Everyone has a story Let us tell yours
Yarn is your story in your words
Weaving together the threads of your life to create an audio legacy for you and for future generations
Take a listen…
(volume turned up)
“We were thrilled - so many stories brought to life.
It is so precious to be able to sit as a family and hear them again and again.”
Abby Mangold
Yarn’s team of expert storytellers
Your Yarn is a collaboration with award-winning documentary makers
Meet the team
Toby Sculthorp
Toby is a journalist and documentary film maker with nearly forty years’ experience telling stories from all over the world.
After two decades at the BBC’s current affairs and documentary departments he joined Keo Films, one of Britain’s leading independent production companies.
In 2015 he was asked by Sky News to set up their first long form film unit. He has won a BAFTA, two Royal Television Society Awards, a Foreign Press Association Award and nominations for the Prix Europa and the Golden Nymph at Monte Carlo.
Toby lives with his wife and children in the Surrey Hills.
David Belton
In a thirty year career in broadcasting, David has interviewed hundreds of documentary contributors and directed some of Britain’s leading actors and presenters for British and American television.
He’s made more than forty films, interviewing Britain’s most senior politicians for the BBC-2 series, ‘Blair and Brown – the New Labour Revolution’, and spending a year filming thirty raw recruits for the hit BBC-1 documentary series, ‘Soldiers to Be’, to directing Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings) in the Bafta award-winning documentary, ‘The Power of Art’ to following the Amish for his Emmy-nominated documentary feature.
He also co-wrote the original story and produced the award-winning feature, “Shooting Dogs”, starring Sir John Hurt and his book, “When the Hills Ask for Your Blood” was The Independent and New Statesman’s Book of the Week.
He lives in Oxford with his wife, Julia, a child psychotherapist and their two children.
Alexandra Mason
Alexandra Mason is a TV and audio producer who specialises in history and archive driven documentaries.
Her films have included Extraordinary Women, a series that charted the lives of some of the most influential women of the 20thcentury; the history of America through the life and work of Andy Warhol and a landmark series on the Second World War with Tom Hanks.
She has worked on award winning films, including the Specialist Factual BAFTA winning series, Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners with David Olusoga.
In her life before TV, Alexandra trained at the Oxford School of Drama. She also spent three years living in Azerbaijan with her diplomat husband where she worked for Channel 4 on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and worked with local filmmakers, supporting Baku’s first documentary festival. Alexandra currently lives in London with her husband, Matt and two young children, Harry and Josh.
Melissa FitzGerald
Melissa FitzGerald is an award-winning audio content producer with executive producer credits for the BBC and other commercial broadscasters.
Past programmes include Surrealism Remixed; Trapped in the System; Wonderlands; Andrea Levy: In Her Own Words; Beckett's Last Tapes; Prime Ministers' Props and Churchill's Other Lives for BBC Radio 4; Talking About Silence for BBC Radio 3 and Women Writing Zimbabwe, Faith in the Fire and Salam to Queen and Country for BBC World Service.
She also has numerous podcast executive producer and series producer credits, including the Trapped: The IPP Prisoner Scandal; Tony Robinson's Cunningcast; Going Viral for the Wellcome Trust; Great Thinkers for the British Academy; Bettany Hughes's Ten Places for the National Trust and Hear Her Voice for Global.
She is married with two children and a dog and lives in South London.
Every Yarn producer is a seasoned and acclaimed storyteller of the highest calibre and experience
“It was immediately comforting to hear Daddy’s voice, to hear stories that I could listen to forever like a warm hug”
Rachel Wilson
Your Yarn
An audio documentary of the life and times of a family member or friend through their own words, weaving memories, music and archive.
Our team of broadcasters record and edit your Yarn to the highest professional standards.
Price: £5,000 (excl. VAT)
What’s included?
5 year renewable, secure cloud storage with access via unique URL and password
A fully formatted stereo WAV audio file provided on a branded USB drive
3 months free hosting on a discrete server with a shareable web address
All related expenses for travel, equipment, rights clearance and editing
Choose a format
Frame-mounted vinyl disc with QR code access: £300
The Yarn will be pressed onto a 180gm 12” vinyl and mounted in a wall display which will include a QR code to access the Yarn through any mobile device.
Framed photograph with QR code access: £100
A QR code embedded into a framed family photo will provide easy access to the Yarn through any mobile device.
Playable and personalised fridge magnet: £200
A magnet-mounted photograph with to play your Yarn at the touch of a button.
Crafting your Yarn
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1. Get in touch
Call or e mail us and we’ll take you step by step through the process of how we make a Yarn. It could be your own Yarn or one you want from a family member.
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2. Research begins
Your Yarn producer will call you and begin the process of finding out about your life and the stories you want to tell.
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3. Let's meet
Either in-person or on a virtual call, your Yarn producer will talk through your Yarn in more detail. Together you’ll discuss music options as well as other audio archive to be woven into your story.
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4. The Yarn Interview
Our Yarn producer will come to you and record an interview. We find most interviews last 4-5 hours and we take plenty of breaks.
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5. Weaving your Yarn
Working with your interview, music and audio archive, we will edit your Yarn into a premium quality audio documentary to broadcast standards. It’s where the creativity happens and this can take up to two weeks to complete.
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6. Your completed Yarn
We’ll deliver your Yarn in a format of your choice and also upload it to our password-protected website so you can access it anytime.
FAQs
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From the initial interviews to the final polished edit—blended with music, archival sound, and voice—the full production typically unfolds over several weeks to ensure every detail is thoughtfully captured and beautifully told.
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Absolutely—you’re welcome to suggest music that holds meaning for you or reflects the tone you’d prefer.
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The location of the interview is entirely up to you. We can record in the comfort of your home, at a quiet location of your choice, or even remotely if preferred—whatever makes you feel most relaxed and at ease for sharing your story.
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Yes, payment plans are available. We can arrange a schedule that works for you. Whether that’s splitting the cost over several months or aligning with key project milestones.
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After out initial call, we’ll book you into the team schedule which would usually be within a month and then provide a detailed timeline for each stage. Get in touch today.
Reviews of Yarn
Sally, Oxfordshire
"Yarn wove the tangled threads of our memories into a beautiful tapestry which our family will treasure.”
Abby, Chiswick
“So many stories, some familiar, some new and now all of them unforgettable.”
“To hear Dad’s voice was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. We now have memories to treasure forever.”
Rachel, Surrey
Susie, Suffolk
“To hear his voice means so much”
Phil, Surrey
“I’m delighted with the result. In fact it is quite difficult to type with misty eyes.”
