Ciara's Pink Sparkle Podcast!

I recently sat down for a lovely chat with a wonderful lady called Heather Bailey who I recently met through my work. Her daughter has Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities and she is a wonderful mum and advocate for her daughter. We talked about her experiences of becoming a mum, her campaigning on PMLD issues, we talked about learning disability and we talked about disability media representation too!

I chatted with Ken Ross OBE who is the Founding Officer of the National Down Syndrome Association and the Vice Chair of the the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association. He has also done some amazing work with Bafta about media representation and people with a disability in the media. He also told me about his lovely relationship with his son Max who has Down Syndrome as his dad. We also talked about a fantastic event they hosted at 10 Downing Street which I got invited to a while ago. I also asked him some fun questions too!

I chatted with the super A List British Award Winning Actress Brenda Blethyn about her amazing acting career, all her fantastic awards & where she keeps them. We chatted about TV Drama Vera & what she took from the set after it finished filming. We also talked about her support for charities including the Washington Riding for the Disabled Centre which she supports & we chatted disability awarness and lots more!

I chatted with Comedian Alistair Barrie who I met at an awards ceremony. We chatted about his comedy career, cancel culture & why it's not ok to make offensive jokes about people with a disability. He told me about his kids who both have a disability & what he's learnt from them & we chatted about disability too. He told me he knew Chris who won Strictly last year & I said I would like to do Strictly to represent people with a learning disability like me!Please go & check out Alistair's career on his website!https://www.alistairbarrie.com/

I chatted with artist Minty King about her career as an artist and illustrator. She told me about the art workshops and events she runs in Manchester with students who have SEN & I told her about what I made for my GSCSE Art. We talked about how Art should be able to be inclusive to everyone & I told her I was a judge for a recent children's art competition alongside another judge Julia Donaldson who wrote kids story book The Gruffalo. You can buy products she has made with some of her groups. The link is below. https://www.sapphirepartnership.com/category/all-products

This episode of my podcast is very special. I chatted with Gareth and John from the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir.They told me all about how the choir formed many years ago and we chatted about some of their past concerts and we chatted about some of the songs that they perform in their concerts. We also paid a lovely tribute to my uncle who was a long standing member of the choir. If you would like to know more about the choir, please go and check out their website. They are looking for new members too!https://dublinwelsh.com/

I chatted with actor Peter Caulfield about his new play Two that will be on at Greenwich Theatre from 21st of August to 12th September. He will be starring in it alongside my actress friend Kellie Shirley. Tickets are on sale. For more info & book tickets, go to the theatre website. link is below.https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/two/

I recently chatted with one of our charity Mencap Myth Busters who is called Michael Beynon. He has run in the London Marathon to help raise money and awareness for Mencap a few times, He is also a Rotarian and has achieved a lot of amazing things in his life and he has has a learning disability. Also, His step Dad Stephen will be taking on a big fundraising challenge to help raise money for Mencap soon, so please donate if you can by going to this link!https://www.justgiving.com/page/stephen-walker-1?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_launched&utm_content=28d2e252-aebc-4665-a133-9b0658fe0723&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1739306976482

My chat with Junior Doctor Grace Spence Green. She became a person with a disability in 2018 after she was involved in an accident. She has written a fab new book called To Exist As I Am and you can buy it online from book stores like Waterstones!https://www.waterstones.com/book/to-exist-as-i-am/grace-spence-green//9781800814486?utm_source=awin&awaid=3787&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22647730732&gclid=CjwKCAjwgb_CBhBMEiwA0p3oODI0UTAVGWF2JV27AWVcXkPDEApmsWcYsryYsSE7XGSxvtbElbanORoCEbcQAvD_BwE

I interviewed Irish singer & Songwriter Gavin Friday who is also my lovely u2 family for my Podcast. We chatted about his own music career and his album Ecce Homo, we chatted about our Dublin connections, we talked about our u2 family connections & he told me about his creative consultant role with the band. We also chatted about what inspires us & angers us & he told me a story about my cousin Richard aka 'Dik' back in the Virgin Prunes days!