Our Lives, Our Stories with Carl Chinn

Our Lives, Our Stories
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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. 33m ago

    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, and the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Aug 21

    Aftab Rahman MBE

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Aftab Rahman, founder and chief executive of the Birmingham charity LegacyWM and a lifelong social activist. Aftab came to England from Sylhet aged six in 1976, one of the first few Bangladeshi families to settle here, and grew up in Lozells through the 1980s. This is a Birmingham life story that carries a wider history. Aftab talks about the myth of return and why Bangladeshi families arrived later than others, the racism and street violence of the 1980s. He remembers a father who split his years between two countries, a stepmother who raised him as her own, the time away from his mother and when he was reunited with her. He speaks of leaving school with no qualifications, the restaurant trade that was expected, the teacher who finally made him believe he was clever, and the life goal he set at 19, simply 'to help'. From the Bangladeshi Youth Forum to founding LegacyWM at his living-room table, this is a story about heritage, identity and what ordinary people can build when they follow their heart and their purpose. LegacyWM - https://legacywm.org Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion of racism and racist violence, and references to wartime atrocities including sexual violence. 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.

  5. Aug 14

    A Family History Guide & Finding Elizabeth Cronley

    In this special solo episode, Carl Chinn opens up his own family history and turns it into a practical guide to tracing where you come from. He starts with the memories, a story passed down through the women of his family, from his great-grandmother, Granny Wood, to his nan, Lil Perry, to his mom Sylvie Chinn. It is the story of an Irish woman from County Kildare who married an English soldier at the Curragh, came to Worcester, and was abandoned, ending her days alone and in poverty in the workhouse. Carl then follows the paper trail to see whether the family story stands up, working through censuses, baptismal and death records, the 1939 register and the British Newspaper Archive. Along the way he shows how ordinary families surface in the record, often only when there is trouble, and how spellings shift, names change and truths that were softened over the years can finally be confirmed. He weaves in his own advice throughout: talk to the oldest members of your family, ask open questions that draw out stories, and gather every certificate, cutting and photograph you can. At its heart this is a reflection on why the spoken word of working-class families matters as much as any document, and on the quiet act of bringing a forgotten woman back to life and giving her some dignity. If you have ever wished you had asked more before it was too late, this one is for you. Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of domestic abuse, poverty and dying in poverty. Please do take care whilst listening or skip this episode if this could be distressing for you. Find out more: ourlives-ourstories.com About This Podcast: The Our Lives, Our Stories podcast features conversations about life stories, family history, memory, identity, and the moments that shape who we are. Our Mission: Our Lives, Our Stories is a living archive for our generation and the ones to follow. Our mission is to empower everyone to tell their story. Record Your Own Story: Our website https://www.ourlives-ourstories.com has free guides on how to unlock 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 Your life matters. Your story matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Aug 7

    Nicola Silk

    Carl Chinn sits down with Nicola Silk, a Birmingham based producer and director whose life has been closely tied to television from the very beginning. She was one of the first children through the doors of the BBC Pebble Mill nursery, dancing with the Wombles on the lawn at four years old whilst her mum, a rare woman in 1960s television, worked in the studios nearby. From there, her story became, in many ways, the story of Birmingham telly itself. Nicola looks back on a childhood shaped by two faiths, a Catholic mom and a Jewish dad, and on teenage years spent playing keyboards in the bands. She talks about learning her craft at Pebble Mill, the generous mentors who shaped her, directing Travel Man with Richard Ayoade and later Joe Lycett, and how a curiosity about Birmingham grew into Joe Lycett's United States of Birmingham and a real, now annual International Day of Birmingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Jul 31

    Lyle Bignon

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Lyle Bignon, Birmingham's Night Time Economy Ambassador and a lifelong champion of the city's music and culture. Growing up in Balsall Heath as a third-generation Irish, second-generation French Brummie, Lyle found music everywhere, in Dublin record shops, in his father's violin workshop, and in the Irish traditional sessions of Pat Molloy. He talks about identity, belonging, a recent ADHD diagnosis, and why he now spends his days fighting for the survival of Birmingham's nightlife and the people who make their living after dark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Jul 24

    Siobhán Stevenson

    Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Dr Siobhán Stevenson, a Birmingham oral historian and audio producer who has spent her career capturing other people's life stories, from community radio volunteers to imprisoned people to the women who fought for gender equality in 1980s Birmingham. In this episode, the microphone turns the other way, and Siobhán tells her own story. She grew up in an Irish family from Dublin who settled in Birmingham, spent her early childhood in Cabra, and came back to Birmingham in 1979. She talks about the balance of being the Irish in England and the English in Ireland. She reflects on the strong women in her family, a non-traditional route back into education, a trip to India that changed how she saw the world, and the PhD on community radio that led her to a life spent giving voice to the voiceless. Content warning: This episode contains references to bereavement and the death of a child. Please do take care whilst listening or skip this episode if this could be distressing for you. Website - https://siobhanlstevenson.com 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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