Maternal Love: Sasha and Paddy

Available for over a year

In a new series for Radio 4, mounted in conjunction with the British Library, Fi Glover introduces the second of a series of encounters capturing the nation in conversation. Sasha is a mother from Berkshire whose son, Paddy has an inherited heart condition. They talk about life together at home in Marlborough. The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a sort of snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. Listeners are given a unique opportunity to eavesdrop on these moments of closeness that capture the essence both of a special relationship and of something that really matters to them both. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium, while Radio 4 is broadcasting three of these jewel-like moments each Friday, with an omnibus on Sundays at 2.45pm. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject The next conversation is before the midnight News.