Feels like it's been AGES since Betty & Stevie properly caught up. It must be, because apparently Betty "misses Stevie's face".

Yeah, right!

Betty & Stevie share their experience of receiving the "little prick" - erm, vaccine, and what they're looking forward to as the lockdown lifts.

And we want to hear from you - have you received your little prick? What was your experience like? Leave a voicemail message with us on the Speak Up Sunderland website!

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Speak Up Sunderland is a podcast proudly produced in Sunderland, for Sunderland.

This episode was hosted by Betty Ball and Stevie B, and produced by Jay Sykes.

Our music was created by Timecrawler 82, and our logo and branding by Jorge Vinicio.

Join us on our journey:

Our website - SpeakUpSunderland.com Twitter - @SpeakUpSun Instagram - @SpeakUpSun or join us on our Facebook and YouTube!

How can you capture the mood of a country at war in a documentary?

With a uniquely poetical, musical filmmaking style, artist and filmmaker Prof. Esther Johnson was commissioned by 14-18 Now to create "Asunder" - a uniquely moving and vibrant documentary which interweaves narratives from conflict overseas with characters in the North East.

"Asunder tells the story of what happened to an English town during the First World War, with almost all of its men abroad fighting and its women and children left behind. The North East was in the front line, thanks to its shipyards and munitions factories."

Our host Betty Ball meets Esther to hear all about the process of creating Asunder - poring over a hundred sources of archive material, working with renowned presenters Kate Adie and Alun Armstrong, and the composition of original music which makes Asunder such a distinctive WW1 documentary.

Featuring original music from the soundtrack composed by Sunderland’s Mercury-nominated Field Music and Newcastle’s Warm Digits, performed with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Cornshed Sisters.

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Speak Up Sunderland is a podcast proudly produced in Sunderland, for Sunderland.

This episode was hosted by Betty Ball, and produced by Jay Sykes.

Our music was created by Timecrawler 82, and our logo and branding by Jorge Vinicio.

Join us on our journey:

Our website - SpeakUpSunderland.com Twitter - @SpeakUpSun Instagram - @SpeakUpSun or join us on our Facebook and YouTube!

This is Len Gibson, BEM.

He’s reading from his collection of poetry, which he’s compiled over the past hundred years of his life. You heard that right, Len Gibson turned 100 years old on the third of January this year.

Len’s regarded as not only a hero to Sunderland, but also a national hero. During the second world war, Len was a member of the 125 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery.

Between 1942, and 1945, Len was held as a Far East Prisoner of War - he was forced by the Japanese Empire to work on a railway which stretches between Thailand and Burma - the “Death Railway”, as it’s come to be known. Len was one of an estimated 180,000 - 250,000 prisoners of war who were subjected to forced labour on the railway.

Len’s a well-known figure here in Sunderland. Usually, Len would be delivering a reading at our city’s Remembrance Parade. It’s one of the biggest parades in the UK, the biggest outside of London.

This year, because of the ongoing lockdown, the Remembrance Parade it’s moving online. Sunderland City Council are creating a series of short films alongside the day.

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Speak Up Sunderland is a podcast proudly produced in Sunderland, for Sunderland.

Our hosts Betty Ball and Stevie B, and our producer is Jay Sykes.

Our music was created by Timecrawler 82, and our logo and branding by Jorge Vinicio.

This episode features recordings of the Sunderland Remembrance Parade by Mike Walker Camera, and additional music by Andy G. Cohen.

Join us on our journey:

Our website - SpeakUpSunderland.com Twitter - @SpeakUpSun Instagram - @SpeakUpSun or join us on our Facebook and YouTube!