In October of last year, seven young people from Plymouth created an audio diary of the Plymouth Respect Festival. The group comprised of Osman Bangura, Claire Eskander, Kingsley Garrison, Mary Harvey, Hugh Jory, Curtis Lawes and Anthony Louis. "We wanted to give a message to people, about the Respect Festival," said Anthony.  | | Anthony Louis putting his voice to the project |
With the help of BBC Radio Devon and Deep Blue Sound, the students took the opportunity to learn how to produce a feature that captured the atmosphere and sounds that make 'Respect' such a wonderful celebration. Equipped with mini-disc recorders and microphones, they set off into the festival to interview stall-holders, performers, visitors and all the vibrancy of 'Plymouth Respect'. "It was hard putting it all together, choosing which bits to use," said Curtis. "We don't normally get the chance to do this kind of thing - our school doesn't have all the studio equipment and that." The material was then processed at Deep Blue Sound, where it was downloaded and the students launched into the digital editing process.  | | Osman Bangura in the studio |
"Taking out the 'ums' and 'ahs' took ages," laughed Osman Bangura. Following hours of hard graft, (and a fair amount of giggling with the voiceovers) a true and unique soundscape of the festival has been created. "The feature proves we can give a message to people," said Anthony. "We learned how to do that." The programme encompasses the ethics of Plymouth Respect, it represents the many cultures of Plymouth and the young people captured the spirit of the day. The Plymouth Consortium for Cultural Diversity and the Arts set up the project, and hope that in future years the project can draw on the skills these young people have learned and developed to produce a live broadcast. | 
