smallVOICE

It’s July and we serve up a fine summer smorgasbord of recommendations for listening, reading and viewing from Holly & Darren. A little bit of resistance to all the bad stuff going on in the world. Some music, too, from friends of the podcast Siskin Green and the Mairs Family Band. And you can join in … What are you enjoying just now, faithful listener? Any recommendations? Let us know! Oh, and we would like it to be known, despite what Darren claims, that we are NOT able to digitally track individual listeners wherever they are in the world. A wee joke. (This, and many other things, are beyond us.) Hello to the robots. Links Siskin Green Karine Polwart Villa Coco, Andrew Sean Greer Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence Key Changes, BBC Radio 3 For the Record, Youtube River Kelvin Walkway Saturday Kitchen, BBC The Lost Words – Spell Songs The Mairs Family Band John Green Jacob Collier Kirk Hamilton Strong Songs Year of Wonder by Clemency Burton-Hill Greenbelt This podcast was recorded on Thursday 2 July 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  52’31 minutes. Photo of Pope Leo XIV (c) Vatican Media World Cup Photo by Dar ius from Pexels

Margaret was recently surprised to discover – courtesy of the Scottish Bible Society magazine, no less – that Glasgow City Mission celebrates its 200th Anniversary this year. Not only that, but that it was a pioneer of similar missions in other parts of the UK, Europe and the USA. The Glasgow City Mission is now based in Crimea Street in the city centre of Glasgow, and around 500 people every weekday pass through the doors for food, support, English lessons, even haircuts … and a lot more. Margaret took her digital recorder along to talk to Jack Geddes, Marketing and Fundraising Manager and find out about the Mission’s activities today. Links Glasgow City Mission Facebook Page (has great photos of some 200-anniversary celebrations!) The smallVOICE podcast is available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Duration: 27 minutes. Theme music by Nicolai Heidlas.

It’s June and it’s a special clips show! Introduced by Darren (while Holly is on, er, hollyday), we’ve enjoyed putting this together for you – mixing up some more recent material and delving into our archive, there are connections everywhere. We revisit last year’s review of Lamorna Ash’s book, Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever, which is now out in paperback; Jared Stacey’s ‘Thousand Words’ interview is just as sharp and challenging today as it was when Anne spoke with him back in 2022; and we enjoy our chin-wag with Dave Tomlinson on the subject of prayer. We hope you enjoy it too! Links Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever by Lamorna Ash (Bloomsbury Publishing) Jared Stacy links OMG! A Bad Christian’s Book of Prayers by Dave Tomlinson This compilation podcast was recorded on Tuesday 2 June 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  67 minutes.    

It’s a podcast extra, folks! We were delighted to track down Rev Steve Stockman for a lovely chat about U2, after they had dropped their SECOND surprise EP of the year – Easter Lily. You’ll remember we got all excited about the first EP on Ash Wednesday, and in fact had hoped to speak with Steve then, but the stars did not align. But, gob-smacked by the appearance of the Easter Lily EP on Good Friday, we finally all got together online for a really good natter. Steve Stockman is the minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland and author of Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2. He’s also the co-founder of the 4 Corners Festival, which encourages connection from all across Belfast through discussion, music, story-telling, poetry, drama and prayer. Listen to the conversation and get in touch … Have you heard the songs? What did you think? Links Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 by Steve Stockman (Goodreads) Steve Stockman on Substack Steve Stockman on Facebook The 4 Corners Festival Official U2 website Easter Lily feels like the strongest collection of material U2 have mustered in at least 20 years…” Mojo Magazine This podcast was recorded on Thursday 15 April 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  21’47 minutes.

Welcome to our latest ‘small voice’ feature and, this month, we find out more about an organisation that connects with people in the remotest of places … The Mission Aviation Fellowship – also known as MAF – has been around for a long time. The experiences of the Second World War had shown that aircraft could bring aid in to remote places or evacuate people needing medical attention from those places. Missionaries could also be flown in, bringing the good news of the gospel where it had never been heard before. From a very small start, MAF is now the world’s largest humanitarian air operator, getting to places in minutes where other transport – or walking – would take days. Our roving reporter, Margaret, spoke to James Petticrew, MAF’s Church Engagement and Volunteer Manager, based in Glasgow, to find out about MAF’s work, 80 years on. And she found out from Eddie and Rosemary Watt what it was like working with MAF, uprooting themselves from Shetland in Scotland to be able to serve God in East Africa. If you would like to learn more about MAF, there’s lots more information on their website at https://maf-uk.org/. Bringing help, hope, and healing through aviation so that isolated people can experience Jesus’s love.” We’d love to hear from you! You can leave a comment on this website or get in touch on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our Substack email and chat with us there. Perhaps you have a suggestion for a ‘small voice’ who we can feature? The smallVOICE podcast is available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Duration: 24’01 minutes. Theme music by Nicolai Heidlas. All photos copyright MAF.

It’s April (finally!) and in this podcast we find out more about Seen and Unseen, as Holly & Darren chat about faith, politics and culture with Nick Jones who is the senior editor of the Seen & Unseen platform (although we still prefer ‘multiverse’). It’s an opinion website and associated podcasts, with lots of voices that share lots of different things from Stranger Things to St Augustine to ‘Donald Trump’s dangerous prayer’. Darren and Holly also review the recently-released, award-winning documentary, Everybody to Kenmure Street. This retells the story of a remarkable day in Glasgow in 2021 when, at the crack of dawn, on the morning of Eid, UK Home Office immigration officials accompanied by Police Scotland officers, turned up to detain two individuals who lived on that street. It’s quite astounding what happened next. Find out what Darren and Holly made of the film, and, if you’ve seen it too, let us know what you thought! This podcast was recorded on Thursday 9 April 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  71’06 minutes. Links Seen & Unseen Re-Enchanting, Seen & Unseen Aloud and GodPod Everybody to Kenmure Street at Conic Films Everybody to Kenmure Street Guardian review Harbour Faith Community A Thousand Words with Jared Stacy               Film photos copyright Conic/barry crerar/Sundance

These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation.” Bono In this month’s podcast, Darren & Holly wax lyrical about the brand-new EP, Days of Ash, from Irish rock legends, U2. It’s the first new music released by U2 in almost ten years and focuses on a series of high-profile global deaths, including the killing of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis, USA, in January. The EP arrived on Ash Wednesday, it’s packed with righteous anger, and it raises the question… is the protest song back? And we have a think about the role of faith (or not) in left-wing politics. Is it time for those on the left to ‘do’ God? Have a listen and get in touch with your thoughts! You can comment here on this website or contact us on Facebook or go to our Substack and chat with us there. (And can we apologise again for being terrible at social media! Rest assured, we will see your comments!) This podcast was recorded on Thursday 5 March 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  46’52 minutes. Links U2 Official Website U2 Days of Ash (Youtube, official channel) Trevor Noah interview with Zohran Mamdani Liz Bucar’s Substack post about Trevor Noah’s comments  

It’s February and Lent is almost upon us …. We have a brief Lenty chat where Holly & Darren share what they might be doing, or not doing, for the season. (And what about you, dear listener? Are you giving Lent up for Lent? What are your practices? Let us know.) And in the dark days of winter, what better than to talk about than …. death! But bear with us, we have a book review of the extremely well-received book by author Sarah Perry, about the illness and death of her father-in-law, David. The book covers a very short period of time, after a very late diagnosis of oesophageal cancer, during which time Perry and her husband move into David’s home to look after him. It was an experience so intense that Sarah Perry felt like she had been “picked up and put down in another place”. Screenshot Death of an Ordinary Man, was published in October last year to great praise and it won the 2026 Nero Non-Fiction Award, announced just last month. The paperback is due out very soon, so Holly & Darren are very happy to provide their review in advance of that. As ever, we’d love to hear from you and to know what you thought about the issues raised in the podcast. You can comment here on this website or contact us on Facebook or go to our Substack and chat with us there. Links Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry (Penguin Books) Lectio 365 This podcast was recorded on Thursday 5 February 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  51’06 minutes. Please consider rating the smallVOICE podcast in your podcast app as it helps others out there to find us. Thanks!

Happy New Year faithful listener! We hope that 2026 has good things in store for you. Well, we sort of hope that for all of us, as things are looking a bit scary out there just now. But in the winter gloom, we’re delighted to welcome Kelvin Holdsworth along to the first podcast of the year, and he chats with Holly & Darren about his predictions for 2026. Kelvin is Provost of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, a prolific blogger and friend of the podcast.   We also delve into experiences of the ‘Quiet Revival’, picking up on recent reports about church growth here as well as in the USA, especially amongst young men. Are the reports overblown? (Yes.) Is there something really going on? (Yes.) Lots of interesting stuff to mull over. Oh, and this in from Holly: “The Bible is really strange … and that’s ok!”   Links for this podcast Kelvin Holdsworth’s blog ‘Quiet Revival’ Bible Society report Church Times article about US church attendance Church growth article in The Guardian A Thousand Words for September 11 with Kelvin Holdsworth A Thousand Words: Kelvin Holdsworth This podcast was recorded on Thursday 8 January 2026. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  47’07 minutes. Please consider rating the smallVOICE podcast in your podcast app as it helps others out there to find us. Thanks!

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas, and Holly and Darren have a selection box of festive good things for you in December’s podcast. They are joined by the power of the audio clip by a host of, well, not quite angels, but some of the lovely people who have been our conversation partners over the last year or so, PLUS our very own roving reporter, Margaret. They have all deliberated and shared with us their Best Christmas, Favourite Nativity Story, Best Christmas film, and their hardest Christmas…. Holly and Darren also chew over all the traditional stuff – When is too soon to put up the lights? Is Die Hard even a Christmas film? And some less traditional musings – What do you do when the Three Wise Men turn up in your Advent reading? How do we walk in faith with the little light we’re given? We wrap up the podcast with a fantastic song – really a prayer – from Blue Rose Code, ‘Peace in Your Heart’. Thanks so much to Gavin, Laura, Margaret and Roz, we couldn’t have got there without you. Links from this podcast Blue Rose Code Brian Kershisnik, Nativity Hail Smiling Morn, Lady Maisery Listening to the Music of the Soul’ by Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani This podcast was recorded on Thursday 4 December 2025. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  48’56 minutes. Please consider rating the smallVOICE podcast in your podcast app as it helps others out in the ether to find us. Thanks! Image of candles by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Welcome to our latest ‘small voice’ feature where we seek out people and organisations which are small but make a big difference … Every year in Scotland, the third week in November is designated as ‘Prisoners Week’ and Margaret took the opportunity to devote this edition of smallVOICE to work relating to prisoners. Bethany Christian Trust provides the stories of two projects they run: an arts project allowing prisoners’ voices to be heard through drama, including the play, Insiders, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2025; and Connect to Community, which supports churches in offering a welcome and friendship to those who want to rebuild their lives after they have been through the criminal justice system. Margaret talks with Sam, who encourages prisoners to write and create, and David, who connects churches and volunteers with those who are looking for a friend to support them. Both of them are doing a job they love, sharing God’s love and helping to make a difference. Links for this podcast Bethany Christian Trust Connect to Community (to find out how your church can get involved you can email here) Insiders drama Prisoners Week Scotland We’d love to hear what you think … You can leave a comment on this website or get in touch on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our Substack email and chat with us there. Perhaps you have a suggestion for a ‘small voice’ who we can feature? The smallVOICE podcast is available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Duration: 33’03 minutes. Theme music by Nicolai Heidlas.

Mr ‘Bad Christian’ himself, Dave Tomlinson, is our special guest for November’s podcast! We’re delighted that Dave was able to join Darren and Holly to discuss some of the, well, frankly, more worrying things that have been happening recently in the world. Learn how good conversations might help us stave off despair. Can we actually repair the world? Would a bit of righteous anger be ok? How can we find our posse? Remember, “Hope is defiant imagination in the face of despair.” And we had a few laughs too … Links for this podcast Dave Tomlinson on Facebook The Holy Shed on YouTube The Post-evangelical (SPCK Publishing) smallVOICE presents Dave Tomlinson at the Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival 2015 This podcast was recorded on Thursday 6 November 2025. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Theme music and stings by Nicolai Heidlas. Duration:  49’12 minutes. Please consider rating the smallVOICE podcast in your podcast app as it helps others out in the ether to find us. Thanks!

Welcome to our latest ‘small voice’ special feature – where our roving reporter, Margaret, finds people and organisations which are small but make a big difference. Margaret says, “Protests against asylum seekers seemed to be on the rise over the summer of 2025, but they were all in far away places – until a protest arrived in Central Scotland, on my own doorstep. There were no riots but a lot of shouting and flag waving. However, there was also a counter-protest, also with flags and a number of cardboard signs with the general message that ‘refugees are welcome here’.” Margaret decided to find out the background to the counter protest, which included a number of Quakers holding the banner ‘Quakers for Peace’.She discovered that the story of the organisation Friends of Scottlsh Settlers, or FoSS, which is part of the counter protest, goes back much further than the arrival of the asylum seekers in Falkirk, and spoke to Jessica and Cath about their involvement. Links Friends of Scottish Settlers Scottish Refugee Council Photo of counter protest (c) The National This podcast interview was recorded in September 2025. Theme music by Nicolai Heidlas. Available from Apple Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and via your favourite podcast App. Duration: 26’12 minutes. Please consider rating the smallVOICE podcast in your podcast app (if you like what you hear!) as it helps others to find us. Thanks!