Light on Leeds

Tony Macaluso (Co-Director of Chapel FM and Heads Together Productions) and Peter Spafford (Chapel FM, Dircetor of Words) remotely connected to tell me about all of the great work they are doing at Chapel FM: "East Leeds FM was created back in 2003 as a pilot project run by Heads Together Productions with students from John Smeaton High School. It has grown and developed since then and in 2014 we saved the crumbling old Seacroft Chapel to create Chapel FM; a new home for ELFM and the...

Faye Phillips remotely connected to tell me about her self-published book The Pumpkin Pantry which includes 91 delicious vegan recipes. "A quirky little scrapbook of 91 rounds of tasty glorious vegan grub. Right up your tastebud's street and packing a super splendidly delicious and nutritious punch, this is one motley collection aimed to have you both firing on all cylinders, back for seconds (or thirds), to be enjoyed by all. "Faye Phillips will donate £2 to NHS Charities Together...

I had a great time chatting to Becky Houlding, Operations Manager at New Wortley Community Association. Becky told me all about their great work helping the people of New Wortley and Armley. She talks about their food store, community laundry, offender support programme, community cafe, counselling service and much, much more. The song featured on this episode is "Titanium" by the wonderful Cry Baby Cry . This episode was produced by Richard...

The Highrise Project is the brainchild of visual artists Victoria Kotrekaas and Louise Atkinson. "The Highrise Project was originally set up to explore the links between architecture and social relations within municipal highrise buildings and council-built estates. The project uses ethnographic and creative research, which is co-produced with residents. Through exploring the history of social housing, our aim was to highlight the stories, benefits, and challenges of living in social...

Rich Huxley (of Hope & Social fame) connected with me to tell me all about the Music From The Attic project. It is a community music group of "lapsed" musicians who were encouraged to pick up their instruments again. Music From the Attic have headlined the Kirkstall Festival, played at the Lord Mayor's Charity Dinner and performed at many more charity gigs. "Open to people of all ages and abilities, MFTA aims to inspired everyone to pick up their dusty instruments, shake out their singing...

Paul "Wilko" Wilkes remotely connected to tell me about his work as a Digital Inclusion Co-ordinator at Leeds City Council. He also tells me about how he has pushed himself to get out there and perform - you can check out his fantastic featured track "Stalked By A Stranger" at the end of the episode. Richard Hatton produced this episode. Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3buELA1 Facebook - http://facebook.com/WilkoWilkesMusic Instagram - http://instagram.com/WilkoWilkesMusic Twitter -...

Catherine Warr remotely connected to tell me all about her great passion for Yorkshire History and her incredibly popular YouTube channel. The beautiful song featured on this episode is "Only Friends" by Beth Kilburn. This episode was produced by Richard Hatton. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4EhKVJccvPDs5dF8hxQ3JQ https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=yorkshire%27s%20hidden%20history http://www.catherinewarrshistorytours.com/ https://www.facebook.com/beth.kilburn.37

Katie Hall remotely connected with me all the way from Vouleme in France to tell me how she got there, how she is coping with a French lockdown and about her very exciting plans for the future. Katie chose to feature two tracks by the very talented Lewis Hall - do check out his work and Katie's Go Fund Me page (links below). "Legacy is a project created in order to offer disadvantaged and/or city dwelling children the opportunity to spend time learning how to love and care for the natural...

Kenn Taylor is the Lead Cultural Producer North at the British Library based at Boston Spa. There are over 170 million items stored there and in 2023 they will be celebrating their 50th birthday. Kenn tells me about the work they do at the British Libray and about their collaboration with Invisible Flock on "Faint SIgnals": "An invitation to slow down, an opportunity to experience an imagined British woodland, densely populated with sounds of nature from the British Library’s...

Archie Brooks remotely connected to tell me about Assembly House in Armley - an artist led studio housing 21 artists in an old textile mill. Archie chose to feature the track "The Hunt" by Three Streets - it's certainly one to rock out to! This episode was produced by Richard Hatton. https://www.assemblyhouse.art/ https://www.facebook.com/assemblyhousestudios/ https://twitter.com/assembly_leeds?lang=en https://www.instagram.com/assembly_leeds/?hl=en Archie's piece...

I have known Augustus for quite a while, so when he told me about his project to raise money for a school in Ghana I asked him to remotely connect and tell me all about it. If you are inspired to help out and donate after listening to him speak, you can do so on the link below. The featured song on this episode is the excellent "Monochrome" by Introspective, a newly located University of Leeds band all aged 18-19 - it's a great...

It was great to catch up with Chesca Joy the Artistec Director of Imagine If Theatre Company (founded by her in 2015) and based in Armley Leeds. Chesca tells me about her grandad who she based her play Jadek on, how she got into writing through getting into trouble. Free as a Bird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqL-1_S8ok8 Jadek trailer:...

Welcome to this new series entitled Light On - pretty much the same as Light On Leeds except in this series I shine the light a little wider onto people doing amazing things outsideof Leeds. My first guest is a person I have known online for many years, Jane Badrock. Jane is an author and remotely connects to tell me all about how she came to be writing novels and about her inspiration. The wonderful Nicky Bray wrote, sang and recorded the brilliant theme tune for this series. This...

Happy New Year Leeds (and beyond!)! Boff Whalley is my guest on this episode that was recorded just before Christmas. Boff is formerly the lead guitarist of Chumbawamba, is a playwright and the founder of the Commoner's Choir - amongst much else! He talks to me about his love of fell-running and the play he has written the music for "The Hills are Ours" by Dan Bye. Please check out the links below to hear the Commoner' Choir for yourself. Boff chose to feature the brilliant track "Ferry...

Tony Lambert was a blast to remotely talk to - he told me all about the fantastic project Bringing It All Back Home which is a mental health project using music as a resource - music recorded at Chapel Studios in Holbeck. Tony and his musos have created The Lockdown Album featuring 14 songs and is available on Band Camp. He chose to feature a fabulous version of "Mad World" by Stoneblower. Do go and have a listen to the album on te Band Camp page and donate if you are able! BIABH is a...

Colin Griffiths is a Store Co-ordinator at SCRAP - a wonderful and much loved resource for arts and play. Colin tells me about his background in graphic design about being a "Reimagineer" and some of the amazing items that have turned up in the scrap store. Colin chose to feature the song "The People" by The Music a Leeds band who have a loyal following (1999-2011) and are having a huge reunion gig at Temple Newsam in May 2021. "SCRAP Centre of Creative, Reuse Play and Learning is a...

I really enjoyed chatting to Adekola and I was veryhonoured to hear him perform a beautiful poem in this episode. "Abdullah Adekola is a writer, performer, poetry promoter, and all-around creative based in Leeds UK. He writes, performs and teaches poetry. He believes people need hope and they need stories. He believes you should tell your story or risk being ignored or misrepresented His style is playful, philosophical, and romantic. He has had an immigrant experience and is a...

Alan Lane is the artistic director of Slung Low which is an award winning theatre company specialising in making performances usually in non-theatre spaces. Their work has adapted to running a food bank during the Corona pandemic and together they have fed many, many people. This weekend they are holding their annual Christnas Fayre which I am very much looking forward to attending myself. "The Government has very kindly agreed that the second lockdown will end just in time for our tenth...

Ruth Middleton is the community producer at the wonderful Slung Low. She remotely connected to tell me about all of the amazing work they do and how she got involved. Leeds theatre company Slung Low has published a children’s book and launched an initiative that aims to give every child in Holbeck a copy. In early October three of the Slung Low team spent a week at Holbeck’s Ingram Road Primary School reading ‘Emergency Story Penguin’ to the children and gave all 340 of them a copy. “It...

Jon and Dan remotely connected to tell me about The Liquor Studio, Yorkshire's first and only Spirit School and creative drinks space. "The Liquor Studio is the brainchild of two thirds of The Hedonist Bar, Dan Crowther & Jonathan Lee. Hedonist is a staple of Leeds’ thriving independent bar scene & over the last four years has become one of the city’s coolest cult bar brands. Through this Jon & Dan have created one of the UK’s leading hospitality and drinks consultancy companies, Hedonist...