ONEOFTHE8

We talk to a remarkable young woman who is paralleling her studies with a project to combat loneliness. We hear how Nina Andersen is connecting pupils in schools with care home residents through ‘Community Senior Letters’. We also hear how this fabulous initiative has now reached far and wide, with students from all around the world sending letters to residents of more than 230 UK care homes.

We talk to Trewin Restorick, founder and CEO of environmental change charity ‘Hubbub’. We hear how he is revolutionising the way environmental messages our communicated to all of us, in our everyday lives. We also hear about three of Trewin’s favourite campaigns, and how they are putting smiles on people’s faces as well as tackling problems like litter, plastic pollution and food waste. Creative campaigns and everyday inspiration for greener living. If you’re looking for inspiration and practical actions that are good for you and the environment, you’ve come to the right place.

We talk to Sarah Common, co-founder of ‘Hives for Humanity’. We hear how this Vancouver based not-for-profit society is connecting people to nature, community and themselves, through bees and the culture of the hive. We also hear from two members of this diverse community, Ali and Horace, about how for them ‘Hives for Humanity’ is a source of human connection they treasure most deeply.

On this episode we do things a little differently by talking with our own team to bring you our review of the first year of ONEOFTHE8 and the real-life stories we’ve shared from 28 inspirational guests from all across the globe. Artists, artisans, adventurers, creatives, makers, philanthropists, thinkers, travellers, seekers, survivors, warriors, winners – we share the valuable lessons we’ve learned from them and discuss the many ways in which they have inspired us.

We talk to a man whose appetite for new cultures and fresh experiences led him from Europe to Australia, where he began to combine his passion for people and their human stories with his love of photography. We hear how Dino Serrao is making the invisible visible, through his stunning street photography, capturing the portraits of ordinary people and helping us to see the extraordinary within them.

We talk to a man whose love of the natural world means that he is dedicated to giving something back to his beloved ocean. We hear how Naude Dreyer is doing this by rescuing hundreds of injured Cape fur seals in his native Namibia. We also hear how Naude and his wife have now set up a non-profit organisation to support their incredible work, and how worldwide interest in their social media and videos is helping to raise the funds that they need to continue.

We talk to a gifted sportsman whose talent for tennis not only shaped his childhood, but also led him to venture from his loving family home in Germany to take up a university scholarship in Atlanta, Georgia. We also hear how he overcame his struggles with the mental health issues that affected him, and how his six years in the USA amongst a melting pot of different cultures, taught him many of his life’s most valuable lessons.

We talk to a man who has endured untold setbacks and even tried to take his own life, yet David Tovey has come through it all to become an independent artist, campaigner and founder of One Festival of Homeless Arts. We hear how a chance meeting with a man on a bench changed the course of David’s life, and how he went on to exhibit his work in the Tate Modern and on the covers of The Pavement Magazine and The Big Issue.

We talk to London based businessman, and one of the small number of people to have walked to the North Pole, Joey Worlidge. We hear about his epic adventure, and how he prepared for it mentally and physically. We also hear how Joey and his team mates on the walk, including international rugby player Will Greenwood, raised over £1 million for premature birth prevention charity ‘Borne’.