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Anyone who remembers the golden era of Blue Peter will understand why i’ve had a memorable, if slightly surreal, week. I grew up hanging on the every word of John Noakes, Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton, so if you’re of similar ‘middle age’ to me you’ll realise what a momentous occasion the burying of a time capsule in the programme’s garden was. There have been a couple over the years I believe, but the one i remember most was in 1971 when I was 8 years old.  It was dug up a few years ago, and although there were a few leaks, and a bit of water damage, a collection of Blue Peter Annuals, badges, videos and various bits of memorabilia remained largely intact.
It was an era when we only had a couple of TV channels and everyone seemed to watch the same programmes.  Because of that, the BP ‘time capsule’ has taken on legendary ‘iconic’ status over the years. So I hope you can imagine my delight when i was asked to play a part in providing some content for a time capsule buried in the centre of Exeter this week. It’s on the site of the old Texaco garage in Western Way which is currently being redeveloped by the Cornerstone Housing Association. Not only will it become a new head office for the company, but nine social housing flats are being built there and should be ready to live in by the middle of next year.
Chief Executive Rick Williams came into the Exeter FM radio studio to be interviewed by me, and suggested a copy of the recording could go into the time capsule. An audio keepsake, if you like, to explain what the project was all about for future generations, along with company information, brochures and lots of pictures of how the site used to look, and images of the building work.
After some discussion about which format to use we decided on a memory stick, although, as someone pointed out later, there’s no guarantee that, with technology moving on so fast, there will be anything suitable to play it on in future years !
The idea is to dig it up in 2061, so if I make it to 98, I have made a note in my diary to be at the unearthing !
Because radio broadcasting is normally so immediate, it was a little odd, to say the least,  making a recording which could survive for 50 years.  You feel the need to say something deep and meaningful in the best Queen’s English, so apologies in advance to my grandchildren if I have failed miserably.
It seems that business is booming for time capsule manufacturers. Just take a look on the internet if you don’t believe me. Nowadays they’re purpose built and you can get loads of stuff inside, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to survive the test of time. So i’m really tempted to get my own and bury it in the back garden !  Mind you it would probably take me a few years to decide what to put in it !  I do have one definite thought though. That parking ticket I got outside Central railway station a few weeks ago. I’d be quite happy not to see that again for several decades !