Our Story

Mark Stephen meets a group of retired aviation enthusiasts who have built a World War One biplane in a shed in East Lothian. Now they want to see her fly.

Mark Stephen joins the Badenoch Ladies Shinty Club for a training night at the Dell to discover why so many women and girls are attracted to the game.

Mark Stephen meets the people who look after Aberdeenshire's most iconic hill. The bailies preserve its paths, nature and rich human history out of love for Bennachie.

After the loss of her son John, Isabel McCue and her younger son Hugh set up Nemo Arts to support other families dealing with mental illness. Starting with five people on Sunday afternoons, twenty-five years later they offer classes in the community, hospitals and prisons with everything from drama to drumming, singing and painting. Mark Stephen hears how people are finding joy, friendship and a true sense of identity through coming to Nemo Arts.

Mark Stephen visits the General Store, a Repair Monger in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders where local people can get take their broken items to get fixed rather than throwing them away and buying new one. With an ethos, "No Fix, No Fee", the handy in-house team of men and women will attempt to repair just about anything from electrical items, including laptops and tablets to clothes, toys, lamps and garden tools. The Community Interest Company support their repair project by selling second-hand and hand-made goods in a retail shop in the town's Market Square. This helps pay costs and keep repair fees affordable, and since they opened in 2021, they have carried out almost 5000 repairs, saving many of these items from landfill.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the SS Uganda provided thousands of school children with their first foreign adventures on what were called educational cruises. Hundreds at a time would board for trips round Scandinavia, the Atlantic, and even behind the Iron Curtain in Leningrad. Sadly, the ship no longer exists, but Mark Stephen heads to Dundee Model Boat Club to see a replica of the Uganda, and hear tales from former passengers of disco nights, seasickness and roaming round foreign cities in school uniform.

Mark Stephen hears how Livingston or "Livi" Skatepark was built into the landscape of Scotland's new town and became fundamental to the rise of skateboarding world-wide.

Mark Stephen hears how Portobello residents decided to buy their local parish church and transform it into Bellfield community hub.

Storm Arwen left thousands of people without power for up to week and destroyed millions of trees. Mark Stephen hears how communities in Aberdeenshire responded.

Mark Stephen meets retired Queens District Nurses to hear about the life and duties of a district nurse in some of the most remote communities of Scotland. "The Queen's Nurse didn't go to work, she didn't do a shift, she went on duty and it was a duty of care from the cradle to the grave and everything in between". Until 1969 the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland trained district nurses, to look after people in their own homes. For years they looked after entire communities; on call 24/7, one day off a month, no two days the same – delivering babies, end of life care, supporting the entire family in their districts. Each year the retired nurses come together at their annual gathering at Crieff Hydro. Mark joins these remarkable women to hear their of resilience, sacrifice and adventure.

People with experience of the care system march through the streets of Glasgow to celebrate their community and demand the right to love. Mark Stephen finds out why.

Mark Stephen is in Dumfries & Galloway near Lockerbie, to hear the story Hallmuir POW Ukrainian Chapel. In 1947, almost 500 Ukrainian POWs were interned and contracted to work in the local area in farming and forestry. Far from home, and unable to return, the men created a chapel in one of the corrugated iron huts and there have been regular services held there ever since. 75 years on, in an echo of history, the tiny chapel has become a focal point for Ukrainians and their families who have recently come to Scotland, having been displaced following the recent Russian invasion of their homeland.

With the wind in his hair and the biggest smile on his face, Mark Stephen gets the ride of his life when he visits Aviemore to meet the bikers involved in one of Europe’s largest Harley Davidson motorbike conventions, Thunder In The Glens. Mark discovers why bikers travel from all over the world to be part of the famous ‘ride out’ which sees thousands of bikers roar through the hills of the Highlands.

Mark Stephen visits Scotland’s first purpose-built Gurdwara. Located on Albert Drive, Glasgow, this beautiful religious temple opened its doors ten years ago and is very much at the heart of the Sikh community. Mark hears how the Gurdwara is not just a place to worship but it’s also where people go to study, take part in leisure activities as well as to socialise. Mark is also given a behind-the-scenes tour at the langar to hear about the central role that food plays within the Sikh faith.

It took 200 community members 500 hours each to stitch the Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry, in 2010 the longest in the world. Mark meets the people who made it and displayed it.

Mark Stephen visits Scotland’s first purpose-built Gurdwara

In 1979 thousands gathered on the frozen Lake of Menteith for an epic curling match between the North and South of Scotland. Mark Stephen hears memories of the last Bonspiel.

Mark Stephen celebrates 40 years of the Kessock Bridge

Mark Stephen meets those behind Glasgow Women's Library, the only museum in the UK celebrating women's lives, history and achievements.

Mark Stephen meets the caddies who work on St Andrews Old Course - the Home of Golf