Women Today

Welcome to our post-show podcast chats! We often don't time to talk as much as we would like about certain topics on our daytime programme, so we've decided to spend some time recording extra bits. Just us having a natter, essentially. For our first chat, we revisit the topic of hair - should it be there or should it be nair(d)? As inspired by the instagram success of Greek-Cypriot model Sophia Hadjipanteli and her enormous black eyebrow. NB: these are meant to be fun chats to incite or inspire conversation or debate among our lovely listeners. We'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the topics we'll be discussing - email us at [email protected]

Christy was joined on the Conister Rock on 18th April by former Chief Minister Tony Brown OBE, a man who began his working life before the age of 10, delivering the news to his Castetown neighbours on a humble paper round only, in later years, to become the news himself as a result of his extensive political career.

He shared wonderful stories from his childhood through to now, talked about his rise through the political ranks, about some of the people that inspired him throughout his life and enthused about the Island nation and its people, both of which he clearly cares about. He also shared five pieces of music that have a particular significance for him.

Regular listeners to the programme may remember Laura Cretney, who is the founder of PinkJinn.com, the politics and culture blog that “tells stories, unravels misconceptions and celebrates the beauty of the Middle East and North Africa”.

She most recently she came in to tell us about the fabulous work of British artist Hannah Rose Thomas, who, as a result of funds raised right here on the Island, was able to travel to Iraq to work with the women there who had escaped from captivitiy under ISIL. Laura is now working with the Bath and Bottle to put on a fabulous foodie event raising much needed funds for charities on the ground in Syria. Christy caught up with her, along with Charlotte Greenbank from Bath and Bottle, to find out more about the situation in Syria, the Hands Up Foundation and the Supper Club itself, which is happening on April 26th 2018 at the Bath and Bottle. Visit PinkJinn.com to find out more. (music: The Seven Gates of Damascus by Maya Youssef)

Lots of our Isle of Man based listeners will know Jackie – or 'Jax' – Keenan. Formerly the gloriously dread-headed smiling face behind the bar at the Rovers, then Noa Bakehouse, Jackie is someone who has traveled extensively both for fun, for education and for work. Her experience as a scuba diver took her to work in Fiji a couple of years back and now, the Masters in Conservation and Biodiversity that she is working on at the University of Exeter in Cornwall continues to take her to far flung places. Like Kenya, where she recently had the opportunity to visit an extraordinary Village...

On International Women's Day 2018, we interviewed a number of Manx women who have been making a difference in rural communities around the world. This is the full interview with Jennifer James, from 'Reap What You Sew', about making and distributing feminine hygiene kits in Nepal and Cambodia with the brilliant charity Days For Girls, who are supporting and educating women - and children and men! - around the world about the often taboo subject of menstruation. Find out more about them here: https://www.daysforgirls.org/ And watch our short video with Jenny, showing us what's inside one of the Feminine Hygiene Kits, right here: https://www.facebook.com/ManxRadio/videos/2025094107518506/

This week saw the 1st of March arrive which - in meteorological terms, is the first day of Spring. Not that you’d know it with all these snow storms! But with the first day of spring also comes the Big Clean, as house proud home bodies across the land reach for the marigolds and start the Spring spruce up. To get some ideas for how to make that clean a little easier, Christy caught up with Lynsey ‘Queen of Clean’ Crombie - from Channel 4’s Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners, and Charlie Freeland – who is a cleaning expert from ampliance manufacturer VorWerk, to get some hints and tips. It's amazing what you can do with potato peelings and a tennis ball..! Christy started by asking Charlie about recent research looking at Britain’s cleaning habits.

Just before the end of 2017 we were joined in the studio by an extraordinary young woman. Laura Cretney is a Middle East Business consultant and she had just given a TedX talk called ‘How to Change the World’. She mentioned while she was with us that she in the process of fundraising for a project in Iraq, to send her artist friend Hannah Rose Thomas to run an art project there with women who had escaped from captivity under ISIL. Christy caught up with Laura on Feb 15th to find out how the project went, and began by asking her to tell us a little bit about Hannah. You can find Hannah at http://hannahrosethomas.com/ and learn more about Laura and her work at pinkjinn.com

Christy was joined on the Conister Rock on Feb 2nd 2018 by former motorbike racer Carolynn Sells, the only woman to win a race on the famous Isle of Man Mountain Course. She shared fabulous memories, from early childhood through to her racing success, talked about TV and film work, her family and design career - all knitted together with some fantastic music choices - over the course of the programme and, if you missed any of it, you can now listen back to the full interview here.

Should “walk-on” or “grid girls” be banned from the modern sporting arena? And if so, who is qualified to make that decision? Are they just decoration? Is it better to see them doing the sport rather than in front of the sport? It's a very divisive topic, with the girls themselves saying they love the job and to leave them be. Obviously, this is something you see on the Isle of Man at least twice a year, as both the TT and Festival of Motorcyling roll into town with all the glamour and sponsors and everything that goes with – including grid girls. So Christy caught up with Jorden Rafferty - one of the Sure TT grid girls - and Sarah Jarvis, Marketing Manager of the company, who have been one of the TT’s headline sponsors for several years. Their response was fascinating. Jorden is pictured on the left, with Sarah 2nd from right.

On 31st Jan 2018 Christy caught up with three members of the Isle of Man Choral Society (Jean-Michel Bazille, Kati Kinley and Susan Griffiths) who had just returned from what can only be described as the trip of a lifetime. They were part of the 49 members of the Society invited to make up the chorus premiering the latest work by Sir Karl Jenkins at the iconic Carnegie Hall. This is how they got on...You can find out more about the choir and their upcoming performances at www.choral.im. With thanks to Chris Kinley for the photo.