Dogpeople is a combined arts project which explores the social history of independent greyhound racing, or ‘flapping’, in County Durham
In late 2022, I was approached by the brilliant working class writer Louise Powell to help her create a twenty-minute audio documentary about flapping (unlicensed greyhound racing) in County Durham, specifically Wheatley Hill, which was a staple of local working-class life from the 1930s until its closure in 2019. You can read my post about this fantastic first podcast here!
Using this podcast episode as a proof of concept, Louise was rewarded further funding from Arts Council England to create an eight-episode series of Dogpeople, encompassing all of the North East's flapping tracks and their vast and brilliant history. I was thrilled that she asked me to produce and edit the podcast once again, and the new series was launched in spring 2023.
A Combined Arts Project for the Community
The podcast series was just one part of a multi-disciplinary project which foregrounds the memories of the men and women who were part of the County Durham flapping community. It combined community events with cultural outputs to preserve the heritage of flapping for future generations – in the words of the people who went to the tracks. In addition to the podcast, there were two listening parties, a story trail around Wheatley Hill and exhibition at the heritage centre, and even a novel that is currently in the pipeline. I was fortunate enough to attend one of the listening parties as well as the launch of the story trail and exhibition, and it was fantastic to put a face to so many voices I'd been listening to hours of while sat at my editing desk!
Left: Louise, Myself and interviewees at the Episode 1 Listening Party in Spennymoor
Right: Me with the gorgeous Paddy outside Wheatley Hill Heritage Centre
Making the Podcast
I wrote a guest blog for Louise's website all about the making the podcast and the technicalities of it - here is a little snippet:
"My aim for the podcast episodes was to recreate a high intensity dog racing atmosphere, one which felt familiar to the regulars but also enticed those who had never watched a race. We took field recordings of real races we attended and stacked them alongside a range of different dog sounds and crowd atmosphere, raising the stakes as high as we possibly could. I wanted listeners to feel the rush of excitement when the dogs whizzed from left to right in their headphones and the supporters whooped and cheered."
Where can I listen?
You can listen to all eight episodes of the Dogpeople Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts by following the links below:
Can't make it to Wheatley Hill? You can even listen to the story trail on Souncloud:
I would urge you to also head over to Louise's website to read more guest blogs and follow her work. It's a part of County Durham history we should all be celebrating, and serves as a reminder to preserve those precious parts of our own community's history before it's too late.
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