What happens to a life when you have to leave home aged 16?

And how does it feel to experience homelessness as a mother with young children?

Flic McCann is a playwright who changed her life when she poured her pain onto the page. In our conversation we discuss:

• How it feels to move to another country and marry into a culture outside of your own as a young woman
• The impact of overt racism when raising your children
• Misconceptions around homelessness
• The common kinship and hardships faced by women around the world
• How to rebuild when you feel like you've hit rock bottom

This is a very powerful episode, and one in which Flic shares some of the prejudicial language she faced as the mother of children with mixed heritage.

If you'd like to watch Flic's work being performed, it will be on at the Boardwalk Theatre in Glasgow on April 27th 2024.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you go from earning one GCSE to taking a science-based degree?

And how do you find the resilience to carry on when the promise of a professional footballing career is cut short?

Aynsley Fry is the founder of Gecko Fitness, an organisation which brings together fitness, performance, nutrition and clinical excellence via programmes tailored towards the precise needs of young people and elite athletes alike (and everyone in between!). In our conversation we discuss:

* How lack of sports provision in state schools (and over-exercising children in private schools) impact young people

* How he felt when he realised his football career was over

* What boxing prepared him for in the world of business

* Why a 12-week Personal Training course was a turning point

* How it felt to rock up at university in a BMW M3!

There's also reflections on appreciating university education more when the money's come out of your own pocket, and why it's not the end of the world if you don't ace your GCSEs.

To find out more about Gecko, visit: http://www.geckofitness.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How far will a GCSE in Drama take you?

And how do you change educational policies that harm the area you grew up in?

Curtis James is a filmmaker, photographer, ethnographer and campaigner. As founder of Fieldwork, he uses ethnographic research to document working life. And as a Co-Founder of Class Divide, he's driving change that will positively impact the next generation of students.

In our conversation, we discuss:

* The impact of being young carers on the educational experiences of Curtis and his twin brother

* How individual teachers have the power to shape a life

* Securing a record deal and working alongside the likes of Dave Clarke and Paul Oakenfold

* Travelling the Caribbean producing radio shows for Heineken

* The action he's taking to change punitive educational policies

There's also reflections on navigating the worlds of local government and major corporates when you've come from a council estate, and how one Thatcherite policy actually ended up helping young people out.

To find out more about Class Divide, head to: https://www.classdivide.co.uk/

To connect with Curtis, you can find him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtisjames/

To learn about the Neolithic Cannibals project as part of Brighton Festival, head to: https://brightonfestival.org/whats-on/XXO-neolithic-cannibals-deep-listening-to-the-unheard/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.