blue and green seas ventnor

How to be part of national project to capture ‘Sounds of our Shores’

Earlier this week, a three-month crowd-sourced sound project was launched by the National Trust, National Trust for Scotland and the British Library.

The project – ‘sounds of our shores’ – aims to build the first ever coastal sound map of the UK.

Given the Isle of Wight is surrounded by coastline, we reckon readers will be able to contribute to this national project, helping put the Island on the map.

Sounds of our shores
The project launch details say,

Sounds can be uploaded on to the first ever UK coastal sound map, hosted on the British Library website.

It could be the vibrant sounds of a working fishing village, gulls screaming on one of the wonderful seabird islands dotted around our coast or the kettle whistling from inside a much loved beach hut.

What might be included
Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife and Environment Sounds at the British Library, said:

“There is something really evocative about the sounds of our coast; they help shape our memories of the coastline and immediately transport us to a particular time or place whenever we hear them.

“As millions of us head to the coast this summer for holidays or day trips we want the public to get involved by recording the sounds of our amazing coastline and add them to the sound map. This could be someone wrestling with putting up a deck-chair, the sounds of a fish and chip shop or a busy port.

“We’d also love to hear from people that might have historic coastal sounds, which might be stored in a box in the loft. This will help us see how the sounds of our coastline have changed over the years.”

Heavenly sounds
Any sounds submitted could find their way into a new piece being created by musician, producer and founder member of Human League and Heaven 17, Martyn Ware.

He’s planning to use the sounds submitted by the public to create a brand new piece of music for release in February 2016.

Sounds have already been submitted of the sounds of waves at Whitecliff Bay, Ryde and Freshwater. You can hear them and others from around the country via the British Library audio map.

Add your sounds by visiting the AudioBoom Website.