might be, you are genuinely capturing that moment in time that can't be replaced. If you are a product photographer, that's a different matter. I think there's more of a threat. I think I might be right in saying. I was looking, I think I saw it on, LinkedIn. There is a fashion brand in the UK at the moment that their entire catalog of clothing has been shot without models. When you look at it on the website, there's models in it. They shoot the clothing on mannequins and then everything else is AI generated they've been developing their own AI platform now for a number of years. Does the person care Who's buying a dress for 30 quid? Probably not, but if you are photographing somebody's wedding, graduation, some, you know, a genuine moment in someone's life, I think it'd be really wrong to use any sort of AI other than a little bit of post-production, which we know is now quite standard for many people in the industry. Paul: Yeah, the curiosity for me is I suspect as an industry, Guess just released a full AI model advert in, Vogue. Declared as AI generated an ai agency created it. Everything about it is ai. There's no real photography involved except in the learning side of it. And that's a logical extension of the fact we've been Photoshopping to such a degree that the end product no longer related to the input. And we've been doing that 25 years. I started on Photoshop version one, whatever that was, 30 years More than 33. So we've kind of worked our way into a corner where the only way out of it is to continue. There's no backtracking now. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think the damage to the industry though, or the worry for the industry, I think you're both right. I think if you can feel it, touch it, be there, there will always be that importance. In fact, the provenance of authenticity. Is the high value ticket item now, Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: because you, everything else is synthetic, you can trust nothing. We are literally probably months away from 90% of social media being generated by ai. AI is both the consumer and the generator of almost everything online Mark: Absolutely. Paul: Goodness knows where we go. You certainly can't trust anything you read. You can't trust anything you see, so authenticity, face-to-face will become, I think a high value item. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think one problem for us as an industry in terms of what the damage might be is that all those people that photograph nameless products or create books, you know, use photography and then compositing for, let's say a novel that's gone, stock libraries that's gone because they're faceless. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: there doesn't have to be authentic. A designer can type in half a dozen keywords. Into an AI engine and get what he needs. If he doesn't get what he needs, he does it again. All of those photographers who currently own Kit are gonna look around with what do we do now? And so for those of us who specialize in weddings and portraits and family events, our market stands every chance of being diluted, which has the knock on effect of all of us having to keep an eye on AI to stay ahead of all competitors, which has the next knock on effect, that we're all gonna lean into ai, which begs the question, what happens after Because that's what happened in the Photoshop world. You know, I'm kind of, I mean, genuinely cur, and this will be a running theme on the podcast forever, is kind of prodding it and taking barometer readings as to where are we going? Mark: Yeah. I mean, who's more at threat at the moment from this technology? Is it the photographer or is it the retouch? You know, we do forget that there are retouchers That is their, they're not photographers. Paul: I don't forget. They email me 3, 4, 5 times a day. Mark: a Simon: day, Mark: You know, a highly skilled retouch isn't cheap. They've honed their craft for many years using whatever software product they prefer to use. I think they're the ones at risk now more so than the photographer. And I think we sort of lose sight of that. Looking at it from a photographer's point of view, there is a whole industry behind photography that actually is being affected more so than you guys at the moment. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: Yeah, I think there's truth in that, but. It's not really important. Of course, it's really important to all of those people, but this is the digital revolution that we went through as film photographers, and probably what the Daguerreotype generators went through when Fox Tolbert invented the first transfer. Negative. You know, they are, there are always these epochs in our industry and it wipes out entire skillset. You know, I mean, when we went to digital before then, like you, I could dev in a tank. Yeah. You know, and really liked it. I like I see, I suspect I just like the solitude, Mark: the dark, Paul: red light in the dark Mark: yeah. Paul: Nobody will come in. Not now. Go away. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. But of course those skills have gone, has as, have access to the equipment. I think we're there again, this feels like to me a huge transition in the industry and for those who want to keep up, AI is the keeping up whether you like it or not. Mark: Yeah. And if you don't like it, we've seen it, we're in the middle of a massive resurgence in film photography, which is great for the industry, great for the retail industry, great for the film manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, everything. You know, simon, myself, you, you, we, we, our earliest photography, whether we were shooting with flash, natural light, we were film shooters and that planes back. And what digital did, from a camera point of view, is make it easier and more accessible for less skilled people. But it's true. You know, if you shot with a digital camera now that's got a dynamic range of 15 stops, you actually don't even need to have your exposure, that accurate Go and shoot with a slide film that's got dynamic range of less than one stop and see how good you are. It has made it easier. The technology, it will always make it. Easier, but it opens up new doors, it opens up new avenues to skilled people as well as unskilled people. If you want, I'm using the word unskilled again, I'm not being, a blanket phrase, but it's true. You can pick up a digital camera now and get results that same person shooting with a slide film 20 years ago would not get add software to that post-production, everything else. It's an industry that we've seen so many changes in over the 30 odd years that we've been in it, Simon: been Mark: continue Simon: at times. It exciting Mark: The dawn of digital photography to the masses. was amazing. I was working for Olympus at the time when digital really took off and for Olympus it was amazing. They made some amazing products. We did quite well out of it and people started enjoying photography that maybe hadn't enjoyed photography before. You know, people might laugh at, you know, you, you, you're at a wedding, you're shooting a really nice wedding pool and there's always a couple of guests there which have got equipment as good as yours. Better, better than yours. Yeah. Got Simon: jobs and they can afford it. Mark: They've got proper jobs. Their pitches aren't going to be as good as yours. They're the ones laughing at everyone shooting on their phone because they've spent six grand on their new. Camera. But if shooting on a phone gets people into photography and then next year they buy a camera and two years later they upgrade their camera and it gets them into the hobby of photography? That's great for everyone. Hobbyists are as essential, as professional photographers to the industry. In fact, to keep the manufacturers going, probably more so Simon: the hobbyists are a massive part. Even if they go out and spend six or seven or 8,000 pounds on a camera because they think it's gonna make them a better photographer. Who knows in two years time with the AI side, maybe it will. That old saying, Hey Mr, that's a nice camera. I bet it takes great pictures, may become true. We have people on the lighting courses, the workshops we run, the people I train and they're asking me, okay, what sessions are we gonna use? And I'm saying, okay, well we're gonna be a hundred ISO at 125th, F 5.6. Okay, well if I point my camera at the subject, it's telling me, yeah, but you need to put it onto manual. And you see the color drain out their faces. You've got a 6,000 pound camera and you've never taken it off 'P'. Mark: True story. Simon: And we see this all the time. It's like the whole TTL strobe manual flash system. The camera's telling you what it wants to show you, but that maybe is not what you want. There are people out there that will spend a fortune on equipment but actually you could take just as good a picture with a much smaller, cheaper device with an nice bit of glass on the front if you know what you're doing. And that goes back to what Mark was saying about shooting film and slide film and digital today. Paul: I, mean, you know, I don't want this to be an echo chamber, and so what I am really interested in though, is the way that AI will change what flash photography does. I'm curious as to where we are headed in that, specific vertical. How is AI going to help and influence our ability to create great lip photography using flash? Mark: I think, Paul: I love the fact the two guys side and looked at each other. Mark: I, Simon: it's a difficult question to answer. Mark: physical light, Simon: is a difficult question to answer because if you're Mark: talking about the physical delivery of light. Simon: Not gonna change. Mark: Now, The only thing I can even compare it to, if you think about how the light is delivered, is what's the nearest thing? What's gotta change? Modern headlamps on cars, going back to cars again, you know, a modern car are using these LED arrays and they will switch on and switch off different LEDs depending on the conditions in front of them. Anti dazzle, all this sort of stuff. You know, the modern expensive headlamp is an amazing technical piece of kit. It's not just one ball, but it's hundreds in some cases of little arrays. Will that come into flash? I don't know. Will you just be able to put a soft box in front of someone and it will shape the light in the future using a massive array. Right? I dunno it, Simon: there's been many companies tested these arrays, in terms of LED Flash, And I think to be honest, that's probably the nearest it's gonna get to an AI point of view is this LED Flash. Now there's an argument to say, what is flash if I walk into a living room and flick the light on, on off really quickly, is that a flash? Mark: No, that's a folock in Paul: me Mark: turn, big lights off. Paul: Yeah. Mark: So Simon: it, you, you might be able to get these arrays to flush on and off. But LED technology, in terms of how it works, it's quite slow. It's a diode, it takes a while for it to get to its correct brightness and it takes a while for it to turn off. To try and get an LED. To work as a flash. It, it's not an explosion in a gas field tube. It's a a, a lighter emitting diode that is, is coming on and turning off again. Will AI help that? Due to the nature of its design, I don't think it can. Mark: Me and s aren't invented an AI flash anytime soon by the looks of, we're Simon: it's very secret. Mark: We're just putting everyone off Paul, Simon: It's alright. Mark: just so they don't think Simon: Yeah, Mark: Oh, it's gonna be too much hard work and we'll sort it. Paul: It's definitely coming. I don't doubt for a minute that this is all coming because there's no one not looking at anything Simon: that makes perfect sense. Paul: Right now there's an explosion of invention because everybody's trying to find an angle on everything. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: The guys I feel the most for are the guys who spent millions, , on these big LED film backdrop walls. Simon: Yep. Mark: So you can Paul: a car onto a flight sim, rack, and then film the whole lot in front of an LED wall. Well, it was great. And there was a market for people filming those backdrops, and now of course that's all AI generated in the LED, but that's only today's technology. Tomorrow's is, you don't need the LED wall. That's here today. VEO3 and Flow already, I mean, I had to play with one the other day for one of our lighting diagrams and it animated the whole thing. Absolute genius. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: I still generated the original diagram. Mark: Yeah, Paul: Yeah, that's useful. There's some skill in there still for now, but, you gotta face the music that anything that isn't, I can touch it and prod it. AI's gonna do it. Mark: Absolutely. If you've ever seen the series Mandalorian go and watch the making of the Mandalorian and they are using those big LED walls, that is their backdrop. Yeah. And it's amazing how fast they shift from, you know, they can, they don't need to build a set. Yeah. They shift from scene to scene. Paul: Well, aI is now building the scenes. But tomorrow they won't need the LED wall. 'cause AI will put it in behind the actors. Mark: Yeah. Say after Paul: that you won't need the actors because they're being forced to sign away the rights so that AI can be used. And even those that are standing their ground and saying no, well, the actors saying Yes. Are the ones being hired. You know, in the end, AI is gonna touch all of it. And so I mean, it's things like, imagine walking into a studio. Let's ignore the LED thing for a minute, by the way, that's a temporary argument, Simon: I know you're talking about. Paul: about today's, Simon: You're about the. Mark: days Paul: LEDs, Simon: we're in, We're in very, very interesting times and. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for the new generation of photographers that are coming in to see how they work with what happens. We've gone from fully analog to me selling IMACON drum scanners that were digitizing negatives and all the five four sheet almost a shoot of properties for an estate agent were all digitized on an hassle blood scanner. And then the digital camera comes out and you start using it. It was a Kodak camera, I think the first SLRI used, Paul: Yeah. Simon: and you get the results back and you think, oh my God, it looks like it's come out of a practica MTL five B. Mark: But Simon: then suddenly the technology just changes and changes and changes and suddenly it's running away with itself and where we are today. I mean, I, I didn't like digital to start with. It was too. It was too digital. It was too sharp. It didn't have the feel of film, but do you know what? We get used to it and the files that my digital mirrorless camera provide now and my Fuji GFX medium format are absolutely stunning. But the first thing I do is turn the sharpness down because they are generally over sharp. For a lovely, beautifully lit portrait or whatever that anybody takes, it just needs knocking back a bit. We were speaking about this earlier, I did some comparison edits from what I'd done manually in Photoshop to the Evoto. Do you know what the pre-selected edits are? Great. If you not the slider back from 10 to about six, you're there or thereabouts? More is not always good. Mark: I think when it comes to imagery in our daily lives, the one thing that drives what we expect to see is TV and most people's TVs, everything's turned up to a hundred. The color, the contrast, that was a bit of a shock originally from the film to digital, crossover. Everything went from being relatively natural to way over the top Just getting back to AI and how it's gonna affect people like you and people that we work with day to day. I don't think we should be worried about that. We should be worried about the images we see on the news, not what we're seeing, hanging on people's walls and how they're gonna be affected by ai. That generally does affect everyone's daily life. Paul: Yeah, Mark: Yeah. But what Paul: people now ask me, for instance, I've photographed a couple head shots yesterday, and the one person had not ironed her blouse. And her first question was, can we sort that out in post? So this is the knock on effect people are becoming aware of what's possible. What's that? Nothing. Know, and the, the smooth clothing button in Evoto will get me quite a long way down that road and saves somebody picking up an eye and randomly, it's not me, it's now actually more work for me 'cause I shouldn't have to do it. But, you know, this is my point about the knock on effect. Our worlds are different. So I didn't really intend this to be just a great sort of circular conversation about AI cars and, future technology. It was more, I dunno, we ended up down there anyway. Simon: We went down a rabbit hole. Mark: A Paul: rabbit hole. Yeah Mark: was quite an interesting one. Simon: And I'm sorry if you've wasted your entire journey to work and we Paul: Yeah. Simon: Alright. It wasn't intended to be like that. Paul: I think it's a debate that we need to be having and there needs to be more discussion about it. Certainly for anybody that has a voice in the industry and people are listening to it because right now it might be a toddler of a technology, but it's growing faster than people realize. There is now a point in the written word online where AI is generating more than real people are generating, and AI is learning that. So AI is reading its own output. That's now beginning to happen in imagery and film and music. Simon: Well, even in Google results, you type in anything to a Google search bar. When it comes back to the results, the first section at the top is the AI generated version. And you know what, it's generally Paul: Yep. Simon: good and Paul: turn off all the rest of it now. So it's only ai. Simon: Not quite brave enough for that yet. No, not me. Mark: In terms Paul: of SEO for instance, you now need to tune it for large language models. You need to be giving. Google the LLM information you want it to learn so that you become part of that section on a website. And it, you know, this is where we are and it's happening at such a speed, every day I am learning something new about something else that's arriving. And I think TV and film is probably slightly ahead of the photography industry Mark: Yeah. Paul: The pressures on the costs are so big, Simon: Yes. Paul: Whereas the cost differential, I'm predicting our costs will actually go up, not down. Whereas in TV and film, the cost will come down dramatically. Mark: Absolutely. Simon: They are a horrifically high level anyway. That's Paul: I'm not disputing that, but I watched a demo of some new stuff online recently and they had a talking head and they literally typed in relight that with a kiss light here, hairlight there, Rembrandt variation on the front. And they did it off a flat picture and they can move the lights around as if you are moving lights. Yes. And that's there today. So that's coming our way too. And I still think the people who understand how to see light will have an advantage because you'll know when you've typed these words in that you've got it about right. It doesn't change the fact that it's going to be increasingly synthetic. The moment in the middle of it is real. We may well be asked to relight things, re clothe things that's already happening. Simon: Yeah. Paul: We get, can you just fill in my hairline? That's a fairly common one. Just removing a mole. Or removing two inches round a waist. This, we've been doing that forever. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: And so now it'll be done with keyword generation rather than, photoshop necessarily. Simon: I think you'll always have the people that embrace this, we can't ignore it as you rightly say. It's not going away. It's gonna get bigger, it's gonna feature more in our lives. I think there's gonna be three sets of people. It's gonna be the people like us generally on a daily basis. We're photographers or we're artists. We enjoy what we do. I enjoy correctly lighting somebody with the correct modifier properties to match light quality to get the best look and feel and the ambience of that image. And I enjoy the process of putting that together and then seeing the end result afterwards. I suppose that makes me an artist in, in, in loose terms. I think, you know, as, as, as a photographer, we are artists. You've then got another generation that are finding shortcuts. They're doing some of the job with their camera. They're making their image from an AI point of view. Does that make up an artist? I suppose it still does because they're creating their own art, but they have no interest 'cause they have no enjoyment in making that picture as good as it can be before you even hit the shutter. And then I think you've got other people, and us to an extent where you do what you need to do, you enjoy the process, you look at the images, and then you just finely tune it with a bit of AI or Photoshop retouching so I think there are different sets of people that will use AI to their advantage or completely ignore it. Mark: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think it comes down, I'm going to use another analogy here, you, you know, let's say you enjoy cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you're creating something. What's the alternative? You get a microwave meal. Well, Paul Simon: and Sarah do. Mark: No. Paul: Sarah does. Simon: We can't afford waitress. Mark: You might spend months creating your perfect risotto. You've got it right. You love it. Everyone else loves it. You share it around all your friends. Brilliant. Or you go to Waitrose, you buy one, put it three minutes in the microwave and it's done. That's yer AI I Imagery, isn't it? It's a microwave meal. Paul: There's a lot of microwave meals out there. And not that many people cook their own stuff and certainly not as many as used to. And there's a lesson. Simon: Is, Mark: but also, Simon: things have become easier Mark: there Simon: you go. Mark: I think what we also forget in the photographic industry and take the industry as a whole, and this is something I've experienced in the, in the working for manufacturers in that photography itself is, is a, is a huge hobby. There's lots of hobbyist photographers, but there's actually more people that do photography as part of another hobby, birdwatching, aviation, all that sort of thing. Anything, you know, the photography isn't the hobby, it's the birds that are the hobby, but they take photographs of, it's the planes that are the hobby, but they take photographs. They're the ones that actually keep the industry going and then they expand into other industries. They come on one of our workshops. You know, that's something that we're still and Simon still Absolutely. And yourself, educating photographers to do it right, to practice using the gear the right way, but the theory of it and getting it right. If anything that brings more people into wanting to learn to cook better, Paul: you Mark: have more chefs rather than people using microwave meals. Education's just so important. And when it comes to lighting, I wasn't competent in using flash. I'm still not, but having sat through Simon's course and other people's courses now for hundreds of times, I can light a scene sometimes, people are still gonna be hungry for education. I think some wills, some won't. If you wanna go and get that microwave risotto go and microwave u risotto. But there's always gonna be people that wanna learn how to do it properly, wanna learn from scratch, wanna learn the art of it. Creators and in a creative industry, we've got to embrace those people and bring more people into it and ensure there's more people on that journey of learning and upskilling and trying to do it properly. Um, and yes, if they use whatever technology at whatever stage in their journey, if they're getting enjoyment from it, what's it matter? Paul: Excellent. Mark: What a fine Paul: concluding statement. If they got enjoyment outta it. Yeah. Whatever. Excellent. Thank you, Mark, for your summing up. Simon: In conclusion, Paul: did that just come out your nose? What on earth. Mark: What Paul: what you can't see, dear Listener is the fact that Mark just spat his water everywhere, laughing at Si. It's been an interesting podcast. Anyway, I'm gonna drag this back onto topic for fear of it dissolving into three blokes having a pint. Mark: I think we should go for one. Simon: I think, Paul: I think we should know as well. Having said that with this conversation, maybe not. I was gonna ask you a little bit about, 'cause we've talked about strobes and the beauty of strobes, but of course Elinchrom still is more than that, and you've just launched a new LED light, so I know you like Strobe Simon. Now talk about the continuous light that also Elinchrom is producing. Simon: We have launched the Elinchrom LED 100 C. Those familiar with our Elinchrom One and Three OCF camera Flash system. It's basically a smaller unit, but still uses the OCF adapter. Elinchrom have put a lot of time into this. They've been looking at LED technology for many years, and I've been to the factory in Switzerland and seen different LED arrays being tested. The problem we had with LEDs is every single LED was different and put out a different color temperature. We're now manufacturing LEDs in batches, where they can all be matched. They all come from the same serial number batch. And the different colors of LED as well, 15 years ago, blue LEDs weren't even possible. You couldn't make a blue LED every other color, but not blue for some unknown reason. They've got the colors right now, they've got full RGB spectrum, which is perfectly accurate a 95 or 97 CRI index light. It's a true hundred watts, of light as well. From tosin through to past daylight and fully controllable like the CRO flash system in very accurate nth degrees. The LED array in the front of the, the LEDA hundred is one of the first shapeable, fully shapeable, LED arrays that I've come across and I've looked at lots. By shapeable, I mean you put it into a soft box, of any size and it's not gonna give you a hotspot in the middle, or it's not gonna light the first 12 inches of the middle of the soft box and leave the rest dark. I remember when we got the first LD and Mark got it before me And he said, I've put it onto a 70 centimeter soft box. And he said, I've taken a picture to the front. Look at this. And it was perfectly even from edge to edge. When I got it, I stuck it onto a 1 3 5 centimeter soft box and did the same and was absolutely blown away by how even it was from edge to edge. When I got my light meter out, if you remember what one of those is, uh, it, uh, it gave me a third of a stop different from the center to the outside edge. Now for an LED, that's brilliant. I mean, that's decent for a flash, but for an LED it's generally unheard of. So you can make the LED as big as you like. It's got all the special effects that some of the cheaper Chinese ones have got because people use that kind of thing. Apparently I have no idea what for. But it sits on its own in a market where there are very cheap and cheerful LEDs, that kind of do a job. And very expensive high-end LEDs that do a completely different job for the photographer that's gone hybrid and does a bit of shooting, but does a bit of video work. So, going into a solicitor's or an accountant's office where they want head shots, but also want a bit of talking head video for the MD or the CEO explaining about his company on the website. It's perfect. You can up the ISO and use the modeling lamp in generally the threes, the fives, the ones that we've got, the LEDs are brilliant. But actually the LED 100 will give you all your modifier that you've taken with you, you can use those. It's very small and light, with its own built-in battery and it will give you a very nice low iso. Talking head interview with a lovely big light source. And I've proved the point of how well it works and how nice it is at the price point it sits in. But it is our first journey into it. There will be others come in and there'll be an app control for it. And I think from an LED point of view, you're gonna say, I would say this, but actually it's one of the nicer ones I've used. And when you get yours, you can tell people exactly the same. Paul: Trust me, I will. Simon: Yes. Mark: I think Paul: very excited about it. Mark: I think the beauty of it as well is it's got an inbuilt battery. It'll give you up to 45 minutes on a full charge. You can plug it in and run it off the mains directly through the USB socket as well. But it means it's a truly portable light source. 45 minutes at a hundred watt and it's rated at a hundred watt actual light output. It's seems far in excess of that. When you actually, Simon: we had a photographer the other day who used it and he's used to using sort of 3, 2 50, 300 watt LEDs and he said put them side by side at full power. They were virtually comparable. Paul: That is certainly true, or in my case by lots. Simon: I seem to be surrounded Paul: by Elinchrom kit, Which is all good. So for anybody who's interested in buying one of these things, where'd you get them? How much are they? Simon: The LED itself, the singlehead unit is 499 inc VAT. If you want one with a charger, which sounds ridiculous, but there's always people who say, well, I don't want the charger. You can have one with a charger for 50 quid extra. So 549. The twin kit is just less than a thousand quid with chargers. And it comes in a very nice portable carry bag to, to carry them around in. Um, and, uh, yeah, available from all good photographic retailers, and, Ellen crom.co uk. Paul: Very good. So just to remind you beautiful people listening to this podcast, we only ever feature people and products, at least like this one where I've said, put a sales pitch in because I use it. It's only ever been about what we use here at the studio. I hate the idea of just being a renta-voice. You it. Mark: bought it. Paul: Yeah. That's true. You guys sold it to me. Mark: Yeah, Simon: if I gave you anything you'd tell everyone it was great. So if you buy it, no, I've bought Paul: Yeah. And then became an ambassador for you. As with everything here, I put my money where my mouth is, we will use it. We do use it. I'm really interested in the little LED light because I could have done with that the other night. It would've been perfect for a very particular need. So yes, I can highly recommend Elinchrom Fives and Threes if you're on a different system. The Rotalux, system of modifier is the best on the planet. Quick to set up, quick to take down. More importantly, the light that comes off them is just beautiful, whether it's a Godox, whether it's on a ProPhoto, which it was for me, or whether if you've really got your common sense about you on the front of an Elinchrom. And on that happy note and back to where we started, which is about lighting, I'm gonna say thanks to the guys. They came to the studio to fix a problem but it's always lovely to have them as guests here. Thank you, mark. Thank you Simon. Most importantly, you Elinchrom for creating Kit is just an absolute joy to use. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head over to all your other episodes. Please subscribe and whatever is your podcast, play of choice, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or a other. After you head, if you head across to masteringportraitphotography.com the spiritual home of this, particular, podcast, I will put in the show notes all the little bits of detail and where to get these things. I'll get some links off the guys as to where to look for the kit. Thank you both. I dunno when I'll be seeing you again. I suspect it will be the Convention in January if I know the way these things go. Simon: We're not gonna get invited back, are we? Mark: Probably not. Enough. Paul: And I'm gonna get a mop and clean up that water. You've just sprayed all over the floor. What is going on? Simon: wish we'd video. That was a funny sun Mark: I just didn't expect it and never usually that sort of funny and quick, Simon: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Paul: On that happy note, whatever else is going on in your lives, be kind to yourself. Take care.

In this episode, we're chatting about:Michelle's birthday trip to The Lake District and our excitement for the bookish girl autumn Maisie Peters is teasing with her new singleCaitlin's brief thoughts on The Life of a ShowgirlKalynn Bayron's supernatural twist on Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein (which Michelle hasn't read)An update on Michelle's journey through watching SupernaturalSecond-chance dual timeline rom-com Love Overdue by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus For your convenience, here's everything else we mentioned in this episode:We love the vibe from everything Maisie Peters has teased about her new album'Our Review of Life of a Showgirl' by the Shameless podcastOur interview with Kalynn BayronKatabasis by R.F. KuangMary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne EekhoutScot and Bothered by Alexandra KileyWhile You Were Reading and Fancy Meeting You Here by Ali Berg and Michelle KalusThe Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances by Steph VizardEnjoyed this episode? Share it with a bookish friend to help spread the word. We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the month, we share recommendations for two things we reckon you should read/watch/listen to. The beauty of Substack is you can revisit all our old editions and comment on our episode updates to share your thoughts. Come say hi! Connect with us on Instagram: @betterwordspod

It's grim up North.   But thankfully, it's also weird. Deliciously, darkly, disturbingly weird!   This week we are celebrating the Northern Weird Project – six novellas published by Wild Hunt Books (including one by yours truly!). In this first roundtable, I've gathered two of the writers and the genius behind the project, Ariell Cacciola, to talk about Northern literary culture in the North, haunted landscapes, isolated oddness, and the North/South divide.   Gemma Fairclough brings The Retreat, her story of creepy wellness culture in the Lake District, and Katherine Clements has written a psycho-geographic haunting of the Yorkshire moors in Turbine 34. Yet whilst displaying the diversity of northern weirdness, these two novellas are twinned and entwined in fascinating ways.   Enjoy – there's more coming all week.   Other books mentioned: Bear Season (2024), by Gemma Fairclough The Coffin Path (2018), by Katherine Clements Every Day is Mother's Day (1985), by Hilary Mantel Beyond Black (2005), by Hilary Mantel A Place of Greater Safety (1992), by Hilary Mantel Dark Matter (2010), by Michelle Paver The Night Ocean (2017), by Paul LaFarge   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Bluesky @talkscaredpod.bsky.social on Instagram/Threads, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan, Simon, and Ashley explore the powerful relationship between nature, neurodivergence, chronic pain, and seasonal change. Recorded after a neurodivergent getaway in the Lake District, the trio reflect on the healing power of natural environments, the sensory overwhelm of urban life, and how embracing seasonal rhythms can support mental health and regulation for autistic and ADHD adults.Through candid storytelling and humour, they unpack the challenges of pain management, executive dysfunction, and winter transition, and share personal rituals, mindset shifts, and unexpected joys found in the natural world.Together, they explore:How nature acts as a powerful regulatory tool for neurodivergent brainsWhy modern urban environments can overwhelm autistic and ADHD sensory systemsThe role of barefoot grounding, light exposure, and circadian rhythms in daily wellbeingPractical strategies for navigating winter transitions, layering, and seasonal overwhelmPain, fatigue, and adapting outdoor experiences to fit different physical needsUsing photography, VR, and creative rituals to stay connected to nature indoors Embracing cosiness, Christmas lights, and simple joys during the winter monthsWhether you find winter draining, chronic pain exhausting, or city life overstimulating, this episode offers practical strategies and heartfelt conversation to remind you that neurodivergent people aren't broken—the environments we live in often are.Our Sponsors:

Exploring beautiful Ambleside in the Lake District, England is the perfect mix of outdoor adventure and rich history. Tucked at the northern edge of Lake Windermere, Ambleside is a charming village that offers some of the best walks in the Lake District along with fascinating stories from its past.In this episode, we set out on hikes like Todd Crag and Loughrigg Fell — both delivering sweeping views without an all-day climb. We'll also wander to Rydal Water and Grasmere — landscapes that inspired poets and still feel timeless today.But Ambleside isn't just about the trails. The village is full of history, from Roman ruins to centuries-old stone buildings that give it that unmistakable Lakeland character. Along the way, I'll share tips on where to eat, shop and relax, plus the best times to visit so you can soak up Ambleside's charm without the crowds.Whether you're here for the hiking, the history or simply the atmosphere of one of the Lake District's most beloved spots, Ambleside is a destination that deserves a place on your travel list.Tune in for:Scenic walks with unforgettable views (Todd Crag, Loughrigg Fell & more)A peek into Ambleside's Roman and cultural historyVillage highlights: cafés, shops & places to exploreTravel tips on when to go and how to get thereWhether you come for the trails or the tales, Ambleside, England is the kind of place you carry home with you.Want to chat more about this destination?Send me a message at Lynne@WanderYourWay.comIn this episode:1:11: Intro2:28: Placing it on the map6:09: Todd Crag and Loughrigg Fell11:56: Rydal Waters16:15: Grasmere19:59: Roman Ruins23:09: Lake Windermere24:51: The Village of Ambleside27:40: Food recommendations38:17: Shops43:20: Logistics49:16: Wrapping it upImportant links:Lake District National ParkAmblesideApple PieCopper PotFellinisLucy's on a PlateWander Your Way ResourcesEagle Creek Wander Your Way AdventuresWander Your WayLakeland Retreats ★ Support this podcast ★

This month, we start with the Regen Food Systems Prize and a chance to win £20k to support your business. Next, we hear about an artist-founded wool business in the Lake District and speak with landowners backing the Right to Roam across England. We end with a look at the growing British sustainable flower movement, plus a special call-out about a new project exploring the impact of our Cereal series, six years on. Regen Food Systems Prize Details https://www.regen-gathering.com/food-system-prize https://lakedistricttweed.com/pages/about https://thewoollibrary.uk/pages/about-us https://woodlandvalley.co.uk/beavers/ https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/ https://www.schoolofsustainablefloristry.co.uk https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk https://farmerama.co/about/cereal/ We have just started researching for a long episode and report reflecting on the impact of the Cereal series and where the new grains movement is at 6 years on. We would love to hear from anyone who listened to the series and felt like it impacted their life in some way. We want to share your stories and celebrate all the work that is happening! Please do email us on farmeramaradio@gmail.com or look out for the announcement of our crowd-sourcing of short audio notes for our soundmap of the impact - we would love to have your voice shared on there!

4/4: This file covers CMB aftermath, Gamow's vindication, and Hoyle's controversial final years. CMB proved Big Bang theory, establishing cosmos temperature at 2.73 Kelvin and age at 13.8 billion years. Gamow (died 1968) wrote Princeton researchers, seeking recognition for his and Ralph Alpher's 1940s CMBcalculations. Hoyle's work with Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge and William Fowler on heavy elements was genius, but only Fowler received the Nobel Prize. Hoyle never forgave Willie Fowler. Speculation includes the committee distancing from Hoyle's fringe theories or Hans Bethe misunderstanding Hoyle's role. Hoyle moved to Lake District, pursuing panspermia theory—life spreading via cosmic travelers. He rejected Darwinian evolution, claiming Earth too young, ironically gaining young-earth creationist support despite atheism. He proposed diseases like AIDS arrived via comets, viewed as eccentric. Both were "seat-of-the-pants thinkers," though Hoyle more stubbornly clung to strange concepts. Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate, by Paul Halpern

Coniston Water in England’s beautiful Lake District is a favorite vacation spot for families in the UK. The waters are perfect for boating, swimming, and other water sports. That beautiful setting, however, was also the site of great tragedy. In 1967, Donald Campbell was piloting his hydroplane Bluebird K7, seeking to break the world water speed record. He reached a top speed of 328 mph (528 km/h) but didn’t live to celebrate the achievement as Bluebird crashed, killing Campbell. Tragic moments can happen in beautiful places. In Genesis 2, the Creator “took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (v. 15). The garden was a masterpiece, yet when placed in this paradise, the man and woman disobeyed God, bringing sin and death into His creation (3:6-7). Today, we continue to see the destructive effects of their tragic choice. But Jesus came to offer life to us—people who were dead in our sins. The apostle Paul, referring to that, wrote, “Just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus Christ] the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Because of Jesus, the most beautiful home of all awaits us. Out of beauty came tragedy. And by God’s grace, out of tragedy came eternal beauty.

Send us your Mediocre 5 Star ReviewThis week on the Casual Camping Podcast, it's not one of Tim's finest hours.With his mates bailing because the forecast promised buckets of rain and gale-force winds, Tim headed solo to the Lake District determined to prove them wrong. Spoiler alert: the weather won.From leaky tents to soggy kit and a string of small disasters that piled up like wet socks, Tim fought valiantly for 24 hours before finally admitting defeat, packing it all in, and driving home with his tail firmly between his legs.It's a tale of perseverance, poor prep, and the reminder that sometimes camping just laughs in your face. Join Ade and Tim as they relive the misadventure, share the lessons learned, and find the funny side of a very damp weekend.DISCLAIMER: Casual Camping Podcast accepts no liability and does not officially recommend any products or endorse any techniques discussed in an individual podcast episode or shown on Casual Camping Podcast social media accounts. Individuals should make their own informed decision and risk assessment of any products or advice prior to any purchase or useSupport the showCheck Out Our Socials:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1333082837320305/?_rdrInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualcampingpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO9F70wD5P16dbKV20rTtwegIcBDtKY8QThreads: https://www.threads.net/@casualcampingpodcast?invite=0

Matthew rose to fame as the winner of the BBC's Survivor UK in 2023. Since then, he's built a loyal following on TikTok, garnering more than 4.3 million likes. Based in the Lake District, Matthew enjoys watersports, football and running. He's also passionate about raising awareness around mental health and homelessness. In this conversation, Matthew talks about the death of his grandma, Bernadette, keeping her memory alive, and the fear of death.You can also watch a subtitled version of the conversation on YouTube.On the Marie Curie Couch aims to open up conversations about death, break down the taboo and encourage people to share their end of life plans.This podcast is made by Marie Curie – the UK's leading end of life charity. For more information about the vital work we do, head to mariecurie.org.ukOn the Marie Curie Couch is produced and edited by Marie Curie, with support from Ultimate Content. The music featured is Time Lapse by PanOceanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textImagine this: William Wordsworth, in the early 1800s, walking the hills of England's Lake District. He stops to watch a field of daffodils swaying in the breeze, and suddenly, the moment becomes eternal. For Wordsworth, nature is not just scenery — it is a teacher, a healer, even a kind of companion. The world outside reflects the life within.  And it's reflective moments like these that remind us: literature is never written in isolation… it's a conversation that stretches across centuries. Wordsworth's vision would echo far beyond his own time.” For Wordsworth, nature is not just scenery — it is a teacher, a healer, even a companion. The world outside reflects the life within.Now, shift forward a century. Robert Frost, in rural New England, standing at a fork in a snowy path. His tone is different. Nature is still the stage, but here it is a testing ground. The woods are ‘lovely, dark and deep,' but they are also a reminder of choices, obligations, even mortality. But Frost's world carried a sharper edge. If Wordsworth saw nature as a gentle teacher, Frost often saw it as a mirror of human struggle — full of choices, boundaries, and unanswered questions. Where Wordsworth sought transcendence, Frost leaned into ambiguity. Yet both, in their own ways, turned the soil of everyday life into poetry that still speaks to us today.What ties these two poets together? Both reject lofty, artificial language. They wanted poetry in the voice of ordinary people — the farmer, the shepherd, the walker on a country road. Both believed that truth could be found in the quietest moments: a walk by a river, a stone wall between neighbors, a road not taken.But here's the tension. Wordsworth looks at nature and sees transcendence — a spiritual renewal. Frost looks at the same natural world and sees ambiguity, sometimes even danger. And yet, together, they teach us how a flower, or a snowfall, or even the silence of the woods can become a doorway to the deepest truths about human life.Support the showThank you for experiencing Celebrate Creativity.

Autumn in Europe is pure magic. Forests blaze in shades of red and gold, vineyards glow against rolling hills, and crisp air makes every walk feel like a storybook moment. If you've ever dreamed of experiencing the best of fall foliage in Europe, this episode is for you.I'll take you to places where autumn truly comes alive — from the golden vineyards of Umbria, Italy, to the misty woodlands of Scotland, where every turn feels like stepping into a painting. Along the way, I'll share why these landscapes are so breathtaking in autumn and give you tips for planning your own seasonal escape.Whether it's strolling through historic towns framed by fiery hillsides, hiking trails that crunch with fallen leaves, or settling into a cozy pub after a day outdoors, Europe in the fall has a rhythm all its own.So brew a cup of something warm, wrap yourself in a blanket, and hit play. Let's chase autumn together and discover some of the most spectacular places to see fall foliage in Europe.

Yes, we're back. And this week Joe interviews a surprise special guest on the podcast who tells us all about an article wot he wrote. Also we have BIG NEWS about the Mid-faith Crisis Church Away Weekend 2026! Join us in the Lake District for a weekend of conversation, relaxation and reflection. The Mid-faith Crisis Church Weekend Away 2026 - Book Now! Support the podcast Contact the podcast through your email machine Mid-faith Crisis Facebook Page Nick's Blog Mentioned in this episode: Inception Point — AI spam podcasts with no listeners – Pivot to AI The Mid-faith Crisis Church Weekend Away 2026 Bryn Haworth We've learned all we can from US megachurches. Let's be inspired by the Global Majority Church | Nick Page

In Touch visits the Lake District and tags along to Ellie Bennet's holiday. Ellie booked a sighted guide through a free guiding service called Cumbrain Visions. Cumbrian Visions provides visually impaired holiday makers with a guide to accompany them on their various activities. There is also a similar service happening in Cornwall and Devon, called The Cliffden Buddies, which came first. Julian Griffen, of The Cliffden Buddies and Lee Hodgson of Cumbrian Visions tell In Touch about their services and how it all got started.For more information: Cumbrian Visions Founder and Coordinator: Lee Hodgson Tel: 07976 669708 Email: hodgson@liverdogs.co.ukCliffden Buddies Founder and Coordinator: Jules Griffen Tel: 07500 206948 Email: cliffden.buddies@outlook.comPresenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio' in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

This podcast is one with a twist. Instead of the good stories of God speaking, we're sharing the bad! We all love a good God conversation story. God is still speaking as powerfully and creatively as he did in Bible days. But the nature of our flawed humanity is that we can get it wrong. We can make mistakes. We can use the claim to hearing God's voice to manipulate others. The result is real damage to people's lives. It's important that we don't overlook the bad stories or pretend they don't exist. Instead they become a learning opportunity when we see where things went wrong. That's why on the show in this episode, we talk with long time pastor Paul Hudson from the Elim group of churches in the UK. As a pastor of pastors, he's seen the worst (and the best!) of the prophetic world and has plenty of wisdom to share about how to avoid the pitfalls.  You'll hear about: Paul's story growing up in a Christian environment and how two simple words from the Holy Spirit completely changed his heart towards international mission. From there, God used him to establish a global network beyond his own nation. A tragic story of a young man and woman who believed God spoke to them about marriage. They married quickly without consultation from others and their marriage broke up within 6 months due to abuse. Here we learn how consultation in community - especially those who are willing to disagree - is crucial. Paul's own story of God speaking to warn him and how he twisted it around because he didn't like what he heard. Thankfully God gave him a further message that enabled him to redeem the situation. Reflections on the Apostle's Paul experience when the disciples mis-interpreted the prophetic word they heard about Paul's journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21). Throughout the stories, you'll hear some recurring themes! We share the bad stories so we don't have to repeat them. Let's be smart enough as well as humble enough to learn from the experiences of others! Subscribe to God Conversations with Tania Harris and never miss an episode!   Join the journey to hearing God's voice. Start your free 7-day God Conversations devotional today! Pray, promote and give. God Conversations is donor-funded and made possible through the generosity of people like you! Become a partner today. Equip your church to hear God's voice. Join our community of church leaders for monthly insights and a free preview of 50 Days of God Conversations resource.   About Paul Hudson After planting a church in the Lake District of the UK for 4 years, Paul pastored a church in West Yorkshire for 17 years. During that time, Paul also became the International Missions Director for the Elim denomination and established the Elim Global Network which is now in over 60 nations of the world and made up of thousands of churches. Five years later, he holds a regional role, leading 105 churches in the UK and acting as the pastors' pastor. He continues to serve as the General Secretary of the Elim Global Network.

In an old house by the Glebeshire coast, silence lingers more heavily than the sound of the sea. Its walls hold an atmosphere of watchfulness, as though the house itself remembers lives once lived within it. To a grieving visitor, it offers not terror but something stranger, something that cannot easily be explained. “The Little Ghost” by Hugh Walpole was first published in When Churchyards Yawn (1931), edited by Cynthia Asquith, and later collected in Walpole's own volume All Souls' Night (1931). Hugh Walpole (1884–1941) was a bestselling English novelist and short story writer. He is remembered for his Lake District saga The Herries Chronicle and for a handful of haunting tales that combine psychological insight with Gothic atmosphere. Here is my ebook and audiobook store payhip.com/TheClassicGhostStoriesPodcast For 33% discount - use coupon 33OFFGHOSTPOD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cliffords ruled northern England for 500 years through loyalty, lawsuits, and superior castle-building skills. From the legendary "Shepherd Lord" who hid in the Lake District for 24 years to Lady Anne Clifford, who fought a 40-year legal battle to inherit four castles and rebuilt them all to prove her point. When neighbors joined rebellions, the Cliffords chose the crown, and it paid off spectacularly.Tudorcon from Home reservations: https://www.englandcast.com/TudorconFromHomeUse code EARLYBIRD to join the Privy Council Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we're talking to Jake Atkinson, a rider who's made a meteoric rise in the sport, despite growing up far from the perfect training grounds for what he's now doing. From the trails of the Lake District to competing on the world stage, Jake's story is one of trusting the process, leaning into the challenge, and making huge strides in a short space of time. We dig into how he's done it, the lessons learned along the way, and where he's heading next. So sit back, hit play, and enjoy this conversation with Jake Atkinson. You can also watch this episode on YouTube here. You can follow Jake on Instagram @jakeatkinson and find his latest edit here. Podcast Stuff Listener Offers Downtime listeners can now get 10% off of Stashed Space Rails. Stashed is the ultimate way to sort your bike storage. Their clever design means you can get way more bikes into the same space and easily access whichever one you want to ride that day. If you have 2 or more bikes in your garage, they are definitely worth checking out. Just head to stashedproducts.com/downtime and use the code DOWNTIME at the checkout for 10% off your entire order. And just so you know, we get 10% of the sale too, so it's a win win. Patreon I would love it if you were able to support the podcast via a regular Patreon donation. Donations start from as little as £3 per month. That's less than £1 per episode and less than the price of a take away coffee. Every little counts and these donations will really help me keep the podcast going and hopefully take it to the next level. To help out, head here. Merch If you want to support the podcast and represent, then my webstore is the place to head. All products are 100% organic, shipped without plastics, and made with a supply chain that's using renewable energy. We now also have local manufacture for most products in the US as well as the UK. So check it out now over at downtimepodcast.com/shop. Newsletter If you want a bit more Downtime in your life, then you can join my newsletter where I'll provide you with a bit of behind the scenes info on the podcast, interesting bits and pieces from around the mountain bike world, some mini-reviews of products that I've been using and like, partner offers and more. You can do that over at downtimepodcast.com/newsletter. Follow Us Give us a follow on Instagram @downtimepodcast or Facebook @downtimepodcast to keep up to date and chat in the comments. For everything video, including riding videos, bike checks and more, subscribe over at youtube.com/downtimemountainbikepodcast. Are you enjoying the podcast? If so, then don't forget to follow it. Episodes will get delivered to your device as soon as it's available and it's totally free. You'll find all the links you need at downtimepodcast.com/follow. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google and most of the podcast apps out there. Our back catalogue of amazing episodes is available at downtimepodcast.com/episodes Photo - Guy Fatal

On today's Season 15 finale, we are joined by the brilliant Stephen Mangan - actor, presenter, writer, and someone with a truly adventurous travel spirit. You'll know him from a vast array of TV , film and stage hits - The Split, Green Wing, Episodes, Portrait Artist of the Year - and most recently, as the host of ITV's Caribbean-set hit game show The Fortune Hotel, which is back for its second season.Stephen is a natural storyteller, and in this conversation we really get to go on a journey. From long, cassette-filled car trips back to his family's roots in wild, windswept County Mayo - where he has 53 first cousins! - to body surfing in the Atlantic with his kids, sleeping under the redwoods in California, living on £4 a day while interrailing across Europe, and living in an ultra luxury hotel in Grenada for a month - Stephen has truly embraced travel in all its forms.Destination Recap:County Mayo, Ireland Sonoma County, California, USABeltane Ranch, Sonoma, USADerwent Water, Lake District, UKFalkirk Wheel, Scotland GrenadaIndiaBhutan MoroccoJapanThe Fortune Hotel S2 continues Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th August on ITV1 and ITVX. You can also catch up on the first two episodes of the series on ITVX now.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me next time, come and follow me on Instagram I'm @hollyrubenstein, and you'll also find me on TikTok - I'd love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there's the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy.I'm now on maternity leave for a few months but keep an eye out for some special episodes dropping into your feed from time to time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I walk with woodland and street photographer Mali Davies through the winding paths of Savernake Forest, a place steeped in centuries of history. Beneath the canopy of ancient oaks and beeches, we talk about the role forests have played in Britain's story, and why their protection has never been more important. Mali shares the practical kit he relies on for photographing in woodland, his thoughts on composition, and the small details that bring these vast, living spaces to life in an image. It's a conversation about history, craft, and the quiet beauty of trees that have stood watch for hundreds of years. We also talk about the importance of family, a special pilgrimage to the top of a mountain fell in the Lake District and how street photography is becoming an important outlet to him too. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to Arthelper, who sponsor this show, plus our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.

In a world that often feels dominated by technology and constant change, it's easy to forget that some people are still living by the rhythms of ancient traditions. James Rebanks, an author and shepherd, is one of them, and in today's episode, he shares what following a way of life that has endured for thousands of years can teach us about modern life and the things that matter.James offers a glimpse at the often ignored and misunderstood world of pastoral life in England's Lake District, which isn't just about working with sheep and cattle but maintaining a deep connection to past generations, a commitment to community, and a sense of purpose. He takes us through the life of a fell shepherd, where the timeless values of hard work, seasonality, stewardship, and stillness still get lived out day to day.Resources Related to the PodcastJames' booksGrazing SchoolThe Poetics of Manhood by Michael HerzfeldBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererDying Breed article: 5 Things Farmers Have Taught Me About Work, Life, and LegacyWendell Berry's booksRegeneratist Allen WilliamsRegeneratist Greg JudyConnect With James RebanksJames on XJames on IGSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    review With the Angels Part 1 by John Dorney (two parts) When the Doctor's latest attempt to return Harry and Naomi home goes awry, they find themselves recruited by UNIT for a special mission. A mission involving a new and terrifying breed of Weeping Angel. Amid betrayal and manipulation, the Doctor and friends are trapped by a destiny they cannot escape. The future is calling... and so is the past. Catastrophix by Lizzie Hopley (two parts) Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross are on Earth at two different points in a timeline that has gone badly wrong. Back in his own time with UNIT, Harry is in the Lake District, unaware of the horrors to come. Four decades on, Naomi is adrift on an ocean in an apocalyptic nightmare. What is causing the Earth's unnatural end? As the Doctor scours the years, he meets someone from his past with the tools to help - a mechanic called Ray. With the Angels Part 2 by John Dorney (two parts) A billionaire's birthday party on a super-yacht is the setting for the final battle with the Angels. And the Doctor is on the guest list. The Bladukas family have no idea how dangerous these creatures are. But they're about to find out. Can an old friend help the Doctor prevent a tragedy? **Please note: The collector's edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies**  

Half a million pounds is going from the UK Government to a project aiming to improve soils in Ukraine. The ongoing research, being run by the Royal Agricultural University, has identified significant damage to soils from the war there - things like heavy metal contamination from bombardments. The new money will help set up soil labs. We speak to the professor leading it and a farmer in Ukraine.Small changes in the way a river catchment is managed can have a big impact - reconnecting floodplains, re-wiggling rivers and slowing the flow upstream can reduce the flood and pollution risk and encourage more biodiversity. A ‘whole Cumbria strategy', which involves three River Trusts, the Environment Agency and Natural England – has just been named as one of only four finalists for a prestigious global award, the Thiess International River prize. It's up against river projects in the USA and Albania. We see the kind of work the Cumbrian River Restoration Partnership Programme is doing in the Lake District.The Environment Agency's urging farmers to think ahead and get ready for storage of slurry this winter.Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

HUNTING THE CHILDCATCHER - Stefan Heidegger had clearly convinced Saltire to leave his dorm in the middle of the night. He had snatched him off into the darkness of the Lake District. We were a day behind but we were catching up fast. Part 2 of 3 This episode contains swearing, horror, sexual references, drug references, drug abuse, distress, references to violence, references to child abuse. Listener discretion is advised. For merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.ukFor ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandco To get in touch via email: docjwatsonmd@gmail.com Follow me @DocJWatsonMD on twitter and BlueSky, or sherlockandcopod on TikTok, instagram and YouTube.  This podcast is property of Goalhanger Podcasts. Copyright 2025.SHERLOCK AND CO. Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Paul Waggott as Dr. John Watson Harry Attwell as Sherlock Holmes Marta da Silva as Mariana Ametxazurra Luke Jasztal as Tom Huxtable Jake Burlow as Jim Wilder Thomas Mitchells as Benjamin Duke Adam Jarrell as Reuben Hayes Additional voices Darcey Ferguson Joel EmeryAdam Jarrell Jake Burlow Written by Joel Emery Directed by Adam Jarrell Editing and Sound Design by Holy Smokes AudioProduced by Neil Fearn and Jon Gill Executive Producer Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

INTO THE DARKNESS - we had been struggling financially for a few weeks and now we had to pay some bills. Mariana and I needed Sherlock's help to raise funds via some wealthy client cases... and boy did he find us a case. We headed to the Lake District, to Moorhill. To look for the child of a billionaire. Part 1 of 3 This episode contains swearing, horror, sexual references, drug references, drug abuse, distress, references to violence. Listener discretion is advised. For merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.uk For ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandco To get in touch via email: docjwatsonmd@gmail.com Follow me @DocJWatsonMD on twitter and BlueSky, or sherlockandcopod on TikTok, instagram and YouTube.  This podcast is property of Goalhanger Podcasts. Copyright 2025. SHERLOCK AND CO.Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Paul Waggott as Dr. John Watson Harry Attwell as Sherlock Holmes Marta da Silva as Mariana Ametxazurra Luke Jasztal as Tom Huxtable Thomas Mitchells as Benjamin Duke Additional voices Darcey Ferguson Joel Emery Adam Jarrell Jake Burlow Written by Joel Emery Directed by Adam Jarrell Editing and Sound Design by Holy Smokes Audio Produced by Neil Fearn and Jon Gill Executive Producer Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we welcome Ben Briggs onto the R2Kast!

My friend Simon Curtis, who has died aged 70, was one of the small band of people who work tirelessly, for no pay and few thanks, to promote poetry. An excellent poet himself, he edited two magazines and helped many struggling writers into print.His heroes were Wordsworth, Hardy and Causley. His own poetry, which rhymed and was perfectly accessible, was distinguished by, in his words, its "shrewd, ironic and Horatian tone". It ranged from accomplished light verse, which was often very funny, to deeply affecting poems about family bereavement. He appeared in the Faber Poetry Introduction 6 (1985).Simon was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the son of Susan, an English teacher, and the Rev Douglas Curtis, a vicar, and grew up in Northamptonshire. Armed with an English degree from Cambridge University, and a PhD from Essex, on Darwin as writer and scientist, he became a lecturer in comparative literature at Manchester University. He was active in the Hardy Society, editing the Thomas Hardy Journal for several years, worked quietly for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and spent a lot of time caring for his mother, who lived to a great age.Eventually, he moved to Plymouth and in 2010 took over from me as the editor of the little magazine The Interpreter's House, which he made, in Hardy's phrase, "a house of hospitalities". We were both determined that it shouldn't be just a platform for the editor's friends but should be open to good poets of all stripes.But early in 2013 all plans had to be shelved as this active outdoor man was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Though paralysed below the waist, he remained positive, continued to watch the yellowhammers outside his window and never allowed his many visitors to feel downhearted. Shoestring Press rushed out a volume of his new and selected poems, Comet Over Greens Norton, which contains all his best work.Simon was old-fashioned in the best kind of ways, a former 1960s student who canvassed for Labour but who dressed conservatively and retained a stiff upper lip and immaculate manners. He hated pollution, literary infighting, and public greed and waste. He loved bird-watching, football, woodcuts and the Lake District.-bio via Merryn Williams' 2014 Obituary for Curtis in The Guardian This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe