“COMMUNITY radio,” said Shirley Ludford, of Swindon 105.5fm, "Provides opportunities you can’t get anywhere else.”

“It really is giving people a voice, and we really are part of Swindon, the community.

“We’re used by so many, we work with so many that we’re quite an integral part of the town. It’s the only station there has ever been that’s totally dedicated to Swindon.

“It’s a totally local service by people who’ve all got a connection with Swindon.

“I don’t think you’d get a more eclectic mix of music styles anywhere else in the country.

“There’s a place for each kind of radio station that we have in the area but in Swindon it’s different. We get more of an eclectic mix of music and styles and personalities.

“In that way it kind of represents Swindon - it’s a very honest station.”

The eclecticism encompasses folk, rock, country, world music, club music, soul, reggae, Motown, eighties music, show music, Caribbean, Latin, three programmes a week with live local acts and a show called Under The Covers which consists entirely of famous tracks played by other artists.

These are interspersed with chat, interviews and non-commercial ‘infomercials’ by local interest groups.

Thanks to being an online, as well as an FM station, it is heard by expat Swindonians all over the world, especially at Christmas.

Shirley insists on good standards.

“There is a huge difference between ‘amateur’ and ‘amateurish’ – so we try to ensure people are taught and learn how to produce and present their programmes in as professional a way as possible, so they get pride in what they do, the listeners enjoy what they hear and the station’s reputation is good.

“People expect quality. There are loads of choices on the dial these days, and if you don’t produce something that’s of reasonable quality, people will go elsewhere.”

Born in Old Town, Shirley’s local connections could hardly be stronger. A great grandfather was Wootton Bassett’s last blacksmith; a grandfather, Reg Lawrence, was Swindon’s last, and kept his forge on a site now occupied by Zurich.

Her late father was a carpenter, carpet layer and antique restorer who reached the point of retirement before deciding to buy furniture store Gilberts of Swindon.

Shirley’s mother was a seamstress who worked for British Airways and helped to dress the interior of Concorde.

Shirley attended Headlands School and Swindon College before joining Plessey’s training department and then Burmah’s finance department. She left Burmah to spend a year in Corsica as tutor to a French family’s children.

That job came about because she happened to see it advertised in a magazine.

For the woman who eventually became one of Swindon’s best known radio personalities, there was no early ambition to go into broadcasting: “None whatsoever! Everything I’ve done in my life, it’s because it’s felt right at the time,” she said.

“I can’t think of anything I’ve planned in my life, to be honest. I’m a great believer that if things feel right, then have a go.”

Nevertheless, broadcasting was the world she found herself in after returning to her home town.

“My mother was featured in a television programme by Swindon Viewpoint, the town’s cable television service.

“We went to the studios in Victoria Road, which is where The Jewel In The Crown is now, to watch the programme. I thought, ‘This is interesting.’

“The team invited me to go in the next morning. I did, and before I knew it I had a pair of headphones on and was standing behind a camera, panning from left to right and filming XTC.”

Shirley initially worked as a secretary at Swindon Viewpoint, filling in as a full-time secretary recovered from a car crash.

“During that time a lady called Betty Kerr from Park South – I’ll always hold her responsible! – rang up and said she wanted a radio service for Swindon. At the time there was no radio service for Wiltshire at all.”

Swindon Viewpoint had been piping radio from Bristol between TV broadcasts, but Shirley was persuaded to take the helm of a trial Swindon radio venture.

“We called it Mum’s The Word because nobody knew about it.”

For that first show she managed to round up Scottish actor Iain Cuthbertson, who was appearing locally in a play, and the new Miss Swindon. Music was provided by local rock’n’roll expert and collector Alan Burston, who is now 73 and presents a show on Swindon 105.5FM.

Shirley later had long stints at GWR and BBC Wiltshire Sound, and also found time to found Swindon’s talking newspaper from her house.

Some time after an attempt by BBC bosses to relegate her to a backroom role drew protests across the town, Shirley left and spent time in PR and teaching college broadcasting courses.

She has been with Swindon 105.5FM since its trial broadcasts from the old Bulldog pub.

“What has kept us going for seven years is believing in the role the station plays within the community – the difference it makes to people’s lives,” she said.

“We’ve had thousands of people come through the door since we launched and there have been so many success stories.

“Everyone who comes in has got a story of some sort – as we all do – but there are a huge number of really good success stories.

“We’ve made a difference. People have got jobs; kids who’ve perhaps been at risk of exclusion from school have gone to university.

“I’ve got volunteers here who have had major trauma in their lives and have needed their confidence boosting and building, and who’ve got involved in programming in different ways.

“I get a feeling of pride when I stand in the production office and see someone who perhaps had a difficult or abusive marriage, who on their first day here was in floods of tears and who three months later was presenting a programme.”

The website is swindon1055.com