Two Years of Weird in the Wade!

I know I can’t quite believe it either, but as of today, 1st May 2025, it is two years since the first episode of Weird in the Wade was released!

Thank you so much for listening and being part of this weird corner of the podcasting world, and the internet. I really appreciate every one of you, who has listened to the show, liked or commented online, and joined me on this fabulous journey into the past, and all things strange and uncanny.

Before I give you a sneak preview into some exciting things to come for Weird in the Wade in the next year, I wanted to share some thoughts on May Day and Beltane.

May Day

Starting Weird in the Wade on the 1st of May was no accident. I thought it was an auspicious day to start the project. Beltane, as it’s known to pagans of all kinds is the festival of new beginnings, growth and the spring, and it falls on May 1st. It’s the time of year when, in the northern latitudes, the earth springs to life again and boy does it spring. So it’s always been a great time to start something new.

May celebrations are often painted in the mainstream as quite twee, Morris dancers and warm beer on chilly village greens, while children dance around a Maypole and the WI sell jam at a stall. But to me this time of year has something slightly off kilter about it. Something more than just tradition and history, though they are both things I am fascinated by. For me this time of year is about nature, magic and the wild.

Only a couple of weeks ago the trees were scantily clad, and now they are dazzling in their new green leaves. Blossom petals scatter on the breeze. The road side verges and wastelands are brimming with Queen Anne’s Lace, pignut, cow parsley, forget me nots and cowslips. The grass is stretching skyward and nettles are sprouting. Bees drone and the butterflies have returned, along with the screeching swifts and gurgling house martens.

It’s a time when nature seems to be running wild. Where Green Men and Jack of the Green’s lurk in the neat privet hedges and topiary of suburban gardens. The villages are filled with a flicker and blur of Maypole ribbons, criss-crossing hypnotically, whilst the Morris Men’s bells jangle and an old accordion wheezes out an ancient tune. Where unwary youngsters are lured by the temptations of courtship and sunny weather into the fields, and the woods, along snaking river banks and into the deep green of the night. Lured to places where the fae folk are abroad, like moths fluttering, gathering, watching.

Everything feels just a little giddy. Like the greenness of the hedgerow and forest could overwhelm us at any time. This spring growth-spurt, might just keep going. Vines and weeds, and all of the growing things might clamber over our tarmac roads, send slender sneaking tendrils into our villages and towns. Grasping their way into our concrete and glass, these lithe green shoots like ropes, could soon be entangling us, ensnaring our lives like Sleeping Beauty’s thicket of thorns. Nature could swallow us whole. And maybe it should?

So for me this time of year sums up the weird slightly off kilter nature of the stories I weave in Weird in the Wade.

What’s up next for Weird in the Wade?

I have some great episodes planned for the coming months including:

• Exploring the history and mystery surrounding Royston Cave, a man made cavern it’s lower walls filled with medieval carvings.
• Delving into ghostly battles and visions from the late medieval period, which seem to hark back to the Saxons and Vikings in Biggleswade, Sandy and further afield in Lincolnshire.
• A Biggleswade poltergeist story which stirs up questions about the ethics of telling real life hauntings, as well as, ghost hunts and ghost tourism.
• A visit north of the border to one of Britain’s strangest folk customs The Burry Man.
• A trip to Ampthill and a very strange encounter by cadets in the 1980s.
• Ghosts of the roads around Biggleswade and Bedfordshire.
• And ghosts of the railways around Biggleswade, Bedfordshire and further afield.

So there are plenty of fascinating stories to be explored in the coming months!

Live Podcast Recording

Later this year I will be recording a live episode of Weird in the Wade in Biggleswade. Yes you could be in the audience for this live recording! I will let you all know as soon as tickets are available for that. So watch this space and keep listening to the show, and following on social media.

More episodes anyone?

If you want more Weird in the Wade stories in your life, then every month on Patreon, an exclusive episode is released to patrons for just £3.50 a month. Check out more information about it here: https://www.patreon.com/c/WeirdintheWade

Last year I ran a live stream to celebrate a year of Weird in the Wade talking about my night in a haunted house in York: the chamber of trembling madness. If you missed it last year, you can watch that live stream below and over on YouTube.

Other exciting developments

Here are some other Weird in the Wade adjacent developments.

Self Led Ghost Walk Booklet

After the success of Biggleswade Arts and Theatre Society’s Dramatized Ghost Walk earlier this year, a booklet of the ghost tour is being published. I wrote the script for the dramatic ghost walk and the booklet. The stories in it are based on those you’ve heard on Weird in the Wade, which focus on the mysterious tunnels.

As soon as the ghost tour booklet is available I will let you all know on here, and how to get hold of a copy.

Weird in the Wade Ghost and History Walks

Finally, you have asked and I will deliver. Starting at midsummer, I will be holding some guided ghost walks around Biggleswade. There will be two different walks offered:

• Ghosts and ghouls of Biggleswade
• Crime and Punishment in Biggleswade

The walks will cover some familiar stories to podcast listeners, but with extra details, and some completely new stories as well.

Watch this space for more information in the next fortnight about how to book on to these tours.