Advertise on podcast: Sounding Out Horsham

Prepare to clear out your unwanted stuff and get your home in order as we discuss decluttering and organising with professional declutter and organiser, Katie Wellman of Make Room to Breathe. As Anna prepares to clear her own home ahead of her move to Norway, Katie shares her top tips for getting rid of the items in our homes we no longer need and talks about her associations with charities in Horsham and West Sussex who she distributes them to. We also get some useful insights into home reorganisation. Get some boxes ready to fill and make room to breathe! Find out about Katie’s work at Make Room to Breathe

South African chef Jean Delport is described as the 'culinary visionary and creative force' at Restaurant Interlude, the Michelin-starred restaurant at the Leonardslee Estate.  Jean has been wowing diners at the restaurant where he leads the team as executive chef since it opened in 2018 and in March 2025 he impressed the judges - and viewers - of the 20th series of the BBC TV show Great British Menu with his culinary wizardry, winning the chance to create two of the five dishes for the final banquet.  A couple of weeks after his TV appearance, on a beautiful spring day, we headed down to Restaurant Interlude to talk to Jean all about his experience on the show, Interlude, his journey as a chef, his love of local produce found in and around Horsham and much more!     

English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place in Warnham in 1792, spending his formative years at his family home. His family is well-connected with the Horsham District too.  While he wrote famous poems such as Ozymandias, Queen Mab and To A Skylark and influenced many poets and writers, including Robert Browning, WB Yeats, Thomas Hardy and George Bernard Shaw, Shelley - whose second wife Mary Shelley authored the famous gothic novel Frankenstein - never knew fame during his lifetime.  Despite Percy Bysshe Shelley's posthumous influence and literary reputation, many of us are unaware of the writer's connection to Horsham and know little about his life, other than his works. However, our guests for this episode - Carol Hayton and David Hide - directors of The Shelley Memorial Project - are among those hoping to change that.  The Shelley Memorial Project wants to create a lasting public memorial to Percy Bysshe Shelley to commemorate Horsham's famous former citizen.  To find out more, we gathered around a table at the Shelley Arms in Broadbridge Heath to talk about Shelley, his connection to Horsham, and the project's plans to honour him.   

Did you know that famous dinosaur the Iguanadon was discovered in Sussex? And that Horsham has its very own dinosaur - the Horshamosaurus?  These facts and more were some of the fantastic discoveries we made by talking to George Graham-Payne, assistant curator at Horsham Museum, where there's a new exhibition dedicated to, yes you've guessed it, dinosaurs!  For fans of palaeontology and anyone interested in learning more about the creatures who inhabited the earth millions of years ago.  Creataceous Horsham: Discovering Dinosaurs runs until 21 April at Horsham Museum. Find out more here.   

After performing live in venues around West Sussex for a couple of years, local band Graffiti released their first single.  Nobody Knows Where We Are Going is now available on all streaming services and is gathering rave reviews. Written by 17-year-old musician Charlie Shuttleworth, who founded Graffiti with friend Alex Wadham-Smith, and produced by Jamie Amos it's the first step in this young band's route to stardom.  You can hear an excerpt in this episode where we met with Charlie and Alex  just before the release of their new tune, to talk about their music and their future plans. Follow Graffiti on Instagram @graffiti_band22

Anna and Emma speak to some of the individuals who make the festive season extra special for us in Horsham. Download this Christmas special 2024 to hear from Reverend Canon Lisa Barnett about the services planned at St Mary’s Church; Rebecca McDowell at the Rec Rink about turning a roller rink into an ice rink and Simon Teesdale at Horsham Food Rocks on plans for festive shopping and festivities in the Carfax.  Merry Christmas!  Sound effects credit: Pixabay - Sergei Chetvertnykh, Bryan Jesus De Los Santos Breton, Calvin Clavier

Allotments: Maybe not the most fascinating of topics on the surface, but as we dug deeper (yes, we love a pun!) with guest Maggie Weir-Wilson we found out there's more to them than you might think. Maggie, who had an allotment for 10 years, spent two years researching information for her latest book - Growing Together - Horsham's Town Allotments - where she unveils the history of Horsham's allotment sites and shares her own passion for allotmenteering.  In this episode we also discuss how Maggie took up a new career in retirement and talk to her about her previous and future books on Horsham.  Maggie's books - Secret Horsham, St Leonard's Forest and Growing Together - Horsham's Town Allotments - can be found in Waterstones, or on Amazon UK.  For more information about Maggie Weir-Wilson and her work visit https://maggieweirwilson.co.uk/

Jodie Munday is a force to be reckoned with. Having carved out a name for herself as a talented singer-songwriter who has strummed a guitar and sung practically everywhere in Horsham (as well as outside it!), she started teaching ukulele to primary school children.  If that wasn't enough, in 2021, she took on the running of The King's Arms pub on the Bishopric which she has turned into an award-winning boozer. There are even more strings to Jodie's bow, as we found out when we visited her at The King's Arms.  Find out more about The Kings Arms here: https://kingsarmshorsham.com/ Follow Jodie on Instagram for music updates @_the_singing_landlady

Ahead of the General Election on 4 July 2024, Anna and Emma quiz the candidates standing for election in the Horsham constituency to find out what issues they think matter most to Horsham's electorate; what governmental areas are most important to them and why they should get your vote.   

Interest in our episode on foraging with James Plumb has been high - it's one of our most downloaded! - and since we met James in September 2022 for our tour around Leechpool Woods, he's been gradually learning more and more about plants and fungi that grow around Sussex and beyond.  With all this in mind, we thought we'd meet up with James again. This time, to find out about the plants growing in Horsham during spring and summer. We headed to Horsham Park* for a wild food identification and foraging foray with our favourite forager (we love alliteration). James, who is now running guided foraging tours in the area, told us about the types of plants that are consumable - and warned us of those that should be avoided due to their toxicity.  *Horsham Park was selected as the perfect location to drive our awareness of the types of plants you can find foraging in the countryside for this episode. Please do not take any plants or flowers from Horsham Park.  Please do not consume any foods found in the wild without checking they are safe to eat first.  Follow James on Instagram on @south_east_foraging and find details of his courses on eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/south-east-foraging-horsham-west-sussex-uk-72397911543

In this episode we talk to psychic Sue Durdle (who happens to be Emma's mum) about the 'gift' she found herself with 40 years ago.  Sue gives an insight into her work as a clairvoyant and shares many unexplainable instances and stories of people she has met over the last four decades. 

A YouGov survey carried out in 2015 found that author was the most desired job in the UK, with 60% of Brits stating that would be their dream occupation. It's not an easy job to come by, however and, as we found out by speaking to our guest, Lisa Brace, takes A LOT of hard work and persistence to land a publishing deal.  Lisa's first novel - Star Survivor - is out in March 2024 so we talked to her all about her new book, how she managed to get published, future plans and more.  This episode is a must-listen for book lovers and budding writers.  To find out more about Lisa Brace and her work visit https://www.lisabrace.co.uk/

As a celebrant / OneSpirit Interfaith minister, Jean Francis has led many life events and celebrations, including weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals.  Although it sounds like a morbid area, it's the last type of ceremony on the list, and the subject of death, that Jean was keen to talk to us about. Understandably, many of us shy away from talking about what we'd like to happen when we die, but as we discuss in this episode, it can be beneficial for us and our loved ones if we give some thought to how we'd like to celebrate and commemorate our lives when they end.  Besides, as Jean points out when we met her: "Just talking about something, doesn't mean it is going to happen." You can find out more about Jean's Last Wishes Workshops here All proceeds from her workshops are donated to  www.sussexgreenliving.co.uk.

Get the festive feels in this special Christmas episode recorded in December 2023. Join Anna and Emma as they discuss Christmas traditions - in Horsham, the UK and Sweden - and their favourite things about 'the most wonderful time of the year'   Sound effects from Pixabay

You might not know sculptor Hannah Stewart, but you probably know her work. Hannah's wonderful Horsham creations include the St Leonard's Dragon in the centre of the maze in Horsham Park and the Iguanodon in Lintot Square in Southwater.  Hannah has also carried out many other private and public commissions over the last 20 or so years and her beautiful bronze sculptures can be found in all parts of the world.  In this episode we visited Hannah in her Horsham studio to find out more about her work and what life as a sculptor entails. To see her work and find out more visit https://www.hannahstewartsculpture.co.uk/