Preston Guild 2012
Preston Guild – a once in 20-years celebration – takes place this year, and Preston FM – the official People’s Guild Radio Station – will be a key part of the city’s celebrations.
The Guild Show
You can listen to our regular monthly Guild Show – on-air once a month on Thursdays at 4pm and available all the time as podcasts here – with all the latest news and information as Preston prepares for the Guild celebrations. You can catch the next edition at 4pm on Thursday 26th July (repeated at 5pm on Sunday 29th July) – or why not listen to past shows here:
- Guild Show July 19th 2012 – One of the major prestige guild events for schools took place at the start of july when pupils from preston schools took over retail units in the guildhall arcade as part of the guild 2012 youth enterprise event.
- Guild Show June 22nd 2012 – In this show we join the Sing The Docks project; we meet young people and creative practitioners at The Dukes Theatre workshops planning the youth show Metropolis to be held at The Guild Hall in guild week; Ian McCondichie of Age Concern talks about the upcoming Once Every Preston Guild exhibition; we hear from some cyclists on the recent Skyride who talk about their experiences of The Guild Wheel
- Guild Show March 29th 2012 – Preston Drama Club take us back to the busy, theatrical days of the 1992 Guild; Larches and Savick get busy with a DVD of Guild memories; and the Cottam Primary Gardening Club go tree planting.
- Guild Show March 1st 2012 – Preparations for the processions; Preston’s industrial heritage; the first Guild baby for 2012; and behind the scenes of the Harris Museum’s Guild exhibition.
- Guild Show February 2012 – the Guild year is here: history and heritage projects abound; we’re in training for the corporate games; and take a listen to the very first performance of the new Guild Anthem.
- Guild Show December 2011 – a snoop around the new Guild visitor centre; the new Guild game for your phone; and the Guild Anthem takes shape with the help of poet Lemn Sissay.
- Guild Show November 2011 – cooking up a storm with Community Gateway; Age Concern looks to young people; the scrolls of friendship visit the USA; and a funding boost for heritage-based Guild projects.
- Guild Show October 2011 – the launch of the Guild Scrolls; a peak into the memoribilia archive; a preview of Preston’s big-screen SciFi debut; and spontaneous dancing with the Guild Flash Mob.
- Guild Show August 2011 – there’s money available for Guild-related heritage projects; we preview the Guild Key on-line game; catch up with progress on the city’s Guild Wheel cycle path; and warm up with the Big Dance crew.
- Guild Show July 2011 – an exciting creative writing project; behind the scenes at the Riversway festival for the launch of the Scroll Up audio art project; and a look at Preston’s European City of Sport plans for 2012.
- Guild Show June 2011 – the Young Musician of the Guild takes centre stage; a tour through plans for the civics week in 2012; and singing along with the Sing the Docks crew.
- Guild Show April 2011 – look behind the scenes of the first Guild volunteers recruitment event; find out about Community Gateway’s plans for the Guild; and get the gossip from the Guild’s Area Forum Roadshow.
- Guild Show March 2011 – find out about the Harris Museum & Art Gallery’s Guild plans as well as how to get involved in the Guild processions.
- Ivy’s Clogs – full version of the radio play created by Ken Cook for the 1992 Guild available to listen to or download here – as featured in the March programme.
- Guild Show February 2011 – including the volunteering programme, new Guild website and reminiscences from 1952.
For more information on lots of the topics covered in our Guild Show, you can visit the official Preston Guild website.
Scroll Up
We’re also planning a major audio art project, called Scroll Up, collecting Sound Postcards from places which have a connection with the city of Preston – places where ex-Prestonians now live; and places from where current Prestonians originate.
These Sound Postcards will include the human, natural and mechanical sounds of places around the UK and around the world. Here in Preston, you’ll be able to create your own by taking part in one of our special community workshops – and other people around the world will be able to contribute too by visiting one of the Guild Scrolls as they travel around the world; by working with a community radio station local to them; or by taking part directly through a special website.
The Sound Postcards will include atmospheric sounds – wildlife, traffic, people, commerce – reflecting the places from which the postcards originate; and human sounds – speech, laughter, song, language – reflecting the people and places taking part.
All the different postcards, collected from across the world, will be used to create a series of brand new audio artworks, which you’ll be able to hear on Preston FM during Guild year as well as at the Guild celebration events throughout 2012. You’ll even be able to create your own on-line. The artworks will include a mixture of sounds from different places and peoples – but all with some link back to Preston. They will reflect the diversity of the city’s past and current population and, we hope, generate lasting links between us here at Preston FM and community radio stations elsewhere in the UK and around the world.
The Scroll Up project launched at this year’s Riversway festival in July – more than 50 people took part down on the docks with audio artist John Morrow to create the project’s first sound postcards, which helped launch the Guild Scrolls on their way around the world this autumn. You can hear more about the project and the launch in July’s Guild Show.

