Our Lives, Our Stories with Carl Chinn

Rebecca McKinney

Carl Chinn sits down with Rebecca McKinney, an outstanding headteacher and Catholic schools inspector whose story begins in a big, fiercely close Irish family with roots in the centre of Dublin and the countryside of Kildare. From her mom's childhood in the Bordesley Green back-to-backs to early starts on her dad's market stall, Rebecca grew up among strong women, hard graft and parents who believed their daughters could be anything. This is a conversation about belief and belonging. Rebecca reflects on the teacher who spotted her at ten and later opened the door to her career, on her late father's gentleness and the faith that keeps him close, and on a way of leading a school built on kindness rather than fear. She talks about greeting every child by name at the gate, treating parents as people and not problems, and the day her school refused to move one little boy on and built a new classroom so he could stay. It is a warm and quietly moving portrait of a proud Brummie-Irish woman who turned everything she was given, by her mom and dad, her aunties and the people who believed in her, into a life spent believing in others. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Making A Historian with Carl Chinn

In this solo episode of Our Lives, Our Stories, Carl Chinn answered a question he has been asked all his life: what makes a historian? For years his answer was the books, the historical novels he read as a a child, from Robin Hood, William Tell and King Arthur to the writing of Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece, which carried him from the Dark Ages to the Vikings, the Crusades and the mountains of the Caucasus. But looking back, Carl knows the real answer lies with his family. He remembers the Sunday afternoons of his childhood, the storytellers on both sides, his grandad Perry, struck down by multiple sclerosis, and his grandad Chinn, one of the old Contemptibles of 1914. He recalls his nan Lil Perry, the eldest of twelve who never had a childhood, and the old Brummagem words, clammed and wench, that carried a whole way of life. Through them, he found the hardships of the strong women in his family, the stories that led to his first books on poverty, the hated workhouse from which the NHS would one day emerge. This is a reflection on memory, dialect, belonging and why these stories matter, ending with Carl's heartfelt plea. His generation, he says, is the last who can tell you why the workhouse was hated and why the NHS is so loved. So grab hold of your oldest relatives and record their memories. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Father's Day Special

This Father's Day special, Carl Chinn and some of our guests over the passed year share the stories of the fathers and grandfathers who made them. From a working class bookmaker who played football on the rec and ran the school team because no teacher would, to a Jamaican-Irish poet whose dad quoted Shakespeare and Kipling off the cuff, from a German Jewish refugee who arrived aged 13 on the Kindertransport to a boxing coach who spent nearly four decades giving everything to lads from deprived Birmingham neighbourhoods and never charged a single one, these are the men who stayed, who worked, and who shaped the people around them in ways still being felt. This is an episode about presence and absence, inheritance and identity. Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion of the Holocaust, the Kindertransport, family bereavement and Partition 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 [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Stacey Barnfield

Carl Chinn sits down with Stacey Barnfield, journalist, former editor of the Birmingham Post, photographer, and creator of the Colour Palette Company and Draw My City. Stacey grew up in Chelmsley Wood and Yardley, proud of both, and that sense of place runs through everything he has built. They talk about Stacey's path from print room runner at the Birmingham Post and Mail to deputy editor of the Birmingham Mail and editor of the Birmingham Post, and the pressures of leading local newspapers through the digital shift. Stacey also shares the story behind his colour palettes, born in lockdown and now displayed in museum gift shops from Liverpool to Glasgow, and the photography that captures Birmingham's changing face one frame at a time. Learn more about Stacey's work: edwinelliscreativemedia.com / thecolourpalettecompany.com / drawmycity.co.uk ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Kate Knowles

Carl Chinn sits down in conversation with Kate Knowles, editor of the Birmingham Dispatch, a reader-funded online paper covering the stories that matter most to the West Midlands. They talk about Kate's background, how she became a journalist and what it takes to run an independent local paper Content warning: This episode contains discussion of mental health struggles and some strong language. Please do take care whilst listening. Learn more about the Birmingham Dispatch: https://birminghamdispatch.co.uk [https://birminghamdispatch.co.uk/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.