Want to make positive change in your community and not sure where to start? Our social entrepreneurs share practical advice for those looking to create solutions to issues in their local community. Tap into the local expertise that has helped these social entrepreneurs to create the lasting positive change their communities want to see.…

What have the £1 homeowners brought to North Staffordshire, and what is the role of the Local social entrepreneurs work with their community to “tell the story of the city through art”, in Chris Parr of The Stoke 2000 project’s words. Upcycling and upskilling, they use creativity to improve access to employment and community togetherness in Stoke –…

Explore the rich history of Dundee through the eyes of proud Dundonian Andrew Batchelor, founder of Dundee Culture. We find out how a background in the building trade helped John Alexander distribute £500,000 worth of food to the local community, when the pandemic placed pressure on access to essentials. Hear how Danielle Gaffney du Plooy continued…

Female-led social enterprises in the South Wales Valleys are thriving. Many of these are focused on mental wellbeing services, and others, such as MiFuture, are improving access to employment for young people. Katie Hadley, founder of family and early-years support venture, Little Lounge, shares how they transformed their community space to meet th…

Who are the people transforming food systems in Brighton, to make food fairer for all? Comedian Mark Steel introduces us to social entrepreneurs with innovative, sustainable solutions to food inequality in Brighton and Hove. We hear from Bryan Coyle of East Brighton Food Co-op and Joel Essex from BrightStore about how their community food schemes h…

In “Changing Places”, we meet social entrepreneurs from across the UK, who are creating solutions to local issues in their communities. From Brighton, South Wales, Dundee and North Staffordshire, these local leaders share how they have overcome the pandemic’s challenges - building creative, collaborative and powerful social ventures. The leaders in…

Cultural Quarter Of An Hour is back for 2021 after a bit of an extended Christmas break. We're kicking things off by talking to two Staffordshire University Journalism students about the Future Journalism Awards. The awards are run and organised by the students as part of their final year assessments. And this year the awards are going national. Sc…

I'm talking podcasts on the podcast this week. In September 2020 a new podcast series was launched by The Social Agency. They are a group in North Staffordshire for people with autism. Remote Operations was recorded during the Covid-19 lockdown (spring/summer 2020) It was devised and performed by autistic and learning disabled adults working in par…

I'm involved with a lot of podcasts - that's the joy of running a podcast business. One of the most special I'm involved with is called Purple Rainbow Pancreatic Cancer Podcasts. It comes out monthly and I host it on behalf of North Staffordshire campaigner Lesley Goodburn. I want to share with you an episode of that podcast through this podcast. A…

We're facing a very strange Christmas not just in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire but also across the country. So I thought I would re-start the podcast early and bring you an interview with Santa Claus himself. Santa has been worried that children across North Staffordshire are missing him during lockdown so he's set up some Zoom calls (yes Zoom …

This week Charlotte's talking to Amanda and Gemma from the Collective Skills Project. They've been putting on a special lockdown project for people who live in Hartshill to help bring the community together. It's called Community Clay and has seen the streets turned into living art galleries! You can find out more Collective Skills Project here Cha…

This week Charlotte speaks to story teller Alan Barrett. During lockdown he's been commissioned by The National Literacy Trust as part of Stoke Reads to create six stories based on the six towns of Stoke on Trent. Charlotte caught up with Alan as he recorded "Fenton Felony" his story all about, well the town of Fenton. You can hear and see all the …

Lockdown has affected our lives in many ways. It's created uncertainty for many and forced many of us to isolate. But it's also provided an opportunity to go exploring - but instead of heading off on a far flung adventure we've been finding new places on our door steps. This week Charlotte speaks to Laurel - one of the co-directors of Urban Wildern…

Cultural Quarter Of An Hour is back to help you be creative in lockdown. Today Charlotte is talking to Glen Stoker who is the Chair of Friends of Spode Rose Garden. The plans for the garden and the garden's community have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions, but that's not stopped them from getting people involved. You can find out more about th…

It's time to bring the podcast back! After around 9 months off Cultural Quarter Of An Hour is back. Charlotte's starting the new run of episodes with a look at some of the ways local groups have been coping with lockdown. It's part of the Get Creative At Home project - not for profit organisations have been given micro grants thanks to a collaborat…

This week's episode has come as a bit of surprise! Charlotte had no idea she was going to meet or even interview this week's guest until just a few minutes before she met him. And that makes this episode an absolute joy of discovery! This week Charlotte is chatting to The Terrain Tutor, aka Mel. Unsurprisingly he helps people create model terrains …

For the past couple of weeks people in Stoke on Trent have been finding fragments of a poem painted on to buildings around the city. Today Charlotte finds out more about the art work and what's behind the graffiti. You can find B Arts here and here Miusic Credit https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informatio…

If you're on social media you have probably seen the hashtag #MyStokeStory, but what's it all about? Charlotte's been to see Paul Williams from Stoke on Trent Cultural Destinations to find out more. Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

This week Charlotte speaks to Kat Hughes and Kat Boon from Potboiler Theatre about their new production Stoke, a love story. You may remember Kat and Kat from an episode in 2017 when Charlotte spoke to them about their production Girls, Girls, Girls. This time around they've gone bigger and bolder! Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com See ac…

Charlotte's been to the Spode Works in Stoke for the opening day of Dust Rising. While the BCB celebrates all things ceramic in the China Hall, just around the corner is The Meadows building. Inside here you will see a celebration of visual art. Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

This week Charlotte heads to Burslem to find out more about Arthur Berry the artist and poet. She goes on a special walking tour delivered by historian Mervyn Edwards and hosted by Barewall Art Gallery Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

This week Charlotte's been to Big Feast in Hanley. It's a free outdoor performing arts festival organised by Appetite and takes place around the city centre. Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.By Charlotte Foster

Today Charlotte has popped over to Chesterton in Newcastle Borough to find out more about what goes on in the Pavilion in Chesterton Park. Elite CIC is a not for profit group supporting people to live independently, in fact Elite stands for Enabling Living Independently Today and Everyday. It's a fantastic group which is placing itself firmly in th…

On Sunday 11th August 2019 Staffordshire Cycling Festival came to Newcastle. Charlotte went along to see what the event was all about (and yes there's more to it than lots of people in Lycra) and even got on a bike herself. Music Credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.…

The gloves are on in Longton. OK maybe they're not but a brand new community boxing gym has opened in the city in memory of a local boxer. Charlotte went along to the opening day where it was very noisy and spoke to the team at the Chris Edwards Academy Community gym about what it is they are doing and why boxing is so important. Music credit: http…

Some people make a huge impact on you. Today's guest, Edward Mckenzie and his wife Runa are without a doubt two of those people. Charlotte went to Edward's studio in Tunstall and spoke to him about his life, work and how he ended up in Stoke on Trent. Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informa…

Since 2010, homelessness has doubled in the UK. Now, over 4,000 people sleep rough every night. The problem is growing and many of us are motivated to help, but we just don’t know what to do. We speak to Meg and Cemal who are using delicious food and drink to provide a way out of homelessness – going beyond just providing jobs. Change, Please found…

Earlier this year Charlotte was asked by Stoke and North Staffs Women's Network to host an International Women's Day event discussing Women in Ceramics. It was held at the Potbank Hotel at the old Spode site in Stoke and featured a teaser for a film the network had commissioned and worked on called Bound By Clay. The project comes to an end this mo…

The D road aka the A500 is the basis of Claybody Theatre's next production. In preparation for the play the Deb McAndrew is asking for your memories, thoughts and feelings towards the road so Charlotte went to one of the drop in sessions being held to find out more. Of course she used it as an excuse to tell her story about how she thought the D ro…

One in ten girls or women aged 14 to 21 in Britain cannot afford sanitary towels or tampons, according to Plan International. Despite the serious consequences - from the impact on their dignity, to missing school and education, this issue was barely talked about only a few years ago. The good news is that now there are incredible entrepreneurs who …

Charlotte loves a bargain so she headed to Burslem's new outdoor market where she chatted to some of the people she met there. The first is June Cartwright, founder of the Our Burslem facebook page and second she also chats to Mike Watson who is chair of the Burslem Park Partnership. The market takes place every Wednesday 3pm - 8pm and it needs you…

This week Charlotte heads to The Portland Inn Project to find out more about what's going on. Yes there is food, but what she also finds out is there's a large and growing sense of community where just a few years ago there was a feeling the area was being ignored. Thanks to everybody who spoke to Charlotte. Music credit Purple Planet Studios See a…

This week Charlotte was invited to For The Love Of Shards which was held at Clayhead in Stoke. It was a public conversation organised by artist Nicola Winstanley to get people talking about the shards of pottery which they have collected over the years. She's doing this as part of her a-n Bursary project called Shards. You can hear all about it in …

It was a rain filled Stoke on Trent Pride but it was still a fun day in Hanley Park. Charlotte had a great afternoon dodging showers/downpours and talking to lots of people. A special thank you goes out to Tony and Toni from Scratch and Sniff Theatre and Laurel from Urban Wilderness CIC for helping Charlotte protect the VERY water sensitive recordi…

The weather outside is indeed frightful so Charlotte is taking it upon herself to cheer you all up by talking about Christmas! Well not quite but this episode does feature a Christmas tradition - the pantomime. Earlier this month auditions were held at the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley to find this year's Hanley Babes. If you're scratching your he…

This is where you'll hear the children who spoke to Charlotte about MakeFest, half term and all sorts of other things! Music Credit Purple Planet Studios See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.By Charlotte Foster

Cultural Quarter of an Hour is back for the latest series of podcasts all about Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire. You may remember last year Charlotte went to MakeFest and spoke to lots of exhibitors, well this year Charlotte was an actual exhibitor herself! MakeFest is all about showing off the creativity and makers based in this area and gi…

When you hear “unhealthy kids”, what often jumps to mind are national headlines about childhood obesity. Yet with 30% of children in UK living in poverty, many kids are actually arriving at school hungry every day. These issues are very much connected. In this episode we speak to Nathan Atkinson, a former headteacher, who found that talking about s…

In the UK, there were 39,818 knife crime offences in the 12 months ending September 2018, according to BBC research. Yet the solutions proposed by politicians and in the media often stigmatise the neighbourhoods and victims. So how do you take on a problem that is taking lives? In this episode we meet two people who have had real results in changin…

This week Charlotte talks to Stoke on Trent music producer Scott Evans who is taking his love of all things music and turning it in to his career. He's also a member of more bands than Charlotte's had hot dinners. Scott's building his studio so Charlotte get's a chance to geek out over microphones during their chat, but they also talk about playing…

Loneliness has been shown to be as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and can bring on strokes, heart attacks and dementia. One in ten GP appointments is made by an older person with no other condition than that they're lonely. So how do you get strangers talking to each other? How do you talk about tackling loneliness, when the wor…

25 years ago if you were a teenager or in your twenties and hanging around Stoke on Trent you'd no doubt have seen an issue of Bomb Magazine. It was a fairly DIY publication talking about the club and music scene of the time. It was set up by brothers Alex and Ned Hough and in this episode of Cultural Quarter of an Hour Charlotte talks to Alex abou…

Are we facing a loneliness epidemic? How can the UK be struggling with both childhood obesity and hunger in our schools? What needs to change to stop knife crime? We hear from those working on these challenges in “How Do You Solve A Problem Like..?”, documentary podcast series. Each episode features dedicated enterprising people who are using big i…

What on earth is a touch tour? If you don't know you'll find out in this episode as Charlotte goes behind the scenes at the Regent Theatre in Hanley to find out more about how people with sight loss are included when it comes to culture. If you or a family member want to find out more about the different access options out there you can get in touc…

Fred Hughes is a local historian, author, former Policeman and ex politician. I spent a lovely hour chatting with him a couple of Saturdays ago. For full disclosure I've enjoyed many a chat with Fred over the years I've lived in North Staffordshire thanks to working at BBC Radio Stoke. This interview could easily have gone on for hours but we kept …

Cultural Quarter Of An Hour IS BACK! This week we visit 6 Towns Radio and party at their award night. You'll find out what the station is all about, what's important to the presenters and most importantly you'll find out if Charlotte actually wins Stoke City Player of the year award! Music credit https://www.purple-planet.com/ Full blog and show no…

It's hard to deny there's a bit of a movement against single use plastic and waste at the moment. It's now easier to do your bit to cut down on plastic and waste AND shop locally. A new package free shop, Life Unwrapped, has opened up in Longton Market so I went to have a look. #SoTCulture Intro music credit The Big House by Jason Shaw used under C…

Continuing the Christmas theme because it's December and it's my podcast and you can't stop me, here's a chat I had with some of the guys performing in Cinderella at the Mitchell Art Centre in Hanley. #SoTCulture Intro music credit The Big House by Jason Shaw used under Creative Commons license. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informa…

Did somebody say party? Yes they did! And it was all taking place at Affordable Food Stoke in Blurton. The shop was celebrating its first birthday, but as you'll find out it's far more than just a place to get cheap food. #SoTCulture Intro music credit The Big House by Jason Shaw used under Creative Commons license. See acast.com/privacy for privac…

So this is Christmas - well it's close enough. All around North Staffordshire people are getting ready for Christmas. I make no apologies for loving the festive season. One of the best things about Christmas is the light switch ons that take place. Of course you never know who you are going to meet… Stay tuned to the end of the podcast for a specia…