1000 Better Stories

What does it mean to live well? And what does it take for a community to make it happen in the face of disappearing jobs, increased cost of living and a changing climate?Join Kaska Hempel, our Story Lead, as she visits Shotts in North Lanarkshire to meet Mags Murphy and Mark Slorance from Getting Better Together, one of Scotland's innovative Healthy Living Centres. Together they explore how their...

How does a run down public toilet turn a coastal village into a multi-award-winning community with a shared vision for the future? And what does it take for this community to feel safe despite growing challenges of coastal erosion, storms and flooding?Join Kaska Hempel, our Story Lead, for a conversation with Wendy Murray and Jerry Forteath from East Haven on the Angus coast, to hear about the...

This vignette explores the magic of people from all walks of life coming together in a protest for a cause, demanding a better future for their communities. It was recorded on 25 October 2025, the day of Scotland Demands Better march and rally in Edinburgh, organized by Poverty Alliance. Kaska speaks to Sandy Greene from ScrapAntics in Dundee who shares her personal experience as a lifelong...

In this crossover, we share a standalone podcast episode from Transition St Andrews about their reuse and repair initiative. You will hear about the programme’s projects and activities and its positive impact on students, staff and local residents within the community. Enjoying the podcast? Share the story with others, review or rate our show. Credits: Ruth Sanderson, Senior Communications...

In this crossover, we share an episode of the CycleHub Stories podcast A Journey of a Bike Time. Cycle Hub.Org director Scott Francis talks about why the organisation was formed. We meet David, who comes to the Dundee Cycle Hub to donate a bike with a story. We also hear from Fiona Brunton, Engagement Coordinator for the Students Association at Abertay University. Enjoying the podcast? Share the...

In this crossover, we share an episode of Edinburgh Communities Climate Action Network’s new podcast series Climate Jam. Host Eirini talks to Pianodrome’s co-founder Tim Vincent-Smith about the story behind building the world’s first Pianodrome in Edinburgh. They discuss the importance of community, circular economy and how a project needs a soul to make it work.Enjoying the podcast? Share the...

In this episode, Kaska Hempel explores the ideas behind the Narrating Change workshop - a creative experiment in using storytelling to bring community voices into climate adaptation policy-making.You will hear from researcher and workshop lead Emma Yule, and community participant Luke Fraser who is based in Orkney. They share what they got out of the session, and reflect on their wider ideas of...

In this cross over we share a 2022 episode of The Highland Good Food Podcast, published by Highlands Good Food Network. Host, Laura Dorantt, speaks to Anna from Planet Sutherland, Mairi from the Fearn Free Food Garden and Emma from the Auchtertyre Community Garden. They discuss the importance of community food projects, which offer a space for learning, a place to gather and grow.Enjoying the...

In this cross over we share the first episode of the Paperboats podcast, associated with the Paperboats collective of Scotland-based writers focussed on nature and environment in a time of climate and ecological breakdown. Host, Ian Grosz, talks with Paperboats co-founders Sandy Winterbottom and Elaine Morrison about the ideas behind the movement and its work so far.Enjoying the podcast? Support...

2024 marked the five-year anniversary of Greener Kirckaldy's ownership of their community building and 100 years of the community land ownership movement in Scotland.This is a story of this community’s journey to community ownership and how that empowered them to do more on climate, build resilience and help people in need.SCCAN podcast has lost it's funding. While we look for other sources, you...