Best Levenshulme Old Library Podcasts (2025)

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1.1 - A Portrait of a Park: The Fallowfield Loop 19:12

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1M ago19:12

19:12

Fallowfield Loop – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope The Fallowfield Loop follows the path of an old railway line - now a walking and cycling route lined with trees, graffiti, and fragments of the city’s past and present. In this portrait, we hear from the people who helped shape the Loop as a pub…

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5.2 - Field Notes: Knots | Form | Strut 3:55

1M ago3:55

3:55

Knots | Form | Strut (Cringle Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Cringle Park Cringle Park presents as a traditional Victorian park - wide paths, open spaces and quiet corners where people pass, pause and play. However at its centre sits a small stone circle whose origins are unclear b…

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5.0 - Jean, Darlene, Jacqueline by Marie Crook 16:42

1M ago16:42

16:42

Jean, Darlene, Jacqueline Written and performed by Marie Crook Set in Cringle Park Each morning, Jean puts on a different version of herself - a different wig, a different name. One day, a stranger in her local park mistakes her for someone else entirely. And for a little while, Jean plays along Set in Cringle Park, Jean, Darlene, Jacqueline is a q…

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4.2 - Field Notes: Gives | Splice | Agents 5:37

1M ago5:37

5:37

Gives | Splice | Agents (Highfield Country Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Highfield Country Park Highfield Country Park is one of Levenshulme’s largest green spaces - a mix of woodland, meadow, paths and water, where people and wildlife move together through the seasons. This sound…

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4.0 - Parakeet by Dipika Mummery 17:48

1M ago17:48

17:48

Parakeet Written and performed by Dipika Mummery Set in Highfield Country Park As snow falls on Highfield Country Park, Neena walks with her partner Mo. He’s made a decision - one that could take them away from the life they’ve built together. Parakeet is a quiet, powerful story about belonging, uncertainty, and what it means to put down roots. Dip…

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3.2 - Field Notes: Lease | Moves | Slower 5:21

1M ago5:21

5:21

Lease | Moves | Slower (Chapel Street Park Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate An audio piece created using field recordings gathered in Chapel Street Park Tucked behind terraced streets, not far from the railway, between a primary school and a pub, Chapel Street Park is a quiet, open space threaded with memory and movement. This soundscape bring…

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3.0 - Lignum Vitae - Hette Phillips 36:18

1M ago36:18

36:18

Lignum Vitae Written and performed by Hette Phillips Set in Chapel Street Park A park watches the people who pass through: the ones who gather, the ones who grieve, the ones who disappear. With a voice that is slow, patient and rooted, Lignum Vitae unfolds as a quiet observation of life from the perspective of a place that is always changing but al…

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2.2 - Field Notes: Fears | Boring | Chip 13:23

1M ago13:23

13:23

Fears | Boring | Chip (Nutsford Vale Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered in Nutsford Vale Nutsford Vale sits in a quiet dip between roads and houses - once a clay pit, later a landfill, now a park. It’s a place shaped by layers, histories and reinvention. This soundscape gathers sounds and text…

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2.0 - Tripe by Verity Platt 17:58

1M ago17:58

17:58

Tripe Written and performed by Verity Platt Set in Nutsford Vale Marta walks through Nutsford Vale, her thoughts drifting between motherhood, inheritance and the body - the weight of care and the strange rituals that shape our days. Set in a park that was once a clay pit, then a tip, Tripe is a lyrical, layered meditation on usefulness, repetition …

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1.2 - Field Notes: Truck | Intelligible | Gains 4:48

1M ago4:48

4:48

Truck | Intelligible | Gains (Fallowfield Loop Soundscape) Sound design by Oscillate A soundscape created using field recordings gathered on the Fallowfield Loop The Fallowfield Loop curves through South Manchester - a former railway line turned walking and cycling route, lined with overgrown platforms, graffiti, birdsong and nature. This soundscap…

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1.0 - Litter by Valerie O'Riordan 14:19

1M ago14:19

14:19

Litter Written and performed by Valerie O’Riordan Set on the Fallowfield Loop A man follows his ex-wife along a local litter-picking route, trying to make sense of the past, the future and what it means to let go. Set against the backdrop of the Fallowfield Loop, Litter is a story of disconnection, stubbornness and longing - and the way even the mo…

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5.1 - A Portrait of a Park: Cringle Park 12:06

1M ago12:06

12:06

Cringle Park – Portrait of the Park Sound design by Oscillscope Cringle Park is a space for walking, sitting, drifting - a park with open paths and quiet corners, home to a mysterious stone circle and the routines of daily life. In this portrait, writer Marie Crook reflects on the role Cringle Park plays in her creative process, and how the texture…

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4.1 - A Portrait of a Park: Highfield Country Park 10:17

1M ago10:17

10:17

Highfield Country Park – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Highfield Country Park stretches across woodland, open ground and winding trails - a space for wandering, noticing and sometimes getting a little lost. In this portrait, writer Dipika Mummery shares her personal connection to Highfield, re…

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3.1 - A Portrait of a Park: Chapel Street Park 17:57

1M ago17:57

17:57

Chapel Street Park – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Tucked behind houses and running alongside the railway, Chapel Street Park is a small, open space with a quiet kind of presence - a place of memory and movement. In this portrait, we hear reflections from writer Hette Phillips and a local volu…

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2.1 - A Portrait of a Park: Nutsford Vale 15:42

1M ago15:42

15:42

Nutsford Vale – Portrait of the Park Produced by Levenshulme Old Library Sound design by Oscilloscope Nutsford Vale was once a clay pit, then a landfill - now it’s a green space shaped by care, campaigning, and community vision. In this portrait, we hear from the people who helped make that transformation possible. Their reflections reveal the long…

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You Are Here: Five Stories About Levenshulme’s Parks (Trailer) 0:22

3M ago0:22

0:22

You Are Here: Five Short Stories About Parks in Levenshulme You Are Here is a podcast of five original short stories, each inspired by one of Levenshulme’s green spaces. Written by some of Manchester's finest authors, these stories blend fiction with place, shaped by the histories, landscapes and lives that pass through them. Alongside these storie…

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The Woman in the Park by Lucy Edmiston 19:49

6M ago19:49

19:49

A ghost story for Christmas. Mary, a new mother in a new town, seeks solace in her local park. But who is the strange woman who mirrors her lonely walks? As the winter sets in, Mary gradually begins to question her marriage, her sanity, and the hidden connections between her past and this unsettling figure in the snow.Lucy Edmiston is a writer and …

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The Letter Box on Cromwell Grove 16:36

6M ago16:36

16:36

A ghost story for Christmas. When Ukrainian refugee Olga moves in with the quiet, grieving Wilsons, she finds herself perturbed by the eerie stillness of their home and its strange collection of antiques. As unsettling events unfold, Olga realizes that the house holds secrets she never could have imagined.Reshma Ruia is a poet, novelist and co-foun…

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Spirit Level by Sophie Parkes 12:15

6M ago12:15

12:15

A ghost story for Christmas. A woman, unsettled by the flaws in her new home ‒ dank walls, faulty lights, strange sounds in the rain ‒ finds herself shadowed by a presence that defies logic and drives her to drastic, ritualistic acts. Is the house harbouring something both ancient and inexorable? Or is she merely losing her grip on reality? Sophie …

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Instructions From the Other House by Abi Hynes 15:43

6M ago15:43

15:43

A ghost story for Christmas. Lauren, a mother struggling with sleepless nights, uncovers the dark past of her new home as mysterious disturbances disrupt her children's rest. As eerie messages from a reclusive neighbor hint at lurking dangers, Lauren must confront the unseen forces threatening her family's safety.Abi Hynes is a drama and fiction wr…

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Trespassers by David Gaffney 18:15

6M ago18:15

18:15

A ghost story for Christmas. When a train stalls on a bridge in Levenshulme in Manchester, three regular commuters pass the time by sharing ghost stories. But when one passenger recounts a recent unsettling encounter under the very bridge they’re now stranded on, the silence around them begins to feel anything but empty. David Gaffney is the author…

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The Lamb by Fia Harrington 19:32

6M ago19:32

19:32

A ghost story for Christmas. After escaping the clutches of a religious cult, a young woman struggles to adapt to life in a dreary flat. Haunted by memories of forbidden love, visions of her past and a strange sound which echoes through the pipes, she realises the past may still have a hold on her. Fia Harrington has had two short stories published…

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Pipistrello by Ella Sprakarn 13:44

7M ago13:44

13:44

Happy Halloween! We have a treat for you - a tale that unfolds on the familiar paths of the Fallowfield Loop, the former railway line which runs through Manchester which now serves as a popular footpath. In Pipistrello a night walk leads an ecologist and a group of students into the heart of something eerily familiar and deeply uncanny. Meet Matt, …

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The Gift by Marie Crook 14:29

1+ y ago14:29

14:29

In the aftermath of a catastrophe, Ellen agrees to use a long-lost ability to connect the shattered community with the afterlife. Orchestrating séances in the Old Library, she fabricates messages of solace to provide the lost locals with a semblance of hope. However, when a stranger enters the building things, the past threatens to intrude on the p…

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Advent by Gaynor Jones 16:06

1+ y ago16:06

16:06

As Christmas approaches, Chloe buys an antique mirror for her mother. But the mirror appears to hold a power, one which Chloe is drawn to. As the fractures in her world multiply, reality begins to blur, Chloe learns that sometimes the most extraordinary gifts come with unforeseen consequences. Gaynor Jones is the author of Among These Animals. She …

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Magic Eye by Jo Howard 19:01

1+ y ago19:01

19:01

Jennie is a trainee teacher eager to make World War I come alive for her new class. She strives to connect with Zehra, a mute refugee. Bonding over a magic eye book, they discover an unexpected shared love for history, but Jennie also learns that the past may not yet be over. Jo Howard is a writer of children’s and young adult fiction. Her work has…

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The Continuum by Nicholas Royle 15:58

1+ y ago15:58

15:58

When a cryptic message from an old acquaintance reignites forgotten connections, Nick finds himself drawn into the life Mark, of a former classmate. But who is Mark? Had he actually been the same school as Nick? And is their shared past truly over? Nicholas Royle is the author of five collections of short fiction, two works of nonfiction and seven …

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The Loop by Dyani Sheppard 15:31

1+ y ago15:31

15:31

Beneath the cadence of her running steps, Helen discovers an eerie harmony on the Fallowfield Loop - an isolated former railway line, now a public footpath. Haunted by the echoes of an historic train accident, she finds herself drawn by a mysterious song she hears on the Loop, a melody that seems all too familiar. Ghosts at the Old Library is produ…

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Gratitude by Lauren O'Donoghue 17:40

1+ y ago17:40

17:40

A young woman navigates the aftermath of her father's death, As she struggles with her grief, mysterious offerings of soil materials in her home, and she finds that living and the departed may now be as separate as she thought. Lauren O'Donoghue is a writer from South Yorkshire. Her fiction has been published in ergot and Mslexia among others. Ghos…

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Ghost Story by Melissa Wan 15:43

2+ y ago15:43

15:43

The year is 1778. Rose is celebrating Boxing Day with her parents when her husband returns home. Peter is soaking wet and seems preoccupied, but this isn't the oddest thing about him: Rose's husband has been dead for 20 years. Melissa Wan is the author of This Must Be Earth, published by Nightjar Press. Her other short fiction has been published by…

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Plum Porter by Richard V. Hirst 15:35

2+ y ago15:35

15:35

A retired builder relates his experiences when working on the foundations of a demolished Victorian library building beneath which he discovered a door in the ground. Richard V. Hirst is a writer and editor based in Manchester.By Levenshulme Old Library

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A Holy Trinity by Marie Crook 17:25

2+ y ago17:25

17:25

Ange's life is one of routine: marriage, children and a job in her local library. But when it's announced that the neighbouring swimming baths are to be closed down, she finds it provokes a fierce and inexplicable reaction - both in herself and seemingly in the two buildings. Marie Crook is a writer based in Levenshulme. Her work has been published…

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The Only by Adam Farrer 16:37

2+ y ago16:37

16:37

Ghosts at the Old Library is a series of ghost stories for Christmas commissioned by Levenshulme Old Library, a former Carnegie library building in South Manchester, now the home to a local community arts charity. In 'The Only' a young boy relates the story of how he died in the library and became a ghost - and the terror that awaits him. Adam Farr…