Radio General – a not-for-profit hospital broadcaster based in Warrington - is proud to present a dramatisation of Wilfred Owen's "The Send Off", devised and written by Walter Dain. It goes out on the Afternoon Mix on Monday, 24th July, from 12noon till 3pm. You can tune in by visiting our website - www.radiogeneral.co.uk - from your computer or laptop, or by using an app such as Tune In on your mobile.
Radio General's remit is to promote health and well-being, and the arts have a proven track record in this regard. My own view is that we should also strive to inform, educate and entertain, and when you put these two things together you get radio drama. When Walter first suggested the idea I jumped at it straightaway: "The Send Off", and a drama based on William Wordsworth's "Westminster Bridge", are our first forays into it.
The arts can speak truth to power. Sometimes, as in Communist-era science-fiction in the USSR, it has to do so obliquely. But at other times it can be more explicit, such as in the Vietnam protest songs of the 60s – or the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Our target audience is anybody and everybody. Obviously those who enjoy these two poets, poetry in general or radio drama. But more generally, anybody who has the curiosity to tune in. If such a person enjoys it, but then takes that enjoyment no further, we shall still have succeeded. But if they pick up a book on poetry or history, or put pen to paper and unleash that hidden scribe, or in some way engage with their community, we will be jackpot winners many times over.
It's as simple as that.
