Shows
Gav & Stef vs. The Forces of EvilWelsh horror: A Dark Song v ApostleGav and Stef are joined by podcaster and writer Russell Todd from Podcast Pel-droed to bring you the Welshest horror podcast episode yet. We take a look at what makes Wales not just a good place to set a horror film, but the perfect place before pitting to of Cymru’s horror heavyweights against each other in a battle of the countries finest.
Follow Russell on Twitter at @llannerch and @podcastpeldroed2024-03-181h 50
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.39 - Libraries of Things and CD: Benthyg five years on:In this episode, Becky Harford - co-founder of Benthyg Cymru (benthyg is the Welsh word for 'to borrow') - returns five years after her first appearance on the podcast way back in 2018 when we were first introduced to the concept of a Library of Things (LoT) in Cardiff.
Since then Benthyg has grown from a single LoT in Cardiff, to a network of over 20 all across Wales. The LoT concept is not confined to Wales, but a networked approach to developing local LoTs *is* unique.
Becky explains what has helped fuel the expansion; some of the challenges faced in the...2023-11-2733 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.38 - An introduction to Philosophy in PubsThis episode is a bit of a departure in that it is an edited version of an interview Jan Huyton and I did with Radio Cardiff at the end of May about the fortnightly Philosophy in Pubs group we host in Cardiff.
Philosophy in Pubs is a grassroots network across the UK that promotes the merits of philosophical discussion in public spaces (not necessarily in pubs).
In the interview we talk through how a discussion tends to go, importance of facilitation, and why a 'stimulus' is important.
To know more about the Philosophy in Pubs network visit https://www.philosophyinpubs...2023-06-0832 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.37 - Community and trade union organising with Puru MiahIn this episode Russell chat's with Puru Miah about the community and trade union organising that undertakes in East London. Puru is also one of the founders of People's PPE - Philosophy, Politics and Economics - a programme, started in early 2016, of independent community education delivered through debates and seminars.
Puru discusses some of the similarities and differences to organising in a workplace setting and in a community setting, and provides a few examples of his organising.
As well as mentioning some of his key influences, such as Phil Piratin and David Harvey, Puru also provides some tips and advice...2023-05-1243 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.36 - Bristol Energy Cooperative with Jess GitshamIn this episode - recorded summer 2022 - Jess Gitsham, Communications Manager at Bristol Energy Cooperative in England, tells us about her work; why a co-operative approach is important; the community energy movement and how it in builds solidarities across different sectors to advance the movement.
Follow Bristol Energy Cooperative on:
youtube.com/channel/UCojVboGhwWw4FZSnOY8wvwQ/featured
twitter.com/briznrg
www.bristol.energy.coop
_______________________
Support The Community Development Podcast at Patreon.com/TheCDPodcast2023-04-1333 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 35 - Would Raymond Williams have had his own podcast?Here's an oral essay I recorded in 2021 during the pandemic for The Co-operative College's Re-cast zine
Inspired by the fiction and non-fiction of Raymond Williams it reflects on podcasts as deliberative community media and a form of open pedagogy.
To learn more about Raymond Williams visit:
Raymond Williams Society: raymondwilliams.co.uk/
Raymond Williams Foundation: raymondwilliamsfoundation.org.uk/
And twitter.com/raymondkeywords posts a quote from Williams' work every weekday morning
daily.
(copyright - Russell Todd)2023-03-2910 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.34 - Introducing Tir Pontypridd - a community land bank in south WalesIn this episode Ken Moon explains his motives behind setting up a community land bank serving Pontypridd and its environs: Tir Pontypridd.
He also explains why the ownership and control of land is such a central issue of social justice and locates the concept of a land bank in the wider context of the climate emergency we are facing.
You can sign up for either a £3, £5 or £10 a month tiers at Tir Pontypridd's Patreon: patreon.com/tirpontypridd. Annual memberships are also available; email Ken at Ken at tirpontypridd@gmail.com for further information about these and all other information about the...2023-03-1635 min
ACE Podcast Nation Presents My StoryWales to The World Cup #1 x Podcast Pêl-droed co-founder Russell ToddA.C.E Podcast Nation Presents From Wales to the World Cup, In this new mini series our founder and Host Si (@ACEcast_Nation) is joined by a different guest as they talk about their relationship with Welsh football, full of twists and turns, pain and glory plus a whole lot more.In Episode 1 Si (@ACEcast_Nation) is joined for a great introductory episode by Podcast Pêl-droed co-founder Russell Todd as we take a deep dive into his relationship with Welsh football and how its evolved over the years. Don't miss another top episode.2022-10-1856 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.33 - Cardiff's Grief Space project - how community is used to help in times of bereavementGrief Space in Cardiff is a project run by ACE - Action in Caerau and Ely - in Cardiff, in partnership with the cancer charity Macmillan, as part of its Compassionate Communities programme.
In this episode, project lead Kimberley Jones explains how community development underpins the project's approach to engaging local people; develops collective responses to supporting people experiencing grief; and remains sympathetic to different cultural conceptions of death, bereavement and grief
Follow:
twitter.com/elycaerau
twitter.com/macmillancancer
www.elycaerau.com
You can support this podcast by becoming a patron: www.patreon.com/TheCDPodcast2022-01-2735 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 32 - Community Enhanced Social Prescribing with Prof Martin WebberProfessor of Social Work at the University of York Martin Webber joins this episode to discuss his research into social prescribing and the particular model called Community Enhanced Social Prescribing which seeks to achieve not only health outcomes for individuals in receipt of social prescribing activities;
but which also contributes to the community/-ies in which social prescribing activities occur achieving social and community outcomes such as stronger social networks, interdependencies, and so on.
More about the work can be found in this 2020 open access paper 'Community-Enhanced Social Prescribing: Integrating Community in Policy and Practice': https://link.springer.com/content...2022-01-1834 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.31 - Introducing the International Association of Community Development with Anna ClarkeIn this episode, Russell is joined by Anna Clarke (twitter.com/annaiclarke) who is European Trustee and Chair of the International Association of Community Development (IACD) to discuss its mission, work and networks.
In particular, recorded while the COP26 climate emergency summit was being held in Glasgow, Anna discusses how the IACD is addressing climate change as an issue of social justice.
You can join IACD here: https://www.iacdglobal.org/join-us/membership-fees/
The forthcoming IACD book International Community Development Practice is available in hardback, paperback, and e-book formats on Routledge to buy here: https://www.routledge.com/International-Community-Development-Practice/McConnell-Daniel-Muia-Clarke...2021-11-1537 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.30 - The dispossessing effect of gentrification with Christian NoakesIn November 2020 an online article found its way to me by Associate Editor at Peace, Land and Bread, Christian Noakes (twitter.com/comrade_cricket) called ‘Displacement of the Dispossessed: Community Development Under Capitalism’: https://www.peacelandbread.com/post/displacement-of-the-dispossessed
The way it deconstructed gentrification and its lexicon, re-presenting it to be the pernicious and insidious process it is, is remarkable. It’s a must-read for anyone who looks around them, particularly in (though not confined to) urban areas, and is frustrated at the abundance of bland, unimaginative, speculative development they see, and in particular for anyone who feels they have a dimi...2021-06-1434 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.29 - Data or Dinner? Data poverty in Wales and Scotland with Nesta CymruIn this episode Russell is joined by Rob Ashelford, Head of Nesta Cymru, upon the release of a report into the extent of data poverty in Wales and Scotland published by Nesta and Y Lab based in Cardiff, Wales.
The report 'Data Poverty in Wales and Scotland' reveals a stark picture for as many as 1 million people in Wales and Scotland – 1 in 7 of the adult population – who lack sufficient data to meet basic digital needs, that in turn can widen inequality, aggravate disadvantage and hinder people’s access to information to allow them to play a fuller part in society and th...2021-05-1634 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.28 - Acquiring “a profound sense of place” – catching up with Hope St MellonsBack in June 2020 for episode #25 Russell caught up with Helen Griffiths and David Clague from St Mellons in east Cardiff to explore how they we adapting to life under the lockdown and how they were adapting their Community Development activity to address challenges that had emerged.
Russell and Helen – who works with Hope St Mellons – kept in touch and caught up again to have a socially-distant chat in the garden of their community house to see what has happened in the intervening period.
facebook.com/hopestmellons
Support The Community Development Podcast on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/TheCDPodcast2020-11-0522 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.27 - Small Is Beautiful - storytelling & knowledge in community social care with Nick AndrewsNick Andrews from the Wales School for Social Care Research at Swansea University, joins the podcast for the first time to discuss his work to bring research and practice together in social care systems.
Nick’s training and background is as a community social worker and is a disciple of the Most Significant Change methodology that emphasises the value of storytelling and importance of giving people voice about what matters to them in social care settings. It’s a methodology that is just as applicable, I believe, to community development, and I can point to two community organisations near to wher...2020-06-1233 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.26 - Breaking the link between poverty and ethnicity in WalesBack in February 2016 Joseph Rowntree Foundation published the report Breaking the Links Between Ethnicity and Poverty in Wales by Duncan Holtham (from the People and Work Unit), Anna Nicholl and Chris Johnes: https://www.housingnet.co.uk/pdf/JRF-Breaking_the_links_between_Poverty_and_Ethnicity_in_Wales.pdf
At the time I was developing podcasts for the Communities First workforce in Wales as learning resources, and Duncan joined him to record a brief overview of the report’s findings to help inform the workforce of issues around ethnicity.
Complementing this, two Communities First workers outlined some of the practical ways in...2020-06-1058 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.25 - Community Development and Covid 19 (part 2)In the second part of a series looking at how Community Development is adapting to and tackling issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I chat first with Chris Johnes from Building Communities Trust (BCT) in Wales about how they are helping to bring to government’s attention the stories from communities about how the pandemic is affecting people.
Russell then chats with two people involved with one of BCT’s 13 areas across Wales, St Mellons in the east of Cardiff:
Helen Griffiths from Hope St Mellons and David Clague a local pastor.
They talk about some of the things that they...2020-06-0943 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.24 - Community Development & Covid-19 (pt. 1) – “The time for normal rules goes out the window”During lockdown I reached out to the Community Development fraternity across the world to invite it to share its experiences of supporting communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part 1 of this Community Development and Covid-19 series visits Bangor in north Wales and Winnipeg in Canada and reveals community development responses to the pandemic from contrasting scales: the local and the strategic.
In Maesgeirchen, Bangor, grassroots community-led action has been focusing on meeting people’s essential needs. We hear from the local elected member, Dylan, and the co-ordinator from a local substance abuse charity, James, who are providing additional capacity to the tr...2020-05-0738 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.23 - Social Prescribing - a Scottish perspectiveIn this episode I am joined by Sharon Sweeney, from the University of Dundee’s student finance team who has recently finished a Masters degree, as part of which Sharon completed a dissertation on the role of social prescribing in patient primary care in Scotland.
Sharon provides a simple ‘primer’ of what social prescribing is and what sort of activities it undertakes, with a particular focus on how it is being deployed in Scotland and her home city of Dundee. They also discuss the extent to which social prescribing can, and needs to, move beyond supporting individual needs and aspirations and ca...2020-04-2930 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.22 - Community Youth Work with Mark McFeeters & Lauren McAreaveyIn this podcast I chat via skype to Mark McFeeters, lecturer on Ulster University’s Community Youth Work degree, and Lauren McAreavey, a third year undergraduate on the course.
Among other things they discuss:
- how youth work is distinct from other forms of work/contact with young people
- the importance of reflection in youth work
- the value external placements bring to the academic training and learning for trainee youth workers
Mark also explains the motive behind setting up the excellent Critical Voice NI website (twitter.com/criticalvoiceni) which is a virtual space promoting and developing youth work re...2020-02-2643 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.21 - Turnaround Towns UK with Pippa Coutts, Carnegie UK TrustHot on the heels of the launch of the brand new Carnegie UK Trust report on Turnaround Towns in the UK, Russell is joined by Pippa Coutts, Carnegie’s Policy and Development Manager, to look at the stories of nine towns across the UK who have been on a journey to revive their fortunes.
https://d1ssu070pg2v9i.cloudfront.net/pex/carnegie_uk_trust/2019/11/27165252/LOW-RES-4348-CUKT-TTUK-Report-2019.pdf
Specifically, they discuss one of the commonalities shared by each of the towns: the role of community-led development, independent community-owned ‘anchor organisations’ to place-making in towns.
Follow:
www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/
twitte...2019-12-1625 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 20 - Oh What A Year! Eden Communities Wales reflects on 2019On 28 November I had the pleasure of dropping by the Oh What A Year! celebrations that Eden Communities Wales (twitter.com/edencommwales) hosted at the award-winning social enterprise Big Moose Coffee Co. in Cardiff city centre.
A range of projects were in attendance who had a diverse range of missions: sustainability and environmentalism, community cohesion, faith, food and – simply – sharing.
Sam and Lowri from Eden Communities Wales hosted the event, with the latter joining me for a chat. As did Tracy from EcoVision and Sally from Share Cardiff (twitter.com/sharecardiff).
We were also treated to the amazing voice of Rich...2019-12-0930 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.19 - Community Development in Northern Ireland with Jonny CurrieIn this podcast I am joined by East Belfast-based community development practitioner Jonny Currie (twitter.com/scrabopower).
Jonny talks about how the political sclerosis that has seen the suspension of Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly and government executive has affected policy and strategic direction of community development there.
Jonny also provides a fascinating insight to how Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict shapes how community development activity is perceived. Intriguingly, he explains how where our community development practice requires us to challenge aspects and apparatus of the state, this can be problematic in communities where identity is tightly, passionately wrapped-up and defi...2019-06-2041 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.18 - Community Media with Rob Watson (@DecenteredMedia)In this episode I am joined by Dr Rob Watson from Decentered Media (twitter.com/DecenteredMedia) to look at, among other things, the role that community media plays in strengthening civil society and providing communities with a voice to articulate things that matter to them, rather than what a professional media considers as ‘newsworthy’.
They also consider the extent to which community development practitioners need to engage with – or even create their own – community media in order to reduce, what Alan Twelvetrees calls, the “invisibility” of their practice.
Russell previously appeared on a Decentered Media episode 23 in which he and Rob reflect...2019-05-2342 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.17 - Co-producing sporting heritage with communities of interestIn this podcast I chat with Dave Smith from Heritage Quay, Huddersfield University’s archive service and considers community development in an ‘alternative’ context: sporting heritage and rugby league supporters
Dave was involved in co-producing the national rugby league archive and talks about how he engaged communities of rugby league supporters to develop the archive. He talks about what co-production in this context means; the tensions along the way; how he as a “professional idiot” and the ‘amateur expert’ fans worked together; and how for an archive on a campus university ‘safe spaces’ needed to be created for people unfamiliar with such environm...2019-04-1030 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.16 - Role of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in revitalizing their host neighbourhoodsIn this podcast, the first to draw on community development practice in the United States, I am joined by Moses S Dixon, a doctorate student at State University of New York in Binghamton, to discuss the relationship between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their host communities – usually predominantly African-American communities.
In particular, Moses draws on his research experience looking at how HBCUs can play a positive role in neighbourhood revitalization when they successfully engage host communities in their decision-making and planning from the outset; that in turn can generate successful outcomes for the institutions.
However, Moses cautions at ho...2019-02-1834 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.15 - Benthyg - A Library of ThingsIn this episode I am joined by Becky Harford who is one of the founders of Benthyg a ‘library of things’ in Rumney, Cardiff, possibly the first such library of things in Wales.
Benthyg is Welsh for ‘to borrow’.
Becky explains what a ‘library of things’ is; what motivated the creation of Benthyg; how Benthyg has coalesced with other community activism in Rumney; and how it is making alliances in neighbouring districts in Cardiff.
Benthyg has recently been successful in securing £50k of landfill tax funding. However, Becky is frank and honest in how she reveals that project success can risk coming a...2019-02-0433 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.14 - Does 'rural' & 'urban' matter when doing community development?In this episode I am joined by Dave Horton from Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE) and Ceri Cunnington from Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog to discuss how their contrasting geography shapes approaches to community development…or not.
Caerau and Ely are large post- and inter-war housing estates in the west of Cardiff. Blaenau Ffestiniog and its surrounding ‘bro’ are more rural in comparison, where Welsh is the community’s first language, but with its own industrial heritage.
ACE is a development trust which can be followed:
twitter.com/elycaerau
facebook.com/groups/669226660120343
youtube.com/channel/UCmjCyjA6EHhpad5yDRZqEDw
https://www.aceplace.org/
Cwm...2018-12-1036 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.13 - What Is Community Development? For #mapcommediaOn 24 November 2018 a number of community media experts and practitioners convened in Leicester, England to discuss community media and why the social gain mission matters.
Drs Rob Watson and Katie Moylan hosted the event which was a collaboration between the University of Leicester and the Community Media Association (#mapcommedia). Slides from the event can be accessed here: https://chat.commedia.org.uk/t/mapping-community-media-24th-november-leicester/1090/5
I couldn’t make the event unfortunately but Rob asked me to record a short podcast entitled ‘What is Community Development?’. So I did; here it is.
Maybe it works well as a brief intro for ot...2018-12-1009 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.12 - Community development, organising & coworking with Stephanie GamaufHaving recently started working with community benefit society Indycube – who provide coworking spaces across Wales and beyond as well as offering a trade union for the self-employed – I was struck by a fascinating article in issue 21 of Stir To Action magazine by Stephanie Gamauf, Director of Programmes at Brixton Impact Hub: ‘Community organising – Back to its roots’
In it Stephanie argued, among other things, that though coworking is a vital way of reducing loneliness and isolation among the increasing numbers of self-employed, freelance and independent workers, community organising based on sound community development principles can help mitigate the potential coworking has to exc...2018-09-3024 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.11 - Community development across the UK devolution divide with Sioned PearceWhen Communities First drew to a close earlier in 2018 in Wales it brought the curtain down on the longest-running programme of its nature in British social policy history.
Dr Sioned Pearce of Cardiff University’s WISERD department joins Russell to share some of the findings of one of her research specialisms, community development and social policy across the devolved administrations of the UK (more information here).
In the podcast Sioned discusses how the state has used community development as a tool to bring about change, including in the case of Wales legitimising devolution itself; how post-devolution state approaches in Wales an...2018-08-2440 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.10 - Community Development: A funder's perspectiveIn this episode I am joined by John Rose, Director of Big Lottery Fund Wales to discuss how Big Lottery Fund Wales places value on community development approaches in applications it receives.
Among other things John explains what ‘community’ means to the Big Lottery and what its strategic vision of ‘putting people in the lead’ means in practice and how community development can facilitate this (www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/about/strategic-framework).
John explains how responsive funding remains key to helping communities achieve their ambitions – and how the Big Lottery Fund is changing its working practices so that increasingly conversations between applicants...2018-04-2645 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.9 - Introduction to Social Capital with Andy Green &Mark HooperIn this episode I am joined by Andy Green from Grow Social Capital, and founder of Indycube, Mark Hooper, to discuss social capital and to consider how community development activity can stimulate social capital.
Andy draws on Robert Putnam’s seminal 2000 book 'Bowling Alone' about the decline of social capital in the United States. The book draws its title from how bowling alley attendances in the US, are rising yet bowling alley leagues have dramatically declined. Barry resident Andy suggests a book drawing on a similar metaphor in south Wales could be entitled ‘Skittling No More’ since over the last 20 years...2018-01-2150 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 8 - Regeneration and Community Development with Chris AshmanIn this episode I am joined by Chris Ashman, Director of Regeneration for the Isle of Wight in England. Chris outlines his approach and commitment to involving people and communities in regeneration practice; he calls this ‘place planning’.
They consider the inherent tensions within regeneration and land use planning when communities are empowered to not only contribute to the process and politics, but also to challenge them.
But as Chris argues the place planning approach can help mediate these.
Follow:
twitter.com/ashmanchris2017-12-2047 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 7 - Stronger Communities with Steve SkinnerIn this episode Leeds-based community development consultant Steve Skinner discusses what he believes constitutes ‘stronger communities’. In the podcast he discusses the building blocks that can make communities stronger, including the need to place equalities at the heart of such activity.
Steve is keen to hear from community development practitioners across the UK and the experience of practice under different jurisdictions and legislation such as the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales and Scotland’s Community Empowerment Act.
Follow:
http://www.steveskinnerassociates.org.uk/
Please support The Community Development Podcast on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/TheCDPodcast2017-12-1325 min
Desolation Radio34. Communities First with Russell Todd (@llannerch)Waddup friends! This week we talk with Russell Todd about Communities First! We discuss its role, legacy and demise. Each listen comes with a free bag of Doritos.2017-11-051h 18
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 6 - Empowering offenders through educationIn this episode Russell is joined by Clare Lloyd from the Prisoners’ Education Trust‘s Welsh project; Jamie Grundy, formerly of Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Widening Access team and now working freelance as a specialist in community development, prison education & higher education; and Mike Scott, an ex-offender and mentor.
The Prisoners’ Education Trust helps prisoners access distance learning opportunities to help them enhance their chances of building a better life after release.
They discuss the extent to which prisoners constitute a community and can be worked with as such; how prisoners are supported and empowered to shape their learning pathway, both dur...2017-09-1256 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 5 - Community Development in the supporters trust movementIn this episode Russell is joined by:
- Elliott Evans, Community Development Manager for Merthyr Town Football Club
- James Mathie (Head of Club Development for England and Wales) - Tim Hartley (Vice Chair) of Supporters Direct to discuss the ways in which the supporters trust movement is community development.
They discuss how the model of private ownership is consciously rejected for a more cooperative form of ownership; how Merthyr Town has at the heart of its mission to a desire to involve and be accountable to the community in which it is located and serves; the financial value of...2017-08-121h 01
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep.3 - What is community philosophy?In this episode Dr Jan Huyton talks about how Community Philosophy based on a community of enquiry method – first developed by SAPERE – can potentially bring about transformative change in the lives of people and communities as diverse as prisoners and senior managers.
Jan discusses the influence of Raymond Williams on this approach and the work of the Raymond Williams Foundation and the more scholarly Raymond Williams Society.
Philosophy in Pubs (PiP) has further information about local Community Philosophy groups around the UK and advice on how to set up your own Philosophy in Pubs group. In September 2020 Jan and Russell set...2017-07-2443 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 2 - Community Development in heritage regeneration: the Brymbo Heritage ProjectIn this episode Russell chats with Gary Brown, project manager of the Brymbo Heritage Project in north east Wales, to discuss how Community Development is at the heart of regeneration work that has recently been awarded almost £2 million of Lottery funding.
Brymbo is the site of a former steelworks that shut in 1990. The heritage group was later set up by former steelworkers but has over the years developed a broader community appeal within and beyond Brymbo.
Gary talks about the importance of seeking out the dissenting voices and “aggressive apathy” that can sometimes be present in communities; the importance of socia...2017-07-1544 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 1 - In conversation with Alan TwelvetreesIn the very first episode of The Community Development Podcast Russell is joined by Alan Twelvetrees, author of the seminal Community Work, first published in 1982, and with a sixth edition due in 2022.
Alan explains his threefold typology of community work, as indicated by the book's new title - Community Development, Social Action and Social Planning - drawing on his experience in the field from as far back as the 1970s when he started as a community worker in Braunstone in Leicester, and then more latterly at Swansea University.
Alan distinguishes between generalist and specialist community work; recalls running a range...2017-07-0354 min
The Community Development Podcast (@CommDevtPodcast)Ep. 4 - Playwork as Community DevelopmentI first met Mike Barclay, from Wrexham’s Play Development team and Ludicology, in November 2015 when we began liaising over research into the social benefits of playwork in Wrexham as part of our respective day jobs. As we finalised the research brief I gained a much clearer understanding of playwork (as distinct from play), and was prompted to consider Community Development in a different light.
In this episode Mike explains the role of playworkers in mediating between child and adult agendas and giving children more of a voice; how playwork can empower children and create democratic spaces; and how the be...2016-06-1033 min