Link to your song

What are your links to Reading? What is the feeling behind your song and how does it link to climate change?

Hi my name is Jude, I moved to the Reading area in 2007 from Bristol, and live on the outskirts of Reading. I make theatre and music with Rank & File, Reading Refugee Support Group and the community of Reading.

Due to my work with Reading Refugee Support Group I was keen to relate the issue of displacement with climate change, and to find out a little bit more on the subject.
Here are some of my thoughts.

Climate change is now found to be a key factor accelerating all other drivers of forced displacement. The persons displaced are not truly migrants, in the sense that they did not move voluntarily. As forcibly displaced and not covered by the refugee protection regime, they find themselves in a legal void.Extreme weather events, such as floods and storms, heatwaves and drought, are already displacing an estimated 41 people each minute, and as temperatures continue to increase, climate extremes will worsen, sea levels will rise, and the world’s most vulnerable will bear the brunt.

Once I started looking at the two things side by side I realised climate change can also be seen as a human rights issue. There is growing awareness of vulnerable communities, and the need to give voice and international protection to what is now termed climate refugees.

While no country is safe from climate impacts, it’s the poorest and most vulnerable communities – those who did the least to cause the climate crisis – who are hardest hit. While they account for just 1% of global emissions, the worlds least developed countries have seen 99% of the deaths from climate and weather related disasters.

My song ‘Timeline’ which I recorded on my mobile phone is about love, loss and limitations. It is about our lives on this planet with it’s limited resources, and our desires and hopes for a life filled with belonging and connection. Even if we have very little of our own.

Here are some of it’s contributing themes in no particular order:

Disruption in our current times, our desire to live a life with various social, political or economic rights and privileges, and our drive to build a better future with what we have left.

Reading Refugee Support Group was formed in 1994 to help Refugees and Asylum Seekers living in Berkshire. We support hundreds Refugees from more than 50 countries, who have escaped war, famine, persecution, environmental catastrophe and modern slavery. Many of our clients have been victims of human trafficking and have No Recourse to Public Funds. We work to improve the quality of lives of Refugees and Asylum Seekers by offering a safe space; social activities; Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) certified advice; practical support; and help accessing education and employment.

Further information about Reading Refugee Support Group can be found at www.rrsg.org.uk

I would like to dedicate this song to Eddie Winship, who was an inspirational man and left a lasting impact in the community of Reading. He generously gave me a 12 string and gretsch steel guitar. We spent happy times talking about Lowden guitars which I played to record this song.I brought my Lowden when I was 16, and spent a fair while paying for it! Though the small music shop in Exeter where I brought it let me take the guitar with just a £50 holding deposit. 🙂

Your website or social media page

https://soundcloud.com/user-669692269

Summarise the mood of the song: Lament