29th April 2021 - Day 44 - I prefer radio to TV because the pictures are better. Alistair Cooke

After what was an unexpected cold (and at times very wet) ride this morning, it was great to be met by Jenny Eells from BBC Radio Sheffield outside the Centre as I arrived. I really do appreciate all the support from local communities and, of course, the local media.

Jenny is someone you can’t help but engage with and definitely has that ability on air to sound like she is talking to everyone individually. So - as I missed World Radio Day on 13th February (I’d not started the challenge then), this seems a good day to think about the importance of local radio and how it relates to St Wilfrid’s Centre.

Frank Gillard, who is attributed with the vision for BBC local radio in the 50s and 60s, summed up the benefits as, "aiming to present on the air, and in many different forms and through a multitude of local voices, the running serial story of local life in all its aspects". It seems incredible to us today that the first local BBC radio stations were co-funded with Local Authorities and Sheffield was at the heart of the experiment, being the second station to be launched on 15 November 1967 - just under three months before I was born!

Frank Gillard could, however, have been describing St Wilfrid’s (even though it would be a further 20 years before Mgr Kilgannon’s vision was realised in Sheffield) - "a multitude of local voices, the running serial story of local life in all its aspects". We certainly aim, like local radio, to serve the community both within the Centre and without, celebrating the multitude of voices at the Centre and those of our supporters far and wide.

The interview is likely to be broadcast on Monday - but I’ll keep you posted.

Jenny Eells from BBC Radio Sheffield interviewing me outside the Centre this morning