0:19

Welcome back to series

0:19

three of the Student Connect podcast.

0:22

I'm Tiffany and I'm no Condor. And warehouse for today's episode.

0:25

This podcast is created in association

0:28

with Suffolk University

0:28

and hosted by our student content team.

0:32

It is a student led podcast, which shares

0:32

the experiences of students progressing

0:36

through university education and inviting

0:36

experts from a variety of life topics.

0:41

In this series, we are exploring cultures

0:41

to grow our understanding

0:45

and deepen our knowledge about the diverse

0:45

backgrounds that make up our community.

0:49

We want you to shape the series,

0:49

so if you'd like to join us as a guest,

0:53

email us at [email protected]

0:57

drop @StaffsUni a DM on social media.

1:00

Along the way, we will endeavor

1:00

to share our honest stories, sometimes

1:04

too honest to help to educate and discover

1:04

more about other cultures.

1:09

There may be some sensitive topics

1:09

discussed.

1:11

these are important to share,

1:11

to raise awareness of issues.

1:15

If at any point we use incorrect

1:15

terminology, please, we rest assured

1:19

that this is part of us

1:19

educating ourselves

1:21

and we are not intending

1:21

to cause any offense.

1:23

Without further ado, let's get started.

1:25

So welcome back to the podcast Anaconda.

1:25

How are you?

1:28

Have you been? I'm good. I'm

1:28

good. And you? Yeah, I've been great.

1:31

Just going. And the reason

1:32

why you are our co-host today

1:34

is that we will be speaking to host Danny,

1:34

who is actually a guest today.

1:38

Yes, I'm excited. Really excited. A really nice switch up.

1:42

And yeah, I'm excited about it. In this

1:45

series, you'll be sharing

1:45

with awesome places across Staffordshire

1:49

as we discover more about cultures

1:49

and backgrounds from all communities.

1:52

Today, we'll be chatting to Danny about

1:52

growing up on a British Council estate

1:56

and being the first in his family

1:56

to go to university.

2:00

Consular states and social

2:00

housing products

2:02

that are a fabric of life in Britain.

2:05

The background to them is that when

2:05

soldiers return from the First World War,

2:09

they will greeted with homes

2:09

fit for heroes and given

2:12

parliamentary record in the Addison Act

2:12

passed over 100 years ago.

2:16

Today. They have provided secure homes

2:16

for the millions of low income

2:20

and working class people. For decades, many working

2:21

class British people have grown up

2:25

on council estates

2:25

with a unique sense of community.

2:28

In 2023, 62.9% of Stanford

2:31

University students were first

2:31

generation students to go to university.

2:36

This means that their parents or legal guardians

2:37

did not attend university themselves

2:41

Today, working on learning more about life

2:41

from Castle Estates

2:44

and being a first generation university

2:44

student from Staffordshire University.

2:48

We have done. So Danny,

2:50

welcome to the podcast as a guest.

2:53

Can you tell us

2:53

a little bit more about yourself?

2:55

Yeah, so I have one. My name is Danny.

2:59

I am a final year at Sports Students

2:59

and do my undergraduate degree

3:03

in PE and U Sport coaching.

3:06

A little bit more about me and says

3:06

University I am one of the content

3:10

creators here at stuff some commonly

3:13

usually seen in the podcast host seats.

3:16

But I'm a guest today talking about the topic,

3:18

which something that I resonate with

3:21

and I'm quite talk

3:21

about quite passionately.

3:24

I'm also part of our Sport Academy,

3:24

which is long story short

3:28

loaded teaching and coaching,

3:28

which is basically God is my career

3:31

and what I want to go into. So I'm very fortunate that that project

3:32

is a thing year at stuff, and I am a born

3:37

and bred stokie and I'm also a first

3:37

generation university student.

3:41

So yeah, I've kind of gone off the path

3:41

and the rest of my family members.

3:46

Yeah, yeah. So at Northwood Stadium today, could you

3:48

tell us a bit about our chosen location?

3:52

Yeah. So this is perfect.

3:54

It's perfect for me. So I was literally born

3:59

in Northwood, not Stadium.

4:02

It was the street, which is probably

4:02

about 2 minutes from here.

4:04

So that's obviously where it grew up.

4:07

And being a sports students

4:07

and being a working class

4:11

students, being able to come to

4:11

the stadium as a kid was like

4:15

it was massive for me

4:15

and a lot of other students.

4:17

So I've been here quite a few times,

4:17

fortunately, because it was a great sport

4:21

back in the day, not as much. Now I'm getting on a little bit,

4:22

but and yeah, I love this place.

4:26

So yeah, I've got no football

4:26

so I bowl and stadium for sports.

4:29

Perfect. Absolutely. So can you tell us

4:33

a little bit more about your background

4:33

of growing up on a council and state?

4:37

Yeah. So obviously I grew up in Norfolk and

4:43

North Norfolk. For those that don't know,

4:43

is like just outside of Honley and it's

4:47

very much a deprived area.

4:51

And when I say that, I mean the people

4:51

that live there have next to nothing

4:56

and I mean for me and my family,

4:59

my mum and dad's mum will be watching this

4:59

the Hi mom got to go in that.

5:03

And I had a brilliant upbringing.

5:06

I had two parents that brought me up, not

5:06

dropped me off, but I've turned out okay.

5:11

My dad might disagree, but yeah,

5:14

so that's obviously where I grew up.

5:18

And then I moved to near to Barnsley,

5:21

which I'm not too sure on this fact.

5:24

Someone told me people want it.

5:26

At the time it was obviously one of the

5:26

biggest council estates made in Europe.

5:31

So yeah, but yeah,

5:31

in terms of the background and working

5:35

class, just as a general sort of

5:35

stereotype, it's kind of like

5:41

we got negative

5:41

connotations quite a lot in the sense that

5:45

so not useless in a way, but

5:48

it's debatable what contribute to society.

5:50

Yeah, I feel sometimes, but again,

5:50

going back to the Barnsley side of things,

5:55

the people I've met on Barnsley,

5:55

they would give you

5:59

anything and everything's healthier

5:59

because they have nothing themselves.

6:02

And some of the people that I know

6:02

that live on benzos like me,

6:06

previous classmates or friends are some of

6:06

the nicest people because, you know,

6:10

they have, they have nothing else. So all they can do is be kind in a way.

6:13

But yeah, I mean,

6:13

I mean, like going at school as well.

6:17

Obviously a lot of kids were like me

6:17

working class didn't have too much,

6:22

but, you know, we all got through it

6:22

and we've all got a different way.

6:26

Some back as a novice. Yeah, Yeah.

6:29

So could you set a scene for us on what,

6:29

your childhood

6:33

home was like

6:33

and what the community was like

6:36

because you said they would help you

6:36

with anything and everything

6:38

you have, any scenarios. The cases where that happened,

6:40

were you helped in any way?

6:43

Well, yeah, yeah. So I started off at Northwood.

6:47

I lived in a very small terraced house

6:51

and the community is

6:51

there is a bit of a weird one really,

6:56

because some people were genuinely,

6:56

really nice about some people.

7:00

I learned very quickly not to

7:04

bother with them in the nicest way possible.

7:07

But you know, that happens. That happens anywhere.

7:09

But like I didn't have a bad

7:09

upbringing at all.

7:13

I had a really good upbringing

7:13

and that's massively lockdowns like my mum

7:17

and dad, like I can't thank them enough

7:17

for how I've turned out

7:21

and things turned out okay. But like, yeah,

7:22

I had a really good childhood and

7:27

then I was like

7:27

moving to a different area.

7:31

That community was kind of

7:31

like a cultural shock in a way because

7:34

obviously I live closer towards

7:34

like the Barnsley side of the estate.

7:37

And then the opposite side

7:37

is another estate,

7:41

but it's quite an affluent estate

7:41

and obviously like a lot of my friends,

7:46

that when I leave school

7:46

they live on that estate and it kind of

7:49

made me realize that they have not had

7:49

the same upbringing is me

7:52

and they've not had it easy as such, but

7:56

definitely didn't see and go through

7:56

some of the things that I had to.

8:01

Yeah, So yeah, it was, it was quite a,

8:04

quite a shock what I think

8:04

affecting quite a while

8:07

because again,

8:07

there was still that mix of,

8:10

you know, people from one side of the state and the other side of the state

8:11

all in one school. Yeah.

8:15

So I mean you briefly touch

8:15

on school there and so how would you say

8:19

that your upbringings shaped your views

8:19

on education and opportunities?

8:24

Yeah. So in terms of education,

8:24

not often tell about

8:30

what like probably year ten, year 11,

8:33

I had no ambition to carry on what

8:36

in education just in general,

8:36

and I had no idea what I was going to do.

8:40

So a lot the primary school I went to,

8:40

which was close to Norfolk on the board

8:45

of like north of Birches,

8:45

and I remember in year three,

8:50

because I was a working class student,

8:50

I was sort of seen as like

8:53

a automatically seen

8:53

as like a troublemaker in a way.

8:57

And I feel that, like,

8:59

I was doubted that I'd be able

8:59

to do something straight away.

9:03

So for example, like Amanda

9:06

and they did like class awards

9:06

at the end of the year,

9:08

so they just like jokey ones really said like, who's got the best handwriting

9:10

and stuff like that?

9:14

And this has always stuck with me.

9:17

They run out of awards

9:17

and I was the only person that was left.

9:20

And so the year three teacher

9:20

gave me Class Clown award

9:25

and my mum still has that certificate

9:25

and her wardrobe.

9:29

And she showed me a couple of months ago

9:29

and like,

9:33

yeah, I was just like,

9:33

I mean, I don't think she really like me.

9:36

My Year

9:36

three teacher can't understand why,

9:38

but yeah, it's just,

9:38

it's just always stuck with me.

9:41

And like at the time I wasn't too bothered

9:41

because I tend to understand them, like

9:44

looking back and like I was really down

9:44

and I wouldn't do anything.

9:49

And I remember at college

9:49

when I was applying for college,

9:53

I wanted to do BTEC

9:53

Sport and A-level sociology

9:57

because you have the option to either

9:57

not just do A-levels, do BTEC.

10:00

I remember one of the admissions

10:00

people laughed at me

10:04

because I didn't want to A-level school

10:04

and I'm like, Why are you laughing?

10:06

And they were like, You're

10:06

more than capable to do A-levels full.

10:09

And I'm like, I don't want to do A-levels

10:09

for the pizza vote.

10:12

And they were like, yeah, but BTEC,

10:12

you're not going to get anywhere.

10:14

And I'm like, Who are

10:16

you to decide how my futures going to go?

10:18

I was really offended. Now days I just, I was like,

10:20

Listen, then today I'm taking that

10:23

and I'm picking out and you're not changing my mind how much you like laugh at me,

10:25

blah, blah, blah.

10:27

And all the stories for education

10:27

go back to primary.

10:31

I remember we came here once

10:31

and and this was this was year

10:36

three is while this is on which is teach

10:36

actually hated me I wanted to do running

10:40

and I couldn't I got picked for discus

10:43

right And I can't speak French

10:43

and so if I don't have to come

10:47

and see but over there

10:47

there is a discus ring.

10:51

And so basically our discus works,

10:51

as you spin around a bit,

10:53

you have to throw the discus and there's like a tiny gap

10:54

that this discus go through. So

10:59

I step up, spin around, it's a side spin around.

11:03

It's a size glass attempt,

11:03

all pressure spin around at the side.

11:07

I came third in the discus.

11:09

You know, why can three people did it.

11:12

Yeah. And that was so disheartening for me.

11:15

I some people laugh at us a lot now. So disheartening for me because even

11:16

in a sport side of things, I wasn't seen.

11:22

I could do anything

11:22

and it was just so frustrating.

11:26

But so yeah, that was like years three,

11:26

four and five and it was all the same.

11:30

Like I just, I felt like it came across

11:30

and like I was labeled as useless.

11:35

And I did feel heavily. It's because I was working class

11:36

and I was just assumed that

11:39

now he's a naughty card. He doesn't want to achieve anything

11:40

in life.

11:43

And again, then stereotypes

11:43

really playing a massive factor.

11:47

But then when I moved school

11:47

and this is one year

11:50

of the atlas of a school I associate that

11:50

as my primary school over three years.

11:54

The other one, because the teacher saw me, came

11:55

in, I was in button, but the SATs,

11:59

but like the button groups for everything

11:59

and I worked my way off

12:02

and eventually Barley

12:02

and just former SATs was in the top six

12:05

because these teachers

12:05

put the time and effort in.

12:08

Yeah. And made me realize that

12:08

I've got potential and I'm not like this

12:12

lost cause. And like, I'm forever

12:13

grateful that I moved

12:17

house and moved area

12:17

because that was massive for me.

12:20

And that's when I realized that

12:20

I do have potential in life.

12:23

And I'm not just this

12:23

No one that's not going to get anywhere.

12:26

But also like the sport side of things

12:26

that really kicked up then

12:30

and and I was actually

12:30

the fastest in year six.

12:34

And like I said, it's that weird in a way

12:34

because like every school up

12:37

and down the country, if you're known as the fastest, it's like this high status thing.

12:39

Yeah, it's crazy.

12:42

It's crazy. I don't know about usually,

12:43

but like at primary school, it's like if you're the fastest

12:44

you in the popular kids,

12:47

you don't get bullied anymore. Yeah,

12:48

you can move to the front of the line

12:51

to all sorts of all

12:51

because you can run quickly.

12:53

And like, when I moved school,

12:53

like everyone was like, Wow, he's quick.

12:57

And it's just like, Yeah, okay, honestly,

12:57

I got more into the sport side of things

13:02

and that's been kind of like the sport's

13:02

probably the I want to go down, but

13:08

yeah, that's a very brief summary of what education

13:09

it sounds like.

13:12

Primary school specifically,

13:12

would you say that kind of the negative

13:16

kind of scenarios and experiences

13:16

that you have

13:20

had as kind of pushed you?

13:22

Do your best. Like is that kind of if you're if you're

13:23

having a bit of a kind of like rough time

13:28

or you start to have an ounce of don't

13:28

tread bark,

13:31

do you kind refer back to that

13:31

and use that as a driving force?

13:35

Yeah, Yeah. I think at the time as a kid,

13:37

I struggle to see that.

13:40

I mean, like now

13:40

there's no such thing as a bad day.

13:43

It's getting some really cringe. To apologize is either a good day

13:44

or a learning day that's really cringe.

13:48

And so I out in a joke, it's like out.

13:52

Yeah. As a kid like it,

13:52

dad used to really get me down and like.

13:56

Like now they're moving forward in

13:56

a kind of realize that if someone says, I

13:59

can't do something, I'm going to walk out

13:59

and I'm going to show you that gun.

14:03

Yeah. And really try to challenge it

14:04

and put myself

14:08

into them uncomfortable zones

14:08

and just grow

14:11

and just not like sit back and say, Well,

14:11

this person said, I can't do this.

14:14

So yeah, that's not like, No. Okay.

14:17

You know, so and like in sport,

14:17

you can't you kind of have to

14:21

you have to be like that, like sport. So.

14:24

Like you're going to have like bad games,

14:24

you're

14:26

going to have losses and like,

14:26

so I played in goal as a kid.

14:30

You don't think because I'm not five

14:30

or if you saw me around camp was,

14:33

you know, small like I'm

14:33

so that's why I don't play in goal now.

14:35

But as a kid I wasn't that small

14:35

and I needed to play in goal.

14:38

I used to absolutely love it

14:38

because being a goalkeeper,

14:42

the whole team relies on you at the end of the day,

14:43

like you're the difference between

14:47

losing a match and not losing a match

14:47

because you lack a goal and bang.

14:50

And every time I used to get a goal and I

14:50

cry, I would cry my eyes out all my idol.

14:55

And I never used to understand why. And my dad would always be like,

14:57

you can't keep crying.

15:00

You can't keep crying. Like,

15:00

it's ridiculous.

15:02

The opposition teams laughing at you. You can't keep crying when you like goals.

15:05

And and it turns out because I did

15:05

I did CBT two years ago

15:10

seven months of that that me crying at them goals

15:12

was actually my anxiety going off

15:16

and I never and I didn't realize it

15:16

when I thought about it was like,

15:18

that makes sense. And that's my inside.

15:20

You think you're like,

15:20

I've let the whole team down and like,

15:22

just emotionally and mentally, my,

15:22

my body's going like, ooh, like long

15:26

balls ringing. Yeah.

15:31

So I went also back in attendance. But yeah, no, no.

15:33

And, but yeah the sports I that was,

15:33

that's what was on about the sports.

15:36

I'd like to talk lot perform

15:36

as in the top people

15:40

they will always have a positive mindset

15:40

and the reason why I didn't make it in

15:46

sport in my opinion is just

15:46

I didn't have that mindset.

15:48

But that's because

15:48

of having an anxiety disorder.

15:51

So you did it for like the coaching

15:51

teaching side a little bit.

15:54

Like you could say,

15:54

you got too two your kids go coach.

15:57

And I would you wouldn't

15:57

see a change in emotion for me

16:00

because I'm just I'm

16:00

that confident that I could do that.

16:03

It's great that you found like a kind

16:03

of a way to stay in that kind of career.

16:10

Career.

16:12

yeah, I know. I know what you mean. Stage voices. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

16:14

So you want to find a more

16:14

maybe tailored role for you?

16:17

Yeah.

16:17

That makes you shine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

16:19

And you're really good. Yeah. I've seen you coach some of the stories,

16:21

but yeah, like the playing side.

16:25

Like, I stopped when I was about 15

16:25

and I sort sat down self and was like,

16:31

I'm not going to make it unless, like,

16:31

I can try, I can try,

16:34

I can drive, but I'm not going to make it in this. But my dad's had some good connections

16:35

with coaches,

16:39

and so I went to like a school,

16:39

like a soccer school.

16:44

I hate calling it that because I hate calling it soccer,

16:45

but you call it football school.

16:48

It doesn't sound as good as soccer. But anyway, and from the age of 14,

16:50

I was like.

16:54

Introduced into coaching. And I realize that, like,

16:55

I can be really good at this club.

16:57

Most people,

16:57

they start coaching until like after,

17:00

after these, after the plane

17:00

and after university.

17:02

So I was like, if I can get exposed to

17:02

this now, the only way ahead of the game.

17:07

And so like, yeah, I started out

17:07

as 14 or 21 now, so I've got seven years

17:11

of coaching experience under my belt

17:11

and it's how massively

17:15

to do refereeing at one point,

17:15

but I don't do that anymore

17:18

just because of how toxic refereed, as

17:18

if there's any referees

17:22

watching, they'll know. But yeah, we don't talk about that

17:23

so but yeah

17:26

the coaching side of things loving it Yeah

17:26

and it plays into the teaching as well.

17:31

And so in terms of university,

17:31

did you feel that

17:33

you were supported by your family

17:33

and your community

17:36

or is there any judgment

17:36

and steps of skepticism?

17:39

Yeah, Yeah. Nice guys that they've they were massively support,

17:42

especially like my mum and dad

17:44

because my mum always had an aspiration to

17:44

I think she wanted

17:48

to go into like nursing. But my mum's always said to me

17:49

that she just just wants to help people

17:53

and she says,

17:53

I want that to be the same with you.

17:55

Sort of like in football we have this team

17:55

where they say, like the parents

17:58

trying to live through the child's

17:58

dreams and possible

18:01

in the same sense

18:01

that my mom wants to see me in a job role

18:03

where I'm helping people

18:03

and like teaching coaching.

18:06

I'm developing people all the time

18:06

and she always wants to do nursing.

18:10

And then she was at college

18:10

doing health and social care.

18:14

And then at 19 I came along

18:17

and so, yeah, kind of stopped all that.

18:20

Sorry, I want to apologize. Like, even, even, like,

18:22

even like that, though, like my mom,

18:26

obviously being a young parent, like,

18:26

I think I think she got a bit stigma

18:30

and now like at university

18:30

I'll tell some like people would be like,

18:33

I want your mum and dad

18:33

to be like 50, 60.

18:36

And I'm like, My mom's not just over 40.

18:38

And then they look at me

18:38

like, what's? And I'm like, Yeah,

18:42

but like in my mind, like, that's just

18:43

I don't see the problem with it.

18:47

And like, I turned out okay and like,

18:47

my mum and dad have been really in love

18:50

for young parents. Now I've turned out

18:51

how my sisters turning out.

18:54

I've been brilliant. Yeah, I'm finally been so supportive like,

18:55

but one of the, one of the funny things

18:59

was, was applying for university

18:59

all my with

19:03

I dealt with it really freely ever again

19:03

because like I'd be on like

19:07

UCAS and I'd be like, looking at all

19:07

the questions, I'd be like, Mom,

19:10

what does this mean? I don't know. And that says a lot.

19:14

And we're just we're just there a lot. But yeah, probably that one that, yeah,

19:16

this and that.

19:19

And it was, it was, it was horrible. Like,

19:19

it was horrible.

19:21

Sorry for that Newcastle representative

19:21

as well, but it was horrible.

19:24

I hate it. And I did feel

19:27

like I was really by myself was up

19:27

because a lot of my mates had,

19:31

you know, like siblings about university

19:31

of the parents, what university mate.

19:35

Literally no one in like my close

19:35

and why the family

19:38

that I've been to universities I know

19:38

one's a lot talked to in a way about it

19:42

so yeah a bit frustrating

19:42

what would would be on supportive

19:46

and they they

19:46

they wanted me to go to university

19:49

because I think like my mum and dad

19:49

especially, they saw that I had

19:53

potential to do well in education,

19:53

especially like again, like moving

19:56

prime schools. I got to top SATs and like throughout

19:56

high school I was doing okay.

20:00

In college you got like a pathway prize

20:00

and which was I know what, it's cool.

20:05

So I Pathway Prize for Sport and Leisure

20:05

which I think like sort of meant out

20:09

all this what students at college

20:09

I was a lot No Yeah so that's that's

20:12

that's right right Yeah yeah she's like every

20:14

I was not really proud of that but yeah

20:17

they, they were massively for me

20:17

going to university

20:20

and I'm like I'm grateful for it

20:20

because I was a bit like if an are in

20:23

but now they kind of commit such good

20:23

dude that's good.

20:26

Yeah. Yeah. So like being a first generation

20:27

university student is

20:32

from what you've just said, I guess

20:32

quite challenging, like trying to work out

20:35

how to apply to acting that there's a way

20:35

that people like you, custom

20:39

things could put specific things in place

20:39

so that those

20:42

who genuinely don't

20:42

have people around them.

20:47

Yeah, the experience of applying directly,

20:47

there's something that they could do

20:51

to kind of like help out a little bit

20:51

more.

20:53

Yeah. I mean, just like, even

20:53

just like reaching out.

20:55

I mean, I know it's hard because they don't know every single first generation university

20:57

and but even something as simple as like

21:01

going to different universities

21:01

in the area and being like here's a

21:05

I mean, you might have had this

21:05

at the time, I don't know,

21:07

but like just like a workshop

21:07

that says if you have any questions

21:10

regarding applying for university

21:10

in your specifically

21:12

a first generation student,

21:12

come here and we'll we're lucky.

21:14

I mean, I would have been there for at least 3 hours because I have no idea what any of it

21:16

meant.

21:18

I've got a funny thing actually,

21:18

for applying for university.

21:22

I nearly applied straight

21:22

to my postgraduate because I didn't.

21:25

I didn't. I didn't understand

21:26

the difference between an undergraduate

21:29

and postgraduate degree. And like, how am I meant to know?

21:32

Because I just knew that. You know what I mean? I'm just I'm looking at this and say,

21:35

wow, Primary teacher piece bachelors,

21:35

I want to be principal teacher. Yes.

21:40

And then a referee. And I was like, bachelor's degree.

21:43

What starts? Said a Google science coach.

21:46

It appears that college was like

21:46

I might have accidentally put on my UCAS

21:50

applying for a post-grad. And she went ballistic. She's like, What? You can't apply

21:52

for a postgraduate college.

21:54

You and, well, I don't know. Sorry. So you. It's you change it to undergrad.

21:57

I mean, now I'm a bit more in the loop

21:57

of what I'm applying for.

22:02

And for some people,

22:04

if you don't know, it's completely easy.

22:07

Mistakes are made

22:07

and I wouldn't be surprised.

22:10

And so although people that are

22:10

obviously first generation university

22:14

that I've been in that same situation where these don't really know

22:15

what they're applying for like that,

22:19

you know, that definitely does put

22:19

a barrier towards applying for university.

22:22

Yeah. Because then they feel like they

22:25

because they don't know

22:25

they're not going to try and

22:28

try in the sense that they give up

22:28

because of confusion.

22:30

Yeah. Trying something new

22:31

and having more opportunities.

22:34

So yeah, I think that's definitely a yeah,

22:38

especially the way you've just kind of

22:38

like said you college

22:41

reacted to that

22:41

like with anger instead of understanding.

22:45

Yeah well I don't know because then

22:45

yeah they, they to place that again.

22:50

It comes back to that whole idea

22:50

of making like Yeah.

22:54

Being made to feel a bit like useless because that you've just made a basic

22:55

human mistake like everyone does.

22:58

I remember crying at my UCAS application

22:58

because it just kept coming back saying,

23:02

This is wrong, that's wrong. Grammatically, that's wrong.

23:06

I was just like, just leave me alone.

23:08

Like at one point I did generally

23:08

considered as like, right stuff uni.

23:11

I'm fat of this application,

23:11

so but I stopped for a minute

23:13

and I mean, it's it

23:13

I had finally and I'm glad I did it.

23:16

But yeah, there have been many tears shed

23:16

along the way so to say gosh, yeah, yeah.

23:23

Over the years,

23:23

council estates have been subject

23:25

to statistical views and media,

23:25

including the Royal family, Shameless

23:30

and Little Britain, and more recently,

23:30

the I mean, this country and Brexit.

23:34

What do you think these shows?

23:38

What do you think these shows show

23:38

about working class communities

23:41

and Kansas State perspectives

23:41

and how does that resonate with you?

23:47

Do you think these representations

23:47

are true?

23:49

Yes and no.

23:53

So I'm going to stick with Shameless

23:53

because that's the one that I've watched

23:57

the most. And I absolutely love Shameless because

23:58

I do resonate with a lot of parts of that.

24:03

You know, like again, like Shameless

24:05

is like a heavy pop culture

24:05

and like an outside working class.

24:09

Weirdly, it's massive,

24:09

like going to the pole

24:12

then, like it's a lot for a lot of working

24:12

class people.

24:15

It's like you wait throughout the week, you get your wages on the Friday,

24:17

spend the wage on the weekend reset.

24:21

And that's a common thing

24:21

that allowed people do.

24:23

And in like a lot of people are like,

24:23

what a waste of a lifetime.

24:26

But like to me I'm like, it's

24:26

that's their life.

24:29

They live the how they want to.

24:29

They're not doing any harm.

24:32

They're staying out of the way to my

24:32

honestly say some drunken things, but like

24:36

they're not, you know, in any harm But, but like for me as working class dude,

24:40

I don't really tend to like alcohol purely

24:40

because of,

24:45

like the effect

24:45

it had on, like, my granddad and,

24:48

and like, he's like a heavy smoker

24:48

as well, which again, like working class

24:52

like, is a common thing to smoke

24:52

because it's just like that.

24:55

Like nice, not nice like traditional thing

24:55

to do and obviously doctor killed him

25:00

and like I was when I was like very early

25:00

on that like have you smoking heavy.

25:04

So drinking was literally killing his body

25:04

and like

25:07

if that wasn't

25:07

so just accepted within working

25:11

class culture, I might have got five,

25:11

ten more years of my granddad.

25:15

Yeah, So that's how I like to look at it.

25:17

And you know, I'm

25:17

not saying like open alcohol ban smoking

25:20

because if you want to do that, you do that. And like I like to drink

25:21

from time to time, but I'm not like over

25:26

like working class people. It's like drink, drink,

25:27

drink all the time.

25:30

But in terms of shameless, like this is specifically the UK one,

25:33

not the American one,

25:36

and it does portray quite

25:36

well mental health issues.

25:39

So one of the carts is called Sheila

25:39

and she has really bad agoraphobia.

25:44

And like I have not seen agoraphobia

25:44

portrayed in a piece of media

25:48

as wild as Sheila is

25:48

and like some of the other characters.

25:51

So like Debbie,

25:51

who's like one of the young children

25:54

of like seven siblings,

25:54

she has abandonment, abandonment, anxiety.

26:00

And like Frank Gallagher,

26:00

he's like, got addiction problems.

26:03

And like for working class people, these

26:03

these things are very apparent.

26:06

But the problem in working class culture

26:06

is mental health just doesn't exist.

26:13

Yeah, it just

26:13

it just does not exist at all.

26:15

And like, you know, when I talk

26:15

about my anxiety stuff, like if I was

26:18

if I was like where I am now, like ten,

26:18

20 years ago and I'm saying to people,

26:22

I've got an anxiety disorder,

26:22

people turn around to be like,

26:26

If you're crazy or you're

26:26

just making excuses and like, I'm

26:29

glad society's move forward in the sense

26:29

that people understand that now.

26:33

And like, that's why I like, like

26:33

Shameless, for example, it portrays that.

26:36

But that's not to not not say that like some of the things

26:41

are a little bit like overdramatize,

26:41

but again, it's a drama.

26:45

You're gonna think about that.

26:47

Yeah. I mean, if you want a

26:47

like an understanding, it's

26:50

good to watch them shows,

26:50

but I take you with a pinch of salt

26:54

and take it as a very basic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

26:57

Exaggerate. Yeah. Very, very much

27:01

so with those sort of like kinds of issues

27:01

that you've just spoken about,

27:05

like kind of to do with, like alcohol

27:05

and mental health, would you say that

27:08

people in kind of working class council

27:08

state areas find it harder to access help?

27:14

Because I know that so say when

27:14

celebrities have those sort of issues.

27:18

Yeah they

27:20

they've kind of got the financial aspects

27:20

there to try and like get like the Yeah.

27:25

The most professional help that they can

27:25

but when it comes to working class

27:29

people, do you reckon it's kind of pushed to the side a bit

27:30

because it's a bit like while they live,

27:33

look where they live. Like yeah, that doomed to begin with.

27:38

Like cause for pretty much.

27:40

Yeah. I mean like for working class people

27:40

they are expected to work hard

27:46

and continuously keep working because if they don't work,

27:47

they aren't going to survive in a way

27:51

that's kind of like

27:51

very much like a very high work

27:54

ethic in the sense that you have to work

27:54

where you ain't getting anywhere in life.

27:57

But yeah,

27:57

in terms of the mental health side,

28:00

I think people are just so like this

28:00

massive push for like of being strong,

28:05

the kind of neglect,

28:05

not wanting to get outside to things

28:09

because they just kind of

28:09

put this emphasis on

28:11

you got to keep going, you're going to keep going. And like

28:14

there are probably a load of working

28:14

class people, not just in Stoke on Trent,

28:18

but up and down the country

28:18

that have mental health problems

28:21

and don't realize, I mean, like myself,

28:21

like I I've had an answer to disorder

28:25

probably since I was, you know,

28:25

probably about ten, 11, 12, like

28:29

because I was playing football that and a goal in a cry. But I didn't know that until I did my CBT

28:34

and when I was

28:34

you know, talking about them experiences

28:38

this like this therapy satellite that's

28:41

probably been on Saturday.

28:44

And I was like, I didn't know that.

28:46

But like so and yeah, like the access

28:46

to help is another thing, especially

28:50

for older people because you commonly do

28:50

have to pay for this.

28:54

I have be mean

28:54

I self referred myself for my

28:58

my CBT

28:58

and luckily it was a free like charity.

29:02

I think it's called like healthy minds

29:02

stoke

29:05

and and like yeah I had like a load

29:05

of assessments and some more.

29:09

It was just the CBT but I'm pretty sure it was like two or

29:11

three months of just going like through

29:11

constant assessments because at the time

29:15

mentally I just didn't want to be here

29:15

and like anxiety was that high.

29:20

And so I think that's free for 16 to 23,

29:20

25 year olds.

29:25

Not too sure. But again, if you if you are needing help

29:26

and you are within the hour,

29:29

you do Google it because like I say, it always

29:31

seems like they saved my life a lot.

29:34

This is your first year and I just

29:34

I shouldn't be at all like I had thoughts

29:40

of not wanting to be here

29:40

or the password as people commonly use.

29:44

And I just I didn't wanna be here at all.

29:46

And, and actually I spoke to my course

29:46

leader about my mental health

29:53

and he got me straight onto the student

29:53

wellbeing service straight.

29:56

I'm like to this day I can't

29:56

thank him enough

29:59

because that was the start

29:59

of like the journey of me getting better.

30:03

Yeah. And he probably thought that was nothin.

30:05

Like, not nothing, but then sense it.

30:05

Like I've just helped a shoot out.

30:08

But in a way it did sort of genuinely

30:13

keep me alive in a way

30:13

because I was getting to the extent

30:16

where I was starting to like plan,

30:16

not being here and just,

30:21

yeah, I mean, very drastic

30:21

and sinister thoughts.

30:24

But yeah, I'm better now

30:24

and like I like and again,

30:28

I like to be open and talk about that,

30:28

especially as a working class person, say

30:31

that you can go get that help

30:31

and there's no shame in getting out.

30:34

And I think that's the of thing is why I think I think is a big shame thing around it

30:36

like that in how

30:39

and because you know

30:39

a lot of people will say

30:42

like I'm fine,

30:42

I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm really not.

30:44

And like now if you ask me all I'm doing,

30:44

I'll just tell you straight some of it.

30:48

If I'm angry all the time. If I'm upset totally,

30:51

if I was that, you know,

30:51

and I'm a lot more open about how I feel.

30:55

And again, you know,

30:55

I want people be like, why are you crying?

30:57

Well, I even like, like, you know, recently and I'm like, does

30:58

I want to write my life?

31:03

I want to try. Let me try it. But yeah, yeah.

31:07

It's just I think it is hard for working

31:07

class people to get that help.

31:11

But hopefully if as any work my students

31:11

had a little bit about my story, then

31:17

yeah. Yeah. It's great to hear that

31:17

you're doing a lot better as well. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate.

31:22

So, how would you

31:22

say that, growing up on a council site,

31:27

did it influence your sense of identity

31:27

in any way?

31:30

Massively, massively.

31:32

And I have never not I have never

31:32

I have never been ashamed

31:36

of being working class. Like I knew very early on that, like,

31:38

my mum and dad

31:43

had to work for what they've got

31:43

and like they weren't given anything.

31:46

And in the same sense that I wasn't

31:46

really given anything in a sense

31:50

that like in a massive finances and stuff like that and

31:51

you do have to work for what you've got.

31:56

But that's not to say I'm a mum and dad

31:56

in harsh on me because they,

32:00

they've been so loving and so carried and like role models and parents and just Yeah,

32:05

well in terms of the identity thing

32:05

like going back to school,

32:10

it's kind of a weird one because

32:10

like when I did sociology at college,

32:15

we did a lot about working class

32:15

boys in schools and that made me realize

32:20

a lot about my culture,

32:20

and about lobbying working class.

32:24

So I didn't realize just how much

32:24

homophobic abuse I used to get

32:29

and want to tell people out. They're like, Well, you're not

32:30

you're not a part of the LGBT community.

32:35

And I'm like, I know. But the problem is, is that there's

32:36

two types of working class boys at school.

32:40

There's the ones that understand

32:40

the working class and who want to do well,

32:45

and there's the ones that are called macho

32:45

working class lads, in the sense

32:49

that like, they don't care. Well, yeah, it's them in life.

32:52

And what they intend to do

32:52

is to keep everyone

32:57

and police everyone how they behave. So how would they do that?

33:00

While for someone like me, I knew I was working class, but I knew I wanted a good career

33:02

and I wanted to go places.

33:06

And so then you'd get homophobic abuse in the sense

33:07

that if you were seen to get on

33:11

really well with your work,

33:11

you'd you'd get homophobic slurs or like

33:16

if you got on well with females,

33:16

you'd get homophobic abuse.

33:20

And like, it's crazy that that happened.

33:23

And in the same sense that like teachers,

33:23

they were not bothered

33:27

whether they are now

33:27

or not in that school child.

33:29

But yeah, at the time they were bothered.

33:32

but even though that happened,

33:32

like I'm so proud to be working class,

33:36

but I'm at university and like often,

33:36

sometimes

33:39

university can not be seen

33:39

as like a thing for working class.

33:43

But why? And say, you know what?

33:46

Why can't someone working class or from

33:46

a deprived area go on and do great things?

33:51

Like it's always baffled me

33:51

that us and I think it's

33:54

this sort of underlying beliefs that it's

33:54

not for your not for use, not for us, but

34:01

it's like not that's changed now.

34:03

And and again, I'm very glad that society's progressed forward in the sense

34:05

that there are more opportunities

34:08

for like working class

34:08

people like me to go to university

34:11

and like get a career and stuff. Yeah, just a good question.

34:14

What are your views on success? Like, what is success for you?

34:19

that's a great question. In terms of life or like a UTI. Okay.

34:24

Like anything, I mean, just

34:27

in a roundabout way, just getting through

34:27

each day, you know what I mean?

34:30

Like, I say, yeah. So let's be blunt.

34:32

It's great having these, you know, grand big goals, like a

34:34

five year plan that we use in business.

34:38

The fact that you could die

34:38

in your sleep tonight, I mean, I've talked

34:42

about that gonna happen,

34:42

but like tomorrow is not guaranteed.

34:46

Yeah, well, and in the same sense

34:46

that you've just got to go day by day

34:49

and eventually it does

34:49

build up to that point of time.

34:51

It opens all. But yeah, he's got to take it

34:52

a day at a time

34:55

and like it was my anxiety

34:55

as I got myself so stressed a lot, right?

34:59

I got my career planned out by this,

34:59

this age.

35:01

I've got to have this by this age. And it's like, No, no, I don't like it.

35:05

Just take your foot off the gas of it

35:05

and just be with the flow.

35:09

Yeah, but in terms of success,

35:09

I just want to get by and like,

35:13

I'd like to replicate

35:13

what my mum and dad have done was like

35:16

my little nuclear family

35:16

and just, just have a nice, a nice house

35:21

and I sold a nice household that I can

35:21

bring my own children up eventually

35:27

and just show to them that no one can

35:27

tell them what to do in the world

35:31

and like their destiny potential

35:31

is down to them at the end of the day.

35:36

Yeah. And that if someone does tell you

35:37

what do you laugh at them in the face

35:40

and you just get there anyway. Yeah. It's a completely get what you mean

35:42

about the career plans and side of things

35:46

because I've literally just had a module,

35:46

but the assessment was creating

35:50

a career plan. Yeah. And one of the examples that they gave on

35:52

how to like lay out this portfolio

35:56

and then also do a presentation about it

35:56

was I think about what you want to do

36:00

and within the next year,

36:00

then five years, then ten years.

36:03

And I was looking at it and I was like, I know what I need my end goal.

36:09

Yeah, but I'm not going to limit myself to time

36:10

because I want to be a film director.

36:15

If I only ever direct one film

36:15

when I'm 50, I've done it.

36:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I kind of approached it in

36:22

and this is my short term plan.

36:26

This is my mid-term plan.

36:26

This is my long term plan.

36:29

But I'm not going to say how many. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

36:33

Because, like, things can get in the way,

36:33

like family and all of those things

36:36

and like, speaking of success and things,

36:36

I think as long as I'm happy

36:41

with what I've done and

36:41

I've got no regrets, then who's to say,

36:45

no, yeah, yeah, you really shouldn't,

36:45

you really shouldn't put time on things.

36:49

And like,

36:49

you know, I know time's always running out

36:53

back denying that. Well, in the same sense that like,

36:56

you know, when I was like, again,

36:56

like going back to prime school,

36:59

even at high school,

36:59

I didn't know I was going to university.

37:01

Now, like I'm a lead coach on a project

37:05

with all the coaches and like, the week

37:08

I got to deliver a coaching session

37:08

to Spanish students in Madrid.

37:12

If you'd have told 12 year old Daniel

37:12

he was doing a laughing in the face

37:15

and tell you where I go. Honestly and feel like a working class

37:16

person like that was massive.

37:20

And like to some people,

37:20

a lot of people on the trip

37:23

were obviously like,

37:23

yeah, I've already been, I'm

37:25

already going to do the place I should do this. But that was my first time abroad.

37:29

That was my first time abroad. And I absolutely loved

37:30

it was a massive culture shock because

37:34

I spoke to a few people like, yeah,

37:34

the way Spanish people speak English,

37:37

they don't don't blame me

37:37

because it's a complicated language.

37:41

And I had to quickly adapt

37:41

and just like pick up

37:45

even just a few little Spanish words here

37:45

or there just so I could like get by.

37:49

Because, for example, we got on the bus,

37:49

we tried to go to Madrid City Center.

37:52

So obviously we got on the bus saying

37:52

like, Madrid, such sensibly

37:56

bus driver, just start, shout it out.

37:56

I said Spanish.

37:59

And I'm like, Mate, you speaking normally,

37:59

I'm not going to understand.

38:02

So shouting at me is just making a sudden

38:02

sideways.

38:05

Well, you know, I adapted. I got through that.

38:08

Yeah, but yeah, like, like that

38:08

opportunity was, was massive for me

38:12

because I never thought I'd be able

38:12

to do something like that.

38:16

And like. Like I didn't feel out of place,

38:17

even like the Spanish students,

38:20

like they were really appreciative of me

38:20

and like, they asking me more questions.

38:24

They were asking like, how I got to these places

38:24

and like these students that we work with

38:28

on that module, they were from all around the world. So I'm talking like South Africa,

38:30

Kazakhstan, Russia, like, you name it.

38:34

One of the students was there

38:34

and they were asking me about my journey

38:38

and I'm like, It should be me asking about your journey

38:39

in the traditional sense, because

38:43

you've come from a different country and

38:43

you're studying in a different country.

38:46

I was like, Me, I'm just this working

38:46

class lot that likes to shout at people

38:49

and tell them, Do this, Do

38:49

you know what I mean?

38:52

And it was. It was yeah,

38:53

it was a nice feeling that they kind of

38:56

wanted to know my side of things,

38:56

not how it got to where I am.

39:00

So yeah, it was nice,

39:00

but yeah, I the opportunity was immense.

39:03

So thank you to ask you Global team

39:03

and because

39:07

Yeah it's so good It's such a good

39:07

Sounds like you had a great time.

39:10

Yeah. Yeah, it's brilliant.

39:12

So do you have any advice

39:12

that you would give to

39:14

first generation students

39:14

from a working class background

39:20

that want to pursue? Yeah. God, why do I start?

39:23

Firstly, if any university

39:23

you're thinking of, they should have like

39:27

sort of like a house outline

39:27

in anything like that.

39:31

But people that will help you. So just get in contact with them

39:33

and if you are struggling, they will help.

39:36

Because I wish I knew that.

39:39

And also that now I know being at the university, do do that as I owe a lot of been

39:40

really good for UCAS application

39:44

would have to be crazy but again

39:44

like if it were Ivy University applying

39:48

for like just chapters about how applying

39:48

because like people just

39:52

people don't help anyway you know what I mean? And don't be afraid

39:54

that if you're the first person

40:00

going to university, that you're not going

40:00

to be like the very first person ever

40:05

because you'll find more people

40:05

that are first generation students

40:08

and like even people

40:08

that have had like siblings that have gone

40:11

university or aunties, uncles, whatever,

40:11

it's still their first time as well.

40:15

A just dad directly, because university

40:15

is completely different.

40:18

What your experience is going to be. So get involved as much as possible,

40:21

like say, projects.

40:24

If there's any projects on your course,

40:24

get involve them.

40:26

Because you know, I got good deals week

40:26

so and I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't

40:30

get involved in a project so ask for projects and just put yourself out there

40:32

but don't don't be someone that you're not

40:36

don't like.

40:36

If you're working class, you are working.

40:38

Don't try to be someone

40:38

that's like upperclassmen.

40:41

I don't know. You know what I mean? Like,

40:41

just be yourself.

40:43

Yeah, that's like,

40:43

that's that's the best thing you can do.

40:45

Some people know

40:45

the true perception of you.

40:49

Yeah. Some really good advice. Yeah, that's great.

40:51

Like, I'm going to go into careers next.

40:55

So a huge thank you to Danny for

40:55

joining us as a guest today.

41:00

it's great having you on. Well, how's it been? My pleasure. I'd love to. I'd love to

41:05

consult the brain and talking about a topic

41:05

I'm passionate about as well.

41:08

I'm surprised it's not like those

41:11

notes on the old Frost. A lot, to be honest. But yeah, no,

41:13

I really, really enjoyed doing.

41:15

Appreciate it. Another huge thank you to a Q&A.

41:19

So you the It was lovely.

41:22

I love it. Thank you to Tess.

41:24

Thank you, as always. The release is alive.

41:28

You every single time. You know,

41:32

we move on you. Thank you to Northwood Stadium,

41:34

who kindly let us use

41:37

their incredible location today.

41:39

Northwood Community Sports

41:39

provides facilities for a range of indoor

41:43

and outdoor sports,

41:43

including track and field athletics,

41:47

football,

41:47

netball, basketball and racket sports

41:51

at Northwood Stadium is their contract,

41:51

also has a water equipped gym,

41:56

aims to encourage participation

41:56

in sport and leisure activities

42:01

by all sections of the community

42:01

in Stoke on Trent

42:04

and North Staffordshire

42:04

as part of an active and healthy lifestyle

42:09

and of course, thank you to you, our listeners.

42:12

Thank you to the Tufts

42:12

University Media Center.

42:15

Podcast producer and production editor.

42:18

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast

42:18

and send us a direct message

42:22

on social media. To find further support at university,

42:23

you can visit staffs

42:27

to Act UK or your student Connect team.

42:30

Don't forget to tell us

42:30

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42:33

what you'd like to hear on it,

42:33

and if you have any questions for us,

42:36

please talk is on

42:36

any form of social media at Stocksy Uni

42:40

or Hashtag Student Connect podcast

42:40

on any form social media.

42:44

Goodbye. Thanks for listening

42:45

and see you next time. Bye, tra duck.