In this episode of the Harbour Voices podcast, Jack Elphinstone, a Countryside Ranger for Aberdeen City Council, discusses his journey to becoming a ranger and the various responsibilities that come with the role. Tune in to this Festival of the Sea episode to hear Jack’s story and learn more about his work.

In this episode we interview composer Annabel Kershaw who has been commissioned by sound festival to create a new musical score called The Mariner’s Daughter. Annabel has interviewed a number of women for this commission and recorded their experiences, perspectives and connections with the North Sea, either through work or family. Her final musical score will include extracts from their rich and colourful verbatim stories of the sea, all of which have inspired the music.

As part of Aberdeen’s Festival of the Sea 2024, we created a special series of our Harbour Voices podcast. The second episode in this series features an interview with Willie Deas, skipper of The Reaper - a former Fifie Sailing Herring Drifter.

This type of boat was the most popular design of fishing boat on the East Coast of Scotland for the greater part of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Today The Reaper is the flagship of the Scottish Fisheries Museum, Reaper and is berthed in Anstruther harbour outside the Museum. She is now equipped as a floating museum of the herring industry and sailed to Aberdeen to be part of the Festival of the Sea programme.

In this episode Wille shares his lifetime of knowledge of The Reaper, fishing industry and the sea.