Sirens in the Night

This composition is based on interviews of local people who talk about night bombing during WW2 and trying to get home before the sirens went off. Usually bombing happened at 2am when everyone was asleep. People often worked overtime at the dockyard at night building submarines and they only got paid for this after the war, as “post war credits”.

This miniature piece is part of a collection of short compositions that make up the collective work Whispers of the Past.

The geolocated soundwalk ‘Whispers of the Past’ explores and presents stories from archives from men and women who worked at the Chatham Dockyard before it became a museum. We hear personal accounts, moving stories, descriptions, memories and anecdotes that become vivid and alive again through the voices of those who experienced them. The soundwalk was presented at the Chatham Historic Dockyard, a maritime heritage site, through the free downloadable Echoes app. As visitors moved across the site they triggered sounds and memories on their mobile devices creating new resonances with this iconic location.

This collection of short stories is commissioned by SparkedEcho as part of the Electric Medway Festival taking place between 21-30 August 2021.