This episode takes us back into the territory of community activism and empowerment and that is something that is at the heart of this series. Terry McTernan has a great story to tell about Ferguslie Park and the people who live there. Often highlighted, Ferguslie had become a byword for the extent and impact of deprivation. Sadly, it had often appeared to be a graveyard for efforts at regeneration and recovery. Terry tells a very different story a community that helped itself. One which made impressive progress when the people who lived there were empowered and encouraged. 

He echoes much of the work and thinking of Rebecca Solnit in her books, especially  ”A Paradise Built in Hell” and ”The Beginning Comes After the End” and these are just some of the references made in this wide ranging conversation about how we really need to address industrial decline, unemployment, poverty and all the impacts of adversity, including adverse childhood experiences.

It is fulll of ideas and passion and is a genuinely encouraging and uplifting conversation