What happens when you spend years longing for home — and then discover that coming home doesn't necessarily mean finding the place you imagined?

In this episode of Voices of Greystones, Terry sits down with Maxine Gallagher, who moved from Berlin to Greystones with her husband and two children believing she was coming home.

What followed wasn't quite the homecoming she had imagined.

Maxine speaks openly about leaving a life she loved in Berlin, adjusting to a much smaller town, losing her job, the pressures of starting again, and the difficulty of finding her place and rebuilding a sense of community.

But gradually, something changed.

Not through one dramatic moment, but through small interactions — a conversation, a coffee, someone noticing her, a hug, joining a choir, basketball, swimming with the Ducks and simply continuing to turn up.

Those moments began to change how she saw Greystones, community and herself.

Along the way, Maxine talks about her family, creativity, writing, music and her growing desire to call herself an artist. And she reflects on something many people who have moved away from home — or moved somewhere new — may recognise:

Perhaps home isn't always where you came from. Perhaps it's where you eventually feel safe enough to become yourself.

The conversation finishes with Maxine performing her original song “Keep On Keeping On” — a beautiful ending to a conversation about persistence, connection and the small things people do for one another.

This is a conversation about home, belonging, community, identity, creativity and finding your people.

🎙️ Voices of Greystones is a community podcast from High Tide Studios, created to preserve the stories of the people who make this town what it is.

We’re also delighted to have Greystones Wellness Hub as a community partner. The Hub plays an important role in bringing people and local initiatives together, and we’re pleased to help create another space for those stories and voices to be shared. It’s a simple collaboration built around community, conversation and creating something of value for Greystones.

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every town has people who quietly help shape what it becomes.

For the first ever episode of Voices of Greystones, Terry sits down with Fatima Alvarado — originally from Venezuela, now a Greystones resident, mother and community builder.

Fatima shares the story of arriving in Ireland more than a decade ago, the unexpected path that brought her to Greystones, and the moment the town began to feel like home.

She talks openly about belonging, family, faith and the simple decision to create something for the people around her. What began with a few free outdoor wellness classes grew into the Greystones Wellness

Hub and, eventually, a wider vision for bringing people, businesses and community together.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: when we recognise what other people have to offer, something changes.

This is a conversation about finding home — and then deciding to help make that home better for others.

🎙️ Voices of Greystones is produced by High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, County Wicklow.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

hightidestudios.ie/voices

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to Voices of Greystones

01:09 — Growing Up in Venezuela

02:45 — The Dream of Somewhere Green

05:15 — Leaving Home

08:25 — Finding a New Life in Ireland

10:09 — Finding Greystones

14:22 — When Greystones Became Home

17:21 — The Idea That Started With a Few People

19:20 — Bringing People Together

21:06 — From Wellness to Community

22:22 — Building Something Bigger

25:23 — What Makes Greystones Special?

27:42 — Faith and Purpose

29:50 — Learning to Quiet the Mind

32:34 — Choosing to See the Good

34:55 — What I'd Tell My Younger Self

36:23 — What Ireland Gave Me

37:00 — A Vision for Greystones

40:17 — The Greystones Quick Fire

41:56 — A Final Thought

42:31 — Every Stone Has a Story

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.