The Archive Hour

On Saturday 26th August 2006, from 8pm to 9pm, BBC Radio 4's "The Archive Hour" featured Doc Rowe in an edition entitled "Same Time, Same Place, Next Year".

Below is the BBC's publicity for the programme; below that is their publicity for the repeat on 19th January 2008.

Synopsis:  In an Archive Hour about an archive we follow Doc Rowe from Padstow to South Queensferry as he adds to his extraordinary collection of British vernacular culture. We explore what he has already collected, why, and what its future might be.

No centre exists in this country to research our vernacular arts. So for the last forty years Doc Rowe has been doing this by himself, documenting song, dance and in particular annual traditional events such as the Padstow Obby Oss (Mayday), The Haxey Hood Game in Lincolnshire (6th Jan), Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Staffordshire (the first Monday following the first Sunday after September 4th), the Britannia Coconut Dance at Bacup, Lancashire (Easter Saturday) and in South Queensferry, Scotland, the Burry Man. (second Friday in August). There are many others. In Whitby, for instance, men build the Penny Hedge in the silt of the harbour at low tide every Ascension Eve. This is a small and almost private event, but it has been going on for hundreds of years. The hedge has to withstand three tides and is made as a penance for the accidental killing of a hermit in the 12th century.

These events would merit a programme each. Taken together they produce an archive hour that benefits from the comparative approach Doc Rowe is uniquely placed to give them. He has amassed thousands of hours of sound and video recordings of the events themselves, interviews with the people who take part, as well as photographs, books, objects and ephemera connected with them. Why? Well, he's interested in the vitality of living traditions, the way people maintain patterns of existence and identity - and the way these change. Through this serial fieldwork Rowe has built up a unique collection and developed close and easy relationships with his subjects. 

In this programme Doc Rowe presents his work and Malcolm Taylor of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library introduces him, gives the context and conducts a considered interview with Doc which is woven through the programme. We follow Doc as he collects material, explains what he is up to and what it reveals. We hear from the participants what they are doing and why. And what they think of Doc Rowe - because this is a radio portrait of this remarkable man as well as his archive (indeed the division between them is hard to find).

The archive has grown so large he has had to move it out of his house to a rented space in Sheffield,  paid for by supporters from all over the globe. His archive's strength lies in its diversity and coherence. But if it went to institutions in this country it would be split up because they deal with single media - film goes to one archive, sound to another, pictures to a third. The Americans (they have a more mature appreciation of such things there) are taking notice but Rowe wants it to remain here, and to make it more accessible. He thinks really it belongs to the participants and is digitising items for them. As well as witnessing how the archive is created, and exploring it, we consider the dilemma of its future.    

Saturday 26th August 2006, Radio 4, 20.00 - 21.00
Archive Hour: Same Time Same Place Next Year
Presenter: Doc Rowe and Malcolm Taylor
Producer:  Julian May
Editor: Robert Ketteridge

Presenter: Malcolm Taylor runs the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. He presented "The Seeds of Love" for Radio 4 and has presented a series for Radio 2. Doc Rowe is also a writer and has broadcast on radio, television and made films. He lectures all over the country.

Producer:  A recent recipient of Sony prize for Radio documentary, Julian May has made several Archive Hours and a number of programmes and items about traditional music and culture.

Title: The Archive Hour: Same Time Same Place Next Year
Week: 34
Day: Saturday 19th Jan 2008
Time:  20:02
Producer : Julian May

Synopsis:  Every May Day Doc Rowe follows the Obby Osses as they dance through the narrow streets of Padstow; on the second Friday in August he's in South Queensferry, watching the Burry Man (who is covered, head to toe, in burrs). In this Archive Hour, about an archive still in the making, listeners follow Doc Rowe as he adds to his extraordinary recordings of British vernacular culture. "Same Time Same Place Next Year" explores what he has already collected, why, and what its future might be.

No national centre exists in this country to research our vernacular arts and customs. So, for the last forty years, Doc Rowe has taken this on himself, visiting the same places at the same time every year to document traditional events such as the Padstow Obby Oss, the South Queensferry Burry Man ritual, the Haxey Hood game in Lincolnshire (6th January), the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Staffordshire (the first Monday following the first Sunday after September 4th), the Britannia Coconut Dance at Bacup, Lancashire (Easter Saturday). In Whitby every Ascension Eve, he watches while men build before they go to work the Penny Hedge in the silt of the harbour at low tide. This is a small, almost private event, but it has been going on for hundreds of years. The hedge has to withstand three tides and is made as a penance (Penny Hedge = penance hedge) for the killing of a hermit in the 12th century.

Over the years Doc Rowe has amassed thousands of hours of sound and video recordings of the events themselves, interviews with the people who take part, as well as photographs, books, objects and ephemera connected with them (he had some ancient hot cross buns, until rats found a way into his collection and ate the artefacts). No one quite knows how he carries on: despite the current concern with identity and ideas, in particular, of Englishness, there is no public funding for Doc Rowe's work. There is, though, growing recognition: Doc has an honorary doctorate from University of Sheffield and has been awarded the English Folk Dance and Song Society's  highest honour, the Gold Badge - which places him alongside Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cecil Sharp, A.L.Lloyd, Ewan MacColl and Bob Copper. Additionally, last year he received The Folklore Society’s Coote Lake Research Medal for his activities.

In "Same Time, Same Place Next Year" Malcolm Taylor, of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, follows Doc as he collects material, explains what he is up to and what it reveals. He hears from the participants about what they do - and why. And he asks what they think of Doc Rowe, as this is a radio portrait of this indefatigable man as well as his archive. Malcolm hears Doc lecture at Tate Britain, visits the archive itself and an in-depth interview woven through the programme tries to get the roots of Doc Rowe's life-long fascination with these calendar customs. It is something to do with the vitality of living traditions, the way people maintain patterns of existence and identity - and the way these change.

There is an urgent aspect to this story: what will become of the archive when Doc Rowe has physically to stop collecting? It has grown so big he has had to move it out of his house to a warehouse in Sheffield, the rent paid for by supporters from all over the globe. His archive's strength lies in its diversity and coherence. But if it went to institutions in this country it would be split up. They tend to deal with a single medium, so film goes to one archive, sound to another, pictures to a third. The Americans are taking notice and the Library of Congress has expressed its interest. But Rowe wants his archive to remain together here, and to make it more accessible. He thinks really it belongs to the participants and is digitising items for them. As well as witnessing how the archive is created, and exploring it, "Same Time Same Place Next Year" will consider the dilemma of its future.    

Presenter: Malcolm Taylor OBE is the librarian of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and runs the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. For Radio 4 he presented "The Seeds of Love", about Cecil Sharp collecting his first song, which launched the folk revival, and has presented a series for Radio 2. Doc Rowe lectures all over the country, has broadcast on radio, television and made films. 

Producer: Earlier this year Julian May has made "Not What It Used to Be", an Archive Hour about England and Nostalgia, which caused a stir. His programme about the island of St Kilda won the Gold Award in the features category at this year's Sony Awards.