Listen here to A Wythenshawe Tale

It was in 2013 when I was halfway through my MA in Television and Radio Scriptwriting that I saw a poster advertising a radio course.

I was finishing the Radio Drama module in my MA, which I loved doing more than the rest of the course so I decided to go along to the six week training session at Wythenshawe FM to become a presenter.

Which I did for a few years, hosting a weekly DriveTime show on a Friday which I loved doing. Community radio is incredible to be involved with and I learnt, developed and grew in confidence from my volunteering at that radio station.

The biggest joy for me was to be asked to write a nativity play that could be recorded in time for the Christmas schedule that year. This would be my first produced play, and of course I jumped at the chance.

I decided to bring the nativity story away from Bethlehem and into Wythenshawe, using Live Radio Breaking News as a device to tell the story.

A Wythenshawe Tale was written in three weeks, and recorded in one evening at the radio station. I was blown away by how many of station volunteers wanted to be part of the recording.

It was transmitted on Boxing Day in 2013, and repeated for the next two Christmas’. I’m still as fond of this play now as I was writing it back then.