Celebrating Poundbury Magazine Issue 4: Celebrating Independent Business | Page 40

Meet Roger 'Bushey' Shrubb the Warden of The Quiet Space. Bushey has just written a book entitled, My Urchin Empress. Kay Ennals Kay with her BBC radio recording device KAY ENNALS This is Bob Edwards who is a keen cyclist and originally from Yorkshire. LOCAL RADIO PIONEER Here are twins Pat and Margaret Berry who have lived in Poundbury for 12 years. Now retired, they were both nurses. JACK ORTON’S PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY Jack Orton is a final year photography student at the Arts Institute Bournemouth and he has spent his time visiting Poundbury residents for a photo documentary series. You may have seen him cycling around with his tripod and rare Mamiya film camera. He said: “For my final major project I am pursuing a documentary series about life in Poundbury I am really enjoying my time and have met some incredible people.” We love Jack’s work so much that we are featuring photographs from his documentary in both magazine issues this year. To view more of Jack’s work visit his Instagram page www.instagram.com/orton365/ DO YOU WANT TO BE INVOLVED? Jack is still looking for people to photograph in Poundbury. If you’d like to be involved contact him on [email protected] 40 WWW.CELEBRATINGPOUNDBURY.CO.UK Local radio would not be the same if it was not for Kay and her husband Maurice Ennals. They took on the mission for the BBC to set up all local radio stations in the UK during 1967 when there were only two channels – light and home programme. “We were invited to so many places and had an experience we could only imagine.” It all started at BBC Broadcasting House where the couple met. Kay was working as a studio manager and Maurice was the News Editor. Sadly in 2002, Maurice passed away aged 83, and was hailed ‘a founding father of BBC radio’ and a ‘local radio pioneer’ in his obituary in the Guardian. The chiefs of the BBC decided that there should be a pilot of radio stations in the UK and the Ennals were given the brief to make it work. Andy Griffee, Controller, BBC English Regions, said: "Maurice Ennals was one of the visionary pathfinders of local broadcasting. Along with the other founding fathers of BBC Local Radio, he saw the true value of the BBC connecting with its local community. Kay says: “It was a hard task. We had to travel the country meeting clubs and mayors and persuading them why local stations with local news was a good idea.” Maurice then set up the channels, the newsrooms, took on the journalists and made sure it was sustainable. After a successful time setting up BBC Leicester the enthusiasm for local radio was strong and the next two years were a busy time for Maurice and Kay. After three years at BBC Radio Leicester, Maurice moved to the south coast as the launch editor of BBC Radio Solent, where he remained until 1976. Kay said the achievement of setting up 42 stations was one they would never forget. “We were always so proud of what we did. We met so many great people and interviewed staff that are big names today such as Kate Adie. They both retired in 1980 and moved to the south coast, living at Sutton Poyntz and then West Stafford. "In the last two decades we have built on Kay and Maurice's legacy and have created a network of 40 stations around England, serving more than eight million listeners a week. "All of us - those working in local broadcasting and our listeners - owe a debt of gratitude to Maurice." Since then the charismatic Kay moved to Brewery Square and then on to Poundbury at the end of 2016 where she lives with a park view on Peverell Avenue West. On the day photographer Jack Orton visited he was captivated by Kay’s stories of her profound career and nothing illustrates this more than her clutching one of the BBC radio recording devices. WWW.CELEBRATINGPOUNDBURY.CO.UK 41