A BEACH hut, which plays an atmospheric soundtrack inspired by the coast, has begun its journey around the country in the North-East.

Electronic pop star Martyn Ware, who was a founder member of both Heaven 17 and The Human League, has developed audio for the project and was in Seaham, County Durham, today (Wednesday, July1) for its launch. Next week the installation will move on to Orford Ness, Suffolk and finish up in Porthgain, Pembrokeshire.

Visitors are invited to enter the mini sound booth where they can record their thoughts about what the coast means to them.

Mr Ware, who is from Sheffield, said: “I was very happy to do it because I have done a lot of projects concerned with preserving the acoustic ecology and recording people’s memories.

“In the case of this area and the post-industrial location, maybe people’s memories of sound that used to occur in the industrial parts of town, when there used to be a big community here, has changed.”

The recordings that people make in the hut will be used as contributions towards One and All, an online digital artwork combining audio visual and interactive landscapes.

It has been commissioned by Trust New Art, the National Trust’s contemporary arts programme, and sounduk.

Mr Ware is working with artists Owen Sheers and Tania Kovats, using sound, poetry and art to celebrate the powerful emotional and personal links that people have with coastal landscapes.

As part of the work’s creation, he is travelling with the beach hut, collecting new recordings from the three coastal locations.

The beach hut recordings, together with material from the British Library sound archive, will be reworked, and used by film maker Ben Wigley into a piece about places and memories.

Mr Ware said: “It is something I have become interested in over the years and there has been such a rapid pace of change. Things can often get forgotten and sound is often under appreciated. It is an important part of how we retain our memory.”

The beach hut will be at Noses Point Car Park on East Cliff Road in Seaham until Monday, July 6.

One and All will be available to experience online from November at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/oneandall