Owning Our Future – A Limited Run Podcast Series from the Ross of Mull and Iona

I’m really pleased to be able to share this limited run podcast series with you. If you’re a WWDitW listener there’s a good chance you may find it interesting. It’s not so much an oral reminiscence podcast, but more of a journalistic piece about life under Covid in the Ross of Mull, Erraid and Iona.

At the end of last year I worked on a 5 episode podcast project called Owning Our Future, with South West Mull and Iona Development [SWMID] and Community Land Scotland [CLS] which was funded by the National Lottery Community Fund’s Emerging Futures fund.

Owning Our Future, explored how communities who have community land owners experienced the first Covid lockdown.
The interviewees were asked to reflect on both their experience of lockdown and how community land ownership might play a part in a “post-Covid” future.
The podcasts are an honest, openhearted portrayal of the impact of the first lockdown on those interviewed and are very moving to listen to.
None of those interviewed claim to be speaking for the whole community, these podcasts cover individual experiences of a, hopefully, unique moment in time.
We think that so many people who listen to this will be familiar with the particiants’ experiences.
There are five podcasts, each exploring responses to a different question:

• What has had the most impact on your life in the current situation?
• What is life like in your community under Covid 19?
• What’s the best thing to have happened in your community as a result of Covid 19?
• What do you feel your community needs to build its road map out of the current situation?
• What do you feel that SWID’s role in this whole period has been and will be?

Original music was written by the brilliant duo of Hannah Fisher and Sorren Maclean. It was such a delight to work with them on this, they are just the best.

The podcasts were produced and edited by myself.

Thank you to everyone who gave their time to speak to us, and thank you, too, to the CLS and SWMID teams, it was such an honour to get to deliver this project.