During the compilation of "Bygone Pembury" in 2022 I noticed a collection of audio tapes in the Mary Standen Archive housed deep in the vaults of the local library.   In late 2023 I requested to borrow the tapes in order to make digital copies before the tapes degraded or disintegrated. This I did in December 2023 but have not had the courage or stamina to listen to all of them to their ends. The files were trimmed to length to remove silence and dead time at the front and end of the recordings. Nothing has been done to clean up the audio quality or remove background noise.  The quality is quite poor as Mary Standen obviously had little understanding of audio recording. It is assumed she just started her domestic cassette recorder going while chatting to her friends and neighbours. From the nature of the recordings it seems she was trying to capture the memories of elderly residents of Pembury, particularly some living around Sandhurst Avenue.  There are no dates on the tapes so they were created sometime prior to Mary's death in 2002. A few have now been dated by Kathy Wallwork. Some tapes were only recorded one side.  A few of these recordings were over existing music recordings, so the tail end of the narrative is followed by music. This has been trimmed from the digital files. One tape (No 7) has a defect at about 60% of its travel and deteriorates into audio mush.  This has also been trimmed. It is hoped that one day, when these files have had a few hearings, we may be able to add some descriptions on this page. Anyone with any further helpful information please make contact via the email address at the bottom of the page. Anyone with the skills and tools to re-master, clean or enhance these audio files is welcome to try. The files are in standard MP3 format and should play via your computer, tablet or mobile phone when you activate a link. File 1     Dora and Lizzie File 2     John Taverner,  Sandhurst Road     10 Nov 1999 File 3     Jim Young at 80  talking to Mary Standen - Part 1    7 Nov 1990 File 4     Jim Young at 80 talking to Mary Standen - Part 2    7 Nov 1990 File 5     Mary Standen - The Old Parish Church File 6     Mrs Atherton and Mary Standen File 7    Mrs Freda Vidgen (Born 1907) Thanks to Susan Rogers and the staff at Pembury Library for assisting in this little venture.

Tony Nicholls 2023