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Green and pleasant land: how The Meadows is building sustainability and community health

Five years ago, the Notts suburb of The Meadows got a major funding boost to help the community live greener, richer lives and take local action on climate change. With that grant now ending, local resident Lottie Limb takes a look at what the Green Meadows project has achieved and how it can evolve.

Shane Lynch Presents the Poitín Maker’s Child

7th international Refocus on Recovery conference

We head to 'The Writers' Conference 2025'

We head out on a day-trip to attend Writing East Midlands' yearly jamboree.

The Writers' Conference 2025

Turning a new page: How Meadows Library escaped closure

Set up to support the library in the Meadows, Friends of Meadows Library has provided an essential hub for almost 100 years. Thanks to community togetherness and smart campaigning, the Meadows Library was recently saved from closure. We met Jackie and Di from the group, to find out what Friends of Meadows Library is there for, and why this special library was so worth saving.

LeftLion Interviews Podcast #7: Chanel Cresswell on This Is England, Shane Meadows, Guy Ritchie, Colleen Rooney, Winning a BAFTA and more.

Our seventh episode is an interview with BAFTA-winning actor and Television Workshop alumnus Chanel Cresswell... 

Director's Seat: Shane Meadows on his gratitude for the Nottingham Television Workshop

Shane Meadows is a legend of British film and television. In the mid-90s he was making lots of short films around Nottingham before releasing his debut feature TwentyFourSeven in 1997. Since then he’s gone on to create masterpieces like A Room For Romeo Brass, Dead Man’s Shoes, This Is England, Gallows Pole, The Stone Roses: Made of Stone and more.

Shane joined us for the fifth instalment of LeftLion Live at the Library, a series of live interviews that we’ve been hosting since July at Nottingham Central Library. In front of a live audience, LeftLion Editor-in-Chief Jared Wilson chatted to Shane about his illustrious career, covering everything from the Nottingham Television Workshop to Notts County FC. Here we’ve treated you to a snapshot of the conversation, which is available in full for your auditory pleasure on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. 

LeftLion Interviews Podcast #5: Shane Meadows on This Is England, Virtues, Stone Roses, Injuries, Notts County FC and more

For our fifth podcast we are delighted to welcome a true legend of British film and television, the director and screenwriter Shane Meadows...

We spoke to Charity Shop Sue creators Dead Sweet TV about comedy writing, creating a LGBTQ+ icon and working with Shane Meadows and Vicky McClure.

From her beginnings as a YouTube mockumentary star to appearing MTV Cribs, Charity Shop Sue has won the hearts of many - but what were the beginnings of Bulwell's iconic boss laydeh? We spoke to Stu Edwards and brothers Tim and Matt Chesney, creators at Dead Sweet TV to talk about comedy writing, creating a LGBTQ+ icon and working with Shane Meadows and Vicky McClure.

Nottingham Digital Summit Returns - First Look at the Lineup

The Midlands’ largest digital marketing conference is set to return to Nottingham this summer...

We Headed to COP26 in Glasgow to See Whether the Climate Change Conference was a Success

Climate change conferences might seem lofty to most, which isn’t surprising when it’s an issue - or set of interlocking issues - far bigger than any individual can fully understand. But did the world’s “greatest problem-solvers”, as David Attenborough put it, come together and crack the puzzle of the century (maybe ever), or did self-interest and fossil thinking rule the day? LeftLion’s Environment Editor Adam Pickering travels to Glasgow to see whether COP26 is much cop, or not.

Explore Vertical Gardening at the Festival of Science and Curiosity's Urban Greening Conference

This month sees the Festival of Science and Curiosity come to town. As part of the events, the Urban Greening Conference offers attendees the chance to find out about vertical gardening, resource efficiency and sustainable eating. We sat down with event organiser Penney Poyzer to find out about the conference...

The Wrong Side of the River: Meadows vs West Bridgford

The Trent. Starting in Staffordshire and slicing through Nottingham, is it a mark of social division in the city? Jasmin Pacey-Devlin reflects on her time living on both sides…

Exploring Technology, Spoken Word and Writing our Roots at WEM’s The Writers’ Conference

Last week, Nottingham’s literati gathered on a snowy Saturday to do some listening, learning and creating at The Writers’ Conference, all hosted by Writing East Midlands. We got down to check out some of the talks and workshops…

Meadows Brick Graffiti from Days Past in Photos

We went a'snapping around Old Meadows to see what we could find in the way of graffiti, and here's what we found engraved in the walls...

Art Works: Shane Buckingham

The local artist reveals how drawing is a welcome "side effect" of his brain injury...

The Writers' Conference

"Writers are a weird bunch. We are essentially introverts, cloaking ourselves in fonts as a means of communicating with the world"

The Writers' Conference

"Writers are a weird bunch. We are essentially introverts, cloaking ourselves in fonts as a means of communicating with the world"

Interview: Thomas Turgoose

At the age of twelve Thomas Turgoose was living in Grimsby, smoking weed, drinking, stealing cars and getting in trouble with the law. Then he stumbled upon an audition for Shane Meadows’ This Is England in a youth centre and it changed his life forever. Now, about to turn 21, he has a clutch of international acting awards behind him, travels the world going to film festivals and is on first name terms with Johnny Depp and Michael Fassbender. What happened?

Shane Meadows: The Early Years

Forty-nine issues ago, we interviewed Shane Meadows for the first ever LeftLion Magazine. Since then he’s gone from being an underground Midlands filmmaker to a BAFTA-winning tour de force of both British cinema and television. We’re now on issue fifty and Shane took a break from working on his current project (a documentary about The Stone Roses) to give us a rare interview, reflecting on his early years learning his trade in Nottingham…

Interview: Vicky McClure on This Is England 86

Taking the original film cast - most of whom come from Notts - and plunging them deep into the mire of mid-eighties Britain, Shane Meadows’ Channel 4 series This Is England ‘86 was a runaway success on it's TV run and has just been released on DVD. We collared Vicky McClure (Lol) for a natter…

Preview: This Is England

"The quintessential Shane Meadows picture and also his most mature film yet"

Interview: Andrew Shim

"I had a part in Dead Mans Shoes, which was quite a big role when we were filming, but it eventually got cut out of the final picture except for being in the crowd at the funeral scene..."

Shane Meadows: The Dead Mans Shoes Interview

"We've just made this mad film, where the producer leaves his life behind to become a professional wrestler"