Working Hours

Tracey Cleminson recorded on 08/11/2022 Tracey Cleminson created Arctic Bee, a web design and digital marketing agency based in Leeds in West Yorkshire and London. Tracey has over twenty years’ experience in web design and spends her time between Yorkshire and London, now having an international client base that caters for every type of business including musicians, electricians, photographers and...

Josefin Wanner recorded on 06/04/2022 Tråd Collective was born so people could easily shop for sustainable clothes in Leeds. The idea came from owners Jo and James, who after making a New Year’s resolution to only shop sustainably, realized how difficult that actually was to do in Leeds. There were very few options for sustainable fashion that weren’t second-hand and it was hard to find what you w...

Dr Calum Carson recorded on 05/12/22 If you like this show you should love this episode. Dr Calum Carson is an Associate Lecturer at Leeds University Business School, alongside his ongoing role as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. Dr Carson’s current research project is the first in the UK to explore employer experiences of Universal Credit, and a...

Benedict Lindley recorded on 21/10/2022 Benedict Lindley started DJing on vinyl, which he still does but, is also embracing digital and its many creative possibilities. Benedict helps to run OpenDecksFC, where he edits the audio recorded at OpenDecksFC’s nights and events for upload to their Mixcloud account. Benedict has a passion for promoting OpenDecksFC and helping other DJs getting started wi...

Stephen Griffiths recorded on 08/08/2022 Stephen Griffiths started his legal career in the private sector but has worked as part of a legal team within a HE institute in Leeds for the past few years. He works on items like contracts, patents or any other legal agreements that might be needed by the institution. There’s obviously a lot more to both the role and Stephen than just that, but he didn’t...

Christine Bell recorded on 14/12/22 Christine Bell is the co-Director of The Centre for Facilitation. She is based in Leeds and has a business partner based near Hastings, together they run a virtual organisation. Christine came to Bradford when she was 20 to study at the University and then moved to Leeds when she met her husband. She’s never wanted to move back to London but after over 30 years...

Jamie Marshall recorded on 27/10/2022 Jamie Marshall started working in IT part time while completing his A-levels, in ICT, Business studies and Art; dropping out of Art at the end of the first year. After finishing his A-levels he went on to a full-time role at the company and is now a Director there. The company he initially started with part time was based in Roundhay and did both B2C (that’s b...

Jo James recorded on 25/11/2022 Jo James is minister to the congregation of Mill Hill Chapel on City Square in the centre of Leeds. Mill Hill is a Unitarian chapel; with a congregation that was first formed in 1672. There has been 350 years’ continuity of rational dissenting worship in Mill Hill. Jo is interested in what happens next when as a culture we acknowledge that although we’ve abandoned G...

Emma Waterland and Louise Hodgson recorded on 15/12/2022 Emma Waterland joined LEDA in 2021 and is responsible for the planning and implementation of their marketing strategy, working in close collaboration with directors and members to lead a strategic approach to the ongoing development of the business. This includes looking after the brand and communications as well as promotional activities an...

Madihah Hussain recorded on 17/11/2022 Madihah Hussain is a third year journalism student at the University of Leeds. Alongside her studies she is currently completing a Marketing & Communication part-time internship with Open Source Arts in Leeds. Madihah is also hosting a weekly radio show, every Saturday, on Fever FM. Additionally, she freelances as a henna artist on select occasions. Madih...

Open Source Arts recorded on 06/04/2022 Myra Rowland has a background working in Higher Education and joined the Open Source Arts team in autumn 2017. Myra brings her organisational skills and enthusiasm for getting involved and helping great things happen to Open Source Arts. She is passionate about facilitating people and communities to realise, develop and use their power, wisdom and skills in...

Mark Costello recorded on 08/08/2022 Horsforth Brewery is run by innovative brewer Mark Costello supplying the local Horsforth and wider Leeds areas with tasty, quality beers. Starting as a part-time project in 2017 in Mark's garage, the brewery has progressed to its own unit at the end of 2018 and as of March 2020 it is Mark's full-time job. We are a small team so if it takes a little bit of time...

SJ Bradley recorded on 18/11/2022 SJ Bradley is an author, short story writer & creative writing tutor. She has taught short story writing for Comma Press and for First Story a charity in Leeds and Bradford, and recently graduated a PGCert from Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education, which she attended with a bursary from First Story. SJ has been working part time in jobs in th...

Michal Drewniok recorded on 03/08/2022 Michal Drewniok is a Research Fellow in Transforming Foundation Industries at the University of Leeds. His background is in civil engineering and he holds a PhD in concrete technology from Silesian University of Technology in Poland. Prior to his current positions, he worked as a Site Engineer and Concrete and Production Technologist at Precast Concrete Manuf...

Sunyi Dean recorded on 03/11/2022 Sunyi Dean is a biracial fantasy author who was born in Texas, grew up in Hong Kong, and now resides in the UK. She writes speculative fiction with a weird slant, and has both too many books and too many children. Her latest book is a best seller and you should buy it early and buy it often - as they say on Trash Future. The books called the Book Eaters and it sou...

Richard Clarkson recorded on 10/08/2022 Richard Clarkson is a Finance Systems Director who, at the time of recording was 5 months into transitioning through to retirement and only working 1 day a week on a consultancy basis. Prior to that Richard was responsible for the Financial Systems of National World plc the owner of Yorkshire Post and a large number of other media brands in the UK. Richard h...

Caroline Hudson recorded on 28/10/2022 Caroline Hudson has over 30 years’ experience as a Primary school teacher in West Yorkshire, and is passionate about developing the chance, for ALL children to be the best that they can be, and giving them the tools to make confident choices. Caroline believe that by giving parents the knowledge and understanding of up-to-date primary school methods and expec...

Lydia Cottrell recorded on 05/05/2022 Lydia Cottrell is a dancer, artist, black metal make up social media influencer and a social media consultant. At the time of recording Lydia was also the Communications and Engagement Manager at Compass Live Arts. Every two years Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces. This year they have commissioned f...

Ron Wiener recorded on 24/08/2022 Ron Wiener is a semi-retired community theatre director, socio-dramatist and grandparent. Born in London, brought up in Australia he has lived in England for the past 67 years and in Leeds since 1975. He has worked all over the world as a socio-dramatist. Ron is a founder member of ISCAN - the International Socio-drama and Action Methods Network which runs course...

Bruce Davies recorded on 02/08/2022 Bruce Davies is an Artist / Writer and Curator of Basement Arts Project. His work looks primarily at the relationship between artist, gallery and viewer; how environments can shape the perception and understanding of an artwork and how a space can alter the nature of the work itself. It has been this line of enquiry along with four years as the organiser, curato...

Anna Bland recorded on 17/08/2022 Anna Bland is Team Leader for Leeds Sanctuary. Leeds Sanctuary is a city centre project focusing on reflection, wellbeing, activism and creativity. Leeds Sanctuary creates spaces and resources on and offline for people to connect more deeply with themselves, one another and important issues of social justice. They are also exploring craftivism, meditation, mindful...

Peter Spafford recorded on 14/06/2022 Peter Spafford has written for theatre, radio, musical theatre, TV and opera. His plays have been performed in theatres, cathedrals, museums, arts centres, day centres, prisons, schools, piazzas, and in the woods. Peter is currently Director of Words at Chapel FM Arts Centre. He is also a songwriter and musician, having just produced Unsung Sports, a project c...

Sophie Greenwood recorded on 11/07/2022 Sophie Greenwood is a printmaker and the owner of a company called Ink & Bear that focuses on creative workshops, organising events and supporting other makers. Sophie has lived in Leeds since 2005 when she moved here to go to University, fell in love with the city and has been here ever since! Sophie runs creative workshops across Leeds - she strongly b...

Kevin Pratt recorded on 05/09/2022 Kevin Pratt has worked successfully in property development and land acquisition, succeeding with the acquisition of a project building several town houses in south Leeds. Then he discovered Passive Haus and began Leeds based eco builder Purehaus. Purehaus has a mission to build homes with reduced energy demand allowing them to provide homes that rely on the cons...

Bonnie Milnes recorded on 29/04/2022 Bonnie Milnes is an actress and musician living in Leeds. She says that there’s no money in either so she also works as a carer. At the beginning of the pandemic, her band stopped performing and she lost her business (a rehearsal studio in the centre of York). Living on her own and finding her work as a carer harder than she’d ever experienced before it was a p...