The postman delivered a parcel this afternoon. I unwrapped it to discover a box full of old DAT audio and Digital Video tapes. A former colleague at the BBC had found them when clearing out a drawer and thought I might have a use for them. He knows I hoard stuff like that.
Among the tapes was an hour of footage that I had long thought had been lost to the recycling police. It had been shot seventeen years ago on a summer’s evening in Perthshire that I still think of as one of my favourite nights working in radio. We were recording an edition of Let’s do the Show Right Here – a community format in which people in towns and villages around Scotland put on a show to raise funds for a local cause. BBC Radio Scotland supplied the host – Jackie Bird – and a celebrity guest. The villagers did the rest and we recorded their efforts to make the show a success.
In Aberfeldy, in July 2002, the star guest was Barbara Dickson but what made the night more memorable – apart from the balmy weather – was that it seemed almost everyone in the village got involved with the show in one way or another. Children and teenagers performed on stage, parents baked cakes and sold tickets, others simply queued up to be entertained.
I’ve put together a few scenes for one of my illustrated Radio Stories.
Jeff's Zones 
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