大象传媒

Andrea Bell and friends run a soup kitchen and food bank in Sunderland.

Her story is part of Radio 2鈥檚 21st Century Folk, where singers write brand new songs about real people from the North East of England.

The Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen serves free food to people in need, four nights a week. In 2023, the service is busier than ever, welcoming homeless people and any family or individual struggling to make ends meet.

Andrea meets Martyn Joseph, the singer-songwriter from Cardiff, who learns about the soup kitchen and its team of volunteers before taking the time to write a brand new song. Later, he returns to perform it directly to Andrea herself.

Armed with an observer鈥檚 eye for detail, a gift for dramatic lyrical twists, and his guitar, Martyn travels the world performing powerful songs about relationships, family, and society more widely. He has a history of involvement with humanitarian projects. His latest release, 1960, is his 23rd album and came out in 2021.

21st Century Folk is inspired by the classic 大象传媒 Radio Ballads. It sees five real listeners have songs written about their lives.

With presenter Mark Radcliffe.