After months in the planning the Hadrian’s Wall of Sound music relay was one of the highlights of BBC Music Day.
Senior producer Helen Amess, who had the original idea for the coast to coast event, followed it every step of the way from dawn until dusk.
“Well, it’s always a weird feeling when you spend months working towards one day and then all of a sudden it happens and then you’re left looking back at it.
Mind you, what a day to look back on! When I first had the idea of Hadrian’s Wall of Sound I had no idea it would turn into the magical event which happened on Friday 05 June as part of the first-ever BBC Music Day.
As the crew travelled from Carlisle (where we’d spent the night) to Bowness on Solway at 5am I knew that we had got everything and everyone in place, but we still weren’t sure how it would work when we ran all 45 performances together as we travelled along the Wall.
Cumbrian saxophonist Roz Sluman started the relay with a haunting performance on the banks of the Solway. The beauty of the music reflected the serenity and the calm of the expanse of water at first light.
And then we were off and the day became a blur of wonderful performances created by people who are ionate about their music: a jazz ensemble on the top of an open-top bus, university students singing their hearts out as they sat in little buggies which were being pulled along by a tractor, a harpist bringing some much needed calm in a breathtakingly beautiful location on top of a crag, a recital given on a grand white piano in the middle of a field.
The list goes on and on, and wherever we stopped on our journey along the Wall, we were unfailingly met by musicians who were delighted to be part of the day and gave us their very best. I will never forget it.
The day culminated with The Jar Family, a folk-indie group from Hartlepool, carrying the baton as they played on a boat which made its way from Newcastle Quayside along the River Tyne to its final destination at Segedunum in Wallsend.
So we did it! I feel incredibly proud of the team who have worked on it with me and brought my original idea to life in a way I could never have imagined.
We were thrilled to be ed by so many of our colleagues from across the wider BBC, and the event was covered all day, from Breakfast TV, right through to The One Show as it all came to an end in Segedunum. And special mention to our local broadcast teams here in the North East & Cumbria who followed us all the way through.
And just in case you’re wondering, it didn’t rain once! Phew.
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