We Did It Medway - the culture, history and character of the Medway towns in England

We Did It Medway is a bright, quirky and respectfully irreverent podcast, celebrating the best of Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham and the Hoo Peninsula.

It’s hosted by Rob Flood – local lad, writer, heritage consultant and chairman of the City of Rochester Society – and Philip Dodd, author, publisher and musician. They’ve been meeting people with great stories to tell – and the first episode, dropping midnight on Tuesday 18th June, features Kelly Tolhurst, who was MP for Rochester & Strood, and her Labour opponent in the General Election on 4th July, Lauren Edwards.

But they’re not slugging it out over immigration or the NHS, they’re coming together to share their thoughts on being women in politics and Parliament. More than 100 years after women got the vote, female MPs are still being subjected to blatant sexism by male colleagues in the House, let alone much much worse from online trolls.

We Did It Medway’s first series of 8 episodes will be released every fortnight through the summer. Other episodes include the story of Isaac Newell, who took football to Argentina – with guest Tim Vickery, the BBC’s star South American football correspondent, aka ‘The Legendinho’ – the paddle steamer ‘Medway Queen’ (a true Dunkirk heroine) celebrating its 100th birthday, and the night that Jimi Hendrix played Chatham.

There’s also a sideways look at Charles Dickens, the gay heritage of Chatham, and the musical extravaganza of the annual Sweeps Festival.

We Did It Medway is produced by an all-female, Rochester-based team: Suze Cooper of Big Tent Media, assisted by Emily Crosby Media. The music for the pod is performed by local musicians Rob Shepherd of the Singing Loins, Chris Waller of Staggered Ray, and Vicky Price from the Ashen Keys. The series is supported by the City of Rochester Society.