Our Lives, Our Stories with Carl Chinn

Our Lives, Our Stories
  • 5.0 (2)
  • History

Our Lives, Our Stories is hosted by social historian and writer Carl Chinn MBE, whose life’s work has been dedicated to bringing to the fore the lives and stories of people too often left out of traditional history books. This podcast is built on a simple but powerful belief: that history must be democratised and that every person’s story matters. In each episode, Carl sits down with guests ranging from well-known figures to community activists and changemakers, exploring the personal histories, experiences, challenges and moments that have shaped who they are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 5d ago

    Larry Hanks

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Larry Hanks, one of the four founders of Birmingham's Pen Museum and, a quarter of a century after it opened, still one of its most devoted volunteers. Larry grew up in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. Larry talks about starting as a trainee draughtsman, and how he learnt that the man who swept the floor had just as much to teach him. He remembers being an ink monitor at school, watching bombs fall in a row into a stream near his home during the war, and turning 21 in Nicosia during the Cyprus Emergency. His career took him from site checks across Europe, America and Singapore to a factory in Russia. A warning about retirement led Larry to collect fountain pens and pen nibs, and to discover that Birmingham once made 75% of the world's pen nibs. Brian Jones, Colin Giles and Ray Handley and Larry formed the Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association, cleared out a derelict room in Frederick Street, rebuilt old library cabinets by hand and funded much of it themselves. Larry reflects on why the museum is the thing he is proudest of, and speaks about Margaret, his wife of almost 64 years. It is a story about what a few determined people can do to make sure a city remembers how it made its living. The Pen Museum - https://penmuseum.org.uk Record Your Own Story: Our website https://www.ourlives-ourstories.com has free guides on how to unlock your memories and record them. My Life, My Story: My Life, My Story is a guided legacy journal curated by Carl Chinn that includes prompts to help you reflect on your memories, experiences, and family history. It's a keepsake to help preserve your story, or a special gift for a parent, grandparent, or loved one. Available now on Amazon. https://ourlives-ourstories.com/mylifemystory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Oct 9

    Joe Lycett: Replay

    From our archive: first released in March, Carl Chinn sits down with comedian, artist and TV presenter Joe Lycett to talk family history, building a comedy career, creativity, and what it means to be a champion for Birmingham. Inspired to tell your own story? Free guides at our website https://ourlives-ourstories.com My Life, My Story is a guided legacy journal for writing down the memories that matter, ready to pass on to the people you love. Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GNPTVHVV Hardback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GN6J3TZ6 Content warning: This episode contains some strong language. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Oct 2

    Peter Connolly

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Peter Connolly, a publican with Irish roots who opened Nortons in Digbeth and went on to take over The Anchor, one of Birmingham's best-loved Victorian pubs. Peter talks about growing up in a second generation Irish family, finding his way to Digbeth's Irish Quarter, opening Nortons on Friday the 13th just months before the pandemic, bringing a historic boozer back to life, and why he believes a good pub is worth far more to its community than anyone has ever measured. Content warning: This episode contains discussion of the death of a parent and of serious illness. Please do take care whilst listening or skip this episode if this could be distressing for you. Nortons Digbeth - https://nortons.bar The Anchor Digbeth - https://www.anchordigbeth.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Sep 25

    Patricia White MBE

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Patricia White MBE, a Hodge Hill-born Brummie who set up Birmingham's first Trussell Trust food bank in Ladywood and went on to found Suited for Success, a charity helping people into work. Patricia talks about growing up with her mom and two sisters in a family with roots in St Kitts and Nevis, ten years at BBC WM, a secondment with the BBC World Service in Nigeria, the faith that drives her, and why dignity sits at the heart of everything she does. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Sep 18

    Lauren Broxton

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Lauren Broxton, a bespoke leather designer and maker from Walsall who has been drawing, sketching, and making things out of whatever she could find since she was a girl. She has also been one of the key campaigners that saved Walsall Leather Museum from moving to a new building. Lauren grew up in Rushall, a borough that had watched its industry slip away. She talks to Carl about the misfit teenager who found herself through clothes, the tutors who saw something in her long before she could see it herself, the influence her family and especially her nan's have had, and the heavy reclaimed saddlery leather that the trade had dismissed, which has become the material she is known for. Lauren Broxton - https://laurenbroxton.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lauren_broxton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Sep 11

    Paul Smith

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Paul Smith, a retired Birmingham firefighter and one of the people who helped turn the city's St Patrick's Parade into one of the largest in the world. Born to a Dublin mom and dad and raised in a council flat in Longbridge. On 9/11, Paul and his watch stood in a fire station in Northfield and watched 343 New York firefighters lost in a single day. Feeling helpless three and a half thousand miles away, they started with car washes and bucket collections, and the people of the West Midlands turned that into a quarter of a million pounds for the widows and children of the fallen. Then Paul set out to bring the New York Fire Department to Birmingham, so they could see that love for themselves and march in the parade. He also tells Carl about the family history he has only recently uncovered, a grandmother from Kerry whose story was never spoken of at home. This is a conversation about brotherhood, grief and hope, about the deep roots of the Irish community in Birmingham, and about how one act of kindness can build a bridge across an ocean that lasts a lifetime. Content warning: This episode contains discussion of the September 11th attacks and the loss of life, bereavement, references to Ireland's mother and baby institutions, the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings and some strong language. Please do take care whilst listening or skip this episode if this could be distressing for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Sep 4

    Paul Masefield

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Paul Masefield, a former professional English footballer and TV pundit, who grew up a few doors from Carl in Birmingham and has spent more than twenty years building a life in Asia.  Paul's football started with his dad Stuart, a fine semi professional centre forward whose career was cut short by injury, and with his grandad Frank, who drove him to games, brought a flask of hot coffee for the cold mornings and cleaned everybody's boots afterwards with his penknife. Paul played for the school, for the Cubs, for Dunlop Rovers, refused to sign schoolboy forms with anybody so that he could keep his options open, and eventually signed a two year apprenticeship at Birmingham City.  What follows is a story about reinvention. There are spells at Exeter, Stockport, Doncaster and Preston, a coaching badge earned at twenty-one, and then a phone call out of the blue that Paul was convinced was a wind up, which took him to Hong Kong and eventually to Singapore. Underneath all of it is a Brummie who still goes into the city centre every time he is home, because as he puts it, the love here is like nowhere else on earth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Aug 28

    Jayne Murray

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Jayne Murray, artist and director of Place Prospectors, who went to Druids Heath in 2017 to run a small arts project and ended up holding the missing history of an entire Birmingham estate. A resident had kept carrier bags full of pamphlets, newsletters and posters from decades of community activity. It took Jayne months just to put it in chronological order. What emerged was a credit union set up to beat the loan sharks, a green space saved by residents, a neighbourhood action group that fought a housing transfer, and a resident's essay from the late 1970s. Jayne grew up in Lincoln and Sleaford, the daughter of a Glaswegian father and a Lincoln mother, and she was making little exhibitions out of museum postcards before she was eight. She talks about the GCSE batik practical that told her what she wanted to do with her life, the theory teacher at Derby who taught her how to look at an image, the 1995 weekend she spent teaching people the internet in a launderette with borrowed computers and a washing powder sponsor, and her conviction that art is not something you have to be good enough for. Jayne is passionate about making art accessible and social justice. Jayne Murray (artist) - https://www.instagram.com/jaynemurrayartist Place Prospectors - https://prospectors.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

Our Lives, Our Stories is hosted by social historian and writer Carl Chinn MBE, whose life’s work has been dedicated to bringing to the fore the lives and stories of people too often left out of traditional history books. This podcast is built on a simple but powerful belief: that history must be democratised and that every person’s story matters. In each episode, Carl sits down with guests ranging from well-known figures to community activists and changemakers, exploring the personal histories, experiences, challenges and moments that have shaped who they are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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