CLD Talks

In this weeks episode of CLD Talks Iain chats with Ted Scanlon - Community Connector at Thriving Places Drumchapel.  Ted takes us on a journey: exploring popular education in Brazil, explains why he thinks community learning and development is much more than just a career and why collectivism and the distribution of power is so important in the community sector. This was Iain’s first outing as hos...

This week on CLD Talks Conor was welcomed into the Scottish Parliament to have a conversation with Mr. Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Constituency. Jamie is also the Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training. In this Episode we discuss the Adult Learning and forthcoming Youth Work Strategy and what these mean for practitioners and learners....

This week on CLD Talks Conor catches up with Tila and Ian who formed Catch the Light, which is a Youth and Community Development Consultancy organisation. We have a great conversation from how they met, CLD work they done before Catch the Light, challenges of running a organisation, highlights and so much more! I hope you all enjoy this weeks episodes! Message from Tila: I encourage everyone to si...

This week on CLD Talks Conor sits down with Biddy Kelly who is the Managing Director for Edinburgh based organisation Fresh Start. In this episode we discuss the full circle moment Biddy had when she became the Managing Director, the support Fresh Start off the community, how the organisation has evolved and so much more! Fresh Start's mission is to ‘help people make a home for themselves’. The wo...

This week on CLD Talks Conor is joined by Suzanne Clark and Kieran Wardrop from Vibrant Communities. As Vibrant Communities approaches its 10th birthday, we hear the story of how the service was formed, developed and continues to evolve to best serve communities in East Ayrshire by putting them at the heart of everything we do. Suzanne and Kieran talk us through the opportunities and challenges of...

Welcome to Season 5 of CLD Talks! This week Conor is joined by Charis Roberston and Makaela from Hot Chocolate Trust and Jean McEwan-Short from the University of Dundee. In this episode we discuss the unique partnership and 1st year module called "Youth Work Practice: Hot Chocolate Trust', which is ran from Hot Chocolate rather than the classroom. We discuss Hot Chocolate Trusts origins, how Chari...

This week on CLD Talks Stephanie speaks with Paddy McKenna who is a Community Development Manager with Cassiltoun Housing Association. They have a great chat about how Paddy got into CLD, her travels including learning experiences, the work she currently does and so much more. This is a great conversation and we hope you enjoy! This episode marks the final episode of Season 4 of CLD Talks. Thanks...

This week on CLD Talks Stephanie, Ben and Conor went to the YouthLink Scotland Awards to speak with all the winner! It was an amazing event and we had a great time! This is our first video podcast which can be watched on Spotify!  Congratulations to all the winners: Arts & Creativity (Sponsored by Creative Scotland) Angus expressive arts project Community-Based Youth Work (Sponsored by Sc...

This week on CLD Talks Conor chats with Maggie Murphy who is a Senior Curricular Manager within Glasgow Kelvin College. We have a great chat about Maggie’s career within CLD including secondment posts which changed Maggie's thinking, college options, safe guarding, opportunities to speak at European Parliament, the pandemic and so much more! It was great to come to the college to record this in pe...

This week on CLD Talks Stephanie speaks to Brian Keenan. Brian is currently project manager at Saltcoats Link Up, an asset-based community development project in Ayrshire. Brian shares his CLD journey from working with the homeless community in Dublin, his time in Govanhill in Glasgow to his current role at Saltcoats Link Up. We also chat about his PHD studies exploring the community of Parkrun an...

This week on CLD Talks Conor is joined by Dr. Sarah Ward who is a Lecturer in Learning in Communities within The University of Edinburgh. Sarah tells us about her career in Glasgow, changing focus to complete her PHD, impact of the pandemic, current role and so much more in-between! For more information on the University of Edinburgh’s CLD Courses: MA Learning in Communities (MALiC) https://www.ed...

This week on CLD Talks Conor and Ben went to the capital to meet Orielle Taylor who is a Senior Development Officer within No Knives, Better Lives - National Delivery Team. NKBL is a collaboration between the Scottish Government and YouthLink Scotland—the national agency for youth work in Scotland. We’re a national initiative, delivered at local level with support available to any local authority...

This week on CLD Talks Conor speaks with Jim McHarg who had an amazing career in various roles including Senior Manager in North Ayrshire responsible for Community Empowerment and Community Engagement We discuss Jim’s career in CLD, history of youth work through work Jim’s Dad did after the war, education, the need for more adult learning and so much more! Find us on Twitter @CLDTalks to stay up t...

This week on CLD Talks Conor and Ben have a chat with Vicky Wilson who is a Community Development Team Manager for Fife Council. Vicky kindly travelled to Larkhall Universal Connections to record this episode. We have a great chat about how Vicky started her career within CLD, her time at university, going back to do her masters, work during lockdown and the Covid 19 pandemic, national pieces of w...

This week on CLD Talks Ben and Conor go to Fuse Youth Cafe and speak with Sharon and Ashley about the amazing work that they do. We also have Caitlin and Keigan who host the young person led podcast “Talk 2 Me”. Fuse Youth Café Glasgow is a charity working in East Glasgow providing a variety of services to young people of the area. The area has a high level of deprivation and the young people face...

Welcome to CLD Talks Shorts - A new segment for the Podcast were we highlight some key topics within CLD where I encourage dialog and conversation with us over on Twitter and more importantly with your colleagues in your work place. This will be to share ideas, practice, reflect on our own work and share some up beat good moments you are having within CLD. I am looking for ideas, topics and people...

This week on CLD Talks Conor catch’s up with Steven Youngson who is the Team Leader for Lanark Universal Connections. Steven has worked with Youth Family Community Learning Services within South Lanarkshire Council for 15 years and has worked within rural settings for the majority of his career. We discuss Steven’s career including his recent promotion, when he knew a career in CLD was for him, ad...

This week on CLD Talks Conor speaks with Kevin Ditcham who is a Insight and Engagement Lead at Police Scotland. Kevin is part of a team helping put the voices of citizens into service design and delivery. Kevin has a BA (Hons) Community Learning and Development (University of Dundee) and a background in youth and community work in areas of youth participation, public engagement, health inequalitie...

This week on CLD Talks I am joined by Alan Sherry, OBE, who is chair of the Community Learning and Development Standards Council for Scotland. He sits on the board of Fuse Youth Café which is located in the East of the City. He was appointed to the Scottish Education Council in December 2021. We discuss Alan’s Career from the college sector, national pieces of work and why he got involved with so...

Happy 1st Birthday CLD Talks! In this Episode Stephanie asks Conor about how he started CLD Talks and more details of how it became a real thing. We have Adele who returns to give us an update on her year in CLD. Finally, Conor and Stephanie discuss some key themes which have come from the podcasts. I am so proud to have brought these podcasts to the Community Learning and Development world and st...

Welcome to CLD Talks CLD Talks has been set up to raise the profile of Community Learning Development across Scotland. We will have Talks with front line community workers from third sector and statutory organisations, managers and decision makers to share practice, promote their work and some feel good moments of their careers. This started off as identified gap in the Podcasting world and now we...

This week on CLD Talks we speak to Karen Anderson who is the Founder and Director for She Scotland. SHE aims to support girls and young women become more empowered, supported, aspirational & improve their life chances. We had a really insightful conversation about the history of She Scotland, Karen’s own journey, going international and the challenges and opportunities for girls and women in S...

This week on CLD Talks I was joined in person at East Kilbride Universal Connections (The Key) with Tim Frew who is the Chief Executive of Youth Link Scotland. Tim sets the scene of his career leading up to his current role, growing up in Northern Ireland, discusses role models, how the sector is just now, the challenge of COVID 19 and so much more! This is an honest conversation and I really hope...

This week on CLD Talks I have the pleasure to speak with Susan Hunter who is the Chief Executive for Youth Borders who work in partnership and collaboration with a range of organisations regionally and nationally. We discuss Susan’s career for far, Youth Borders and how they support the local community and ‘A Force For Good’ a piece of research which was commissioned by Youth Borders. Links: https...

This week on CLD Talks we bring you the first in person Podcast we have done! Our guests are the Team from Landed Jax, Robbie, Tamsin and Aaron. We discuss the history of Landed, how they use a harm reduction approach, what their workshops are all about, the development of resources and so much more! Special thanks to Ben for managing the sound desk! For more info on Landed - https://www.landed.in...