Sounds of the South West

The Somerset Heritage Centre, Devon Heritage Centre and North Devon Record Office are taking part in the Sounds of the South West (SotSW) project, which is a partnership between archives in the south west of England with the purpose of preserving rare and at-risk audio recordings held within our collections. Initial funding was provided by the National Heritage Lottery Fund for a one-year development phase in 2024-5, and at the end of 2025 we received the good news that funding had been granted for the delivery phase of the project to run from 2026-2028.

The Project

The project aims to digitise sound recordings which are already part of our archive and local studies collections. Many of these recordings are on obsolete media, such as reel to reel tapes, and are at risk of degradation or being lost entirely. Their digitisation will allow the recordings to become accessible once again.

A sound hub has been established at Bristol Archives and sound recordings selected for inclusion in the project will be transferred from the three South West Heritage Trust repositories to Bristol for digitisation, before being returned to us, along with WAV files for permanent preservation.

Once the recordings have been digitised we will then work on improving catalogue descriptions, storing the digital files in our digital preservation system to ensure their long-term survival, and creating transcripts. We will also be carrying out engagement activities with a range of groups from school children to care homes to bring these recordings to life.

In the pilot phase of the project sound recordings digitised included oral history interviews detailing the role of the Auxiliary Units in Somerset during World War II, Somerset Light Infantry regimental marches and oral histories, and oral history collections detailing life in Nynehead, Blagdon and Bicknoller, Somerset and Torquay, Devon.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to National Lottery players

The Sound of the South West project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to preserve rare and at-risk audio recordings.