Audio
Ladder to Somewhere
Jun 2020. Episode play time: approx. 15 mins
Sharing personal insight to the impact of the poverty and chaos has to be followed up on right?
Sharing personal insight to the impact of the poverty and chaos has to be followed up on right? In this series we are taking a deeper look at the influences and the silence that contributed to me becoming a care child, a thirteen year old teenage mother and directly affected by gang culture. Fortunately for me I was able to claw my way out but not everyone is equipped with the few survival skills I was blessed with.
This is the story of a family, a city and a working class culture in decline.
There is a route out of social deprivation, away from the stigma that results from a disadvantaged childhood. With the right help and resources, we can better understand how it is possible to climb the ladder to somewhere.
Producer: Hugh Costello
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
Getting on the Ladder
podcast coming soon
Working practices have changed considerably in the last few years.
Information services are now 76% of the UK workforce with almost all mining and manufacturing outsourced to less developed countries. The quaternary sector relies on a highly educated workforce, with the chief responsibility of making the best decisions for expansion and profit.
Social mobility comes with many signposts and not all of them face the oncoming traffic. It helps to know which route to pursue and the patience required, as well as any other hints or tips that may help along the way.
In this series we capture exactly that; Hints, tips, strategies, pit-falls, boundless experience for people who have successfully created careers for themselves. We’ve even captured the thoughts and advice of seasoned industry and influencers from a few industries, toward education and people development on the evolution of the UK’s work history and what we may require, or expect going forward.
Ladder to Nowhere
Feb 2019. Episode play time: approx. 15 mins
The dramatic story of one woman’s escape from a life blighted by gang culture.
Liza Ward grew up in a world of chaos and exploitation on the estates of 1990s Manchester, at a time when the city earned the nickname Gunchester. A mother at 13, haunted by an abusive childhood,, she began a relationship with an older man who turned out to be a member of a notorious gang. Liza and her young daughter were thrown into a world of violence and revenge – culminating in a terrifying showdown on the streets of Moss Side.
They survived, and escaped the world that threatened to destroy them. But many young people don’t.
In this series, Liza returns to Manchester in search of answers. Articulate, passionate and still very streetwise, she remains close to many of the vivid characters she grew up with. In five suspenseful episodes, Liza takes us back in time as she reconnects with key figures from this remarkable story, and pieces together the events that led to her near-death encounter with the brutal realities of Gunchester.
She meets former gang members as they mentor young people in a bid to reverse the alarming increase in gang-related crime on British streets. It’s a difficult task, she observes, “because you can only put so much air in a punctured inner-tube before it goes down again.” Liza believes that, if any of us changed places with these young people, we may well go the same way.
In the first episode, she revisits her early years on the notorious Hulme Crescents estate, where many residents lived emotionally chaotic lives and operated outside the normal boundaries of community. Raised by a troubled single mother, Liza was easy prey for abusive men. But hope came from her grandmother, who home-schooled her, determined that she would have the tools to find a better life.
Producer: Hugh Costello
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
Finding the Treasure
Good News from the Estates: Wythenshawe
Today a fifth of the Church of England’s 12,500 parishes are estimated to be ‘estates parishes’ meaning that they include at least 500 social housing homes, however, half of these ‘estates’ currently have no Church of England Worship centre within them.
Over the last two years, to try and address this, the “Church of England’s Estates Theology” project has been pairing up local ministers, vicars and priests, with academic theologians. This podcast series is showcasing this work and how the project has helped churches and their neighbours to reflect on what gifts God has given them to share together.
In this episode, presenter Liza Ward travels to the Wythenshawe estate in Manchester to to learn how a new project brought William Temple Church closer to those in their local community.
Producer: Simon Jarvis
A Whistledown production for The Church of England
Yentl Reunion
The Film Programme
Antonia Quirke reunites three cast members of Barbra Streisand’s cult classic Yentl.
‘ Liza stars as a surprise guest and reveals the level of impact the movie had on her life!’