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I suspect that many of us fantasize what eight pieces of music/sound we would take to our desert island – although few get a chance to air this publicly on the iconic Radio 4 show….however BBC3 Counties Radio (and I imagine other BBC local radio stations) have come up with an excellent way of widening the net to engage lesser well known mortals - and this year I was asked to be a guest of Tara Dolby on The People’s Playlist
So, if you want to listen to my choice of music, together with a snapshot of the reasons behind my choices, sit back and tune in – and to whet your appetite below is the ‘script’ Tara asked me to complete to guide her through our conversation.
Happy listening.
THE PEOPLE’S PLAYLIST ANN LIMB June 2019
Born: Year 1953
Where were you born? Moss Side inner city Manchester
What was childhood like? Northern, gritty, working class lived above butcher’s shop, matriarchal,
• playing in the back alley with my black friend Peter,
• carrying meat on metal hooks from fridge to shop window – helping my Dad in the butcher’s shop,
• home birth of my sister, Julie in 1957 (shades of Call the Midwife)
• listening to radio (Listen with Mother) on my maternal grandmother’s lap
• father diagnosed with epilepsy
Track 1 ‘My curly headed baby’ Paul Robeson
Years1959/1960
• moved to ‘leafy suburbs’ of Hazel Grove, brand new house, and Dad became a milkman
• maternal grandmother, Lilly Wiest died; she was first generation British as my great grandfather was an economic migrant from Southern Germany
• my Mum became depressed but kept going, helping Dad as they needed to earn a living
• going to a new school and joining Brownies
• going to the cinema for the first time to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’
• going to an art gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery, for first time
Track that reflects / reminds you of that time
Track 2 ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ Judy Garland from ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Years 1964-1971
• passing 11+ going to grammar school, then in 1971 becoming the first in my family to go to university in Liverpool
• exposure to the power of education, languages, arts, music, theatre, culture
• spending spare time at Library Theatre Manchester and going to hear Halle orchestra in Free Trade Hall
• miniskirts maxi coats and being miserable
• going with my friend Catherine to see Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’
• earning and learning - always had part-time and Saturday jobs working in family business
Track 3 ‘Soave sia il vento’ from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart (soundtrack to Sunday Bloody Sunday)
Years 1976-86
• postgraduate studies in France
• began teaching career in Manchester and then promoted to Derbyshire, moving from part timer to Principal in a decade
• miners’ strike, Thatcherism, equal opportunities legislation (in 1975 1976) alongside section 28 staing that a local authority ‘shall not intentionally promote homosexuality’
• first relationship with a woman, Marilyn, and sailing on the Mersey and in Anglesey
Track 4 ‘Where corals lie’ from Sea Pictures by Sir Edward Elgar sung by Dame Janet Baker
Years 1986-2006
• move south in 1986 to take up role of Vice Principal , then Principal of Milton Keynes College – youngest ever Principal of FE College and career takes off
• a decade as Principal Milton Keynes College, 5 years as Principal Cambridge 5 years as senior civil servant setting up learndirect
• founded the Women’s Leadership Network in Further Education
• met Maggie and have been in a committed and loving relationship with her ever since
• went into therapy, trained in psychodynamic counselling became a Quaker
• set up a charity Helena Kennedy Foundation
Track 5 ‘Blow the Wind Southerly’ sung by Kathleen Ferrier
Years 2006 - 2009
• in my early fifties, having enjoyed a highly successful career since graduating, I found myself overnight out of a job
• ‘dark night of the soul’ with bouts of depression,
• couldn’t find right ‘role’ as I felt I had lost power, position and purpose
• lost any sense of who I was as I had been so involved in and identified with work
• threw myself manically into whatever came along – mostly charitable activity
Track 6 Bach Double Violin Concerto in D minor 2nd movement Largo played by Yehudi Menuhin & David Oistrakh
Years 2009 - 2019
• all changed as Chair of Milton Keynes Partnership I chaired MK World Cup Bid, and Milton Keynes chosen as a host city for England bid
• this seemed to provide a platform from which my energies could flow again
• Chair of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival
• Founding Chair of SE Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership, judged “exceptional’ by government and is the country’s top performing LEP
• Deputy Lieutenant Buckinghamshire
• OBE 2011
• CBE 2015
• President Destination Milton Keynes
• First woman Chair of Scouts
• Walk up Suilven North West Highlands of Scotland
Track 7 ‘Joy of Living’ by Euan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Year 2019
Just got married after 33 years with Maggie
Track 8 ‘Love changes everything’ from Aspects of Love by Andrew Lloyd Webber sung by Michael Ball - although prefer the version sung by our great niece at our wedding which accompanies the video of our wedding
08 March 2024
24 December 2023
28 August 2023
31 December 2022
24 December 2022
05 May 2021
05 May 2021
05 May 2021