In this episode of Making a Difference on Dublin City FM, Jillian Godsil speaks with Larry Meyler, a barber and author whose life has taken him from a chaotic childhood in Wexford to the streets of London, and around the world in a journey that ultimately led him to write Being Brave, a memoir that blends travel, trauma, and self-discovery. Listen to the radio show here (Dec1) Larry was born to older parents, an only child raised largely by his father after losing his mother at the age of six. His father, a complex man with his own troubled past, relied heavily on alcohol. The pair moved often, seldom settling, and Larry describes them as the Artful Dodger and Fagin. Despite the instability, love existed between them. “My dad loved me to pieces and I loved him,” Larry said. “But we were very different.” He left school at 15 after being expelled twice. Years later, he was formally diagnosed with ADHD and OCD, giving clarity to his past behaviours and difficulties with traditional learning environments. “There was no such thing as neurodiversity then,” he said. “You were just a troublesome kid.” His first job was in a fast-food outlet, working […]
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The Treacherous Pea
Imagine that. I have cancer. Not the roaring, headline kind. Not the cinematic diagnosis with violins swelling in the background. No. Mine is small. Early. The doctors say the prognosis is good. But it’s there. A pea-sized trespasser in the right breast, a quiet betrayal. I keep thinking of it as an uninvited guest who has slipped in under the radar, polite but persistent, waiting to be noticed. And now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t unsee it. I keep brushing up against death in the corners of rooms. It’s never frontal, never theatrical. Just sly, a flicker, a smirk in the periphery. I shake it off quickly, I’m fine, I tell myself. I am upbeat, practical, optimistic. I have things to do. But still, that whisper lingers: what if? I am sixty. I rather like being sixty. My life is finally, finally in order. The edges smoothed, the shape of it something I can live with. And now this – a pea. A damned pea that’s thrown me off balance. I’m thinking about my breasts. And yes, I have thought of them before. They’ve been admired, even called beautiful. I’ve liked them, their shape, their presence, their quiet confidence. […]
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The Wishing Well: From Kick-Off to Curtain Call: The Many Acts of Paul Howard
Paul Howard has always been a storyteller. Whether skewering the pretensions of the Celtic Tiger with Ross O’Carroll-Kelly or exploring the dark brilliance of Tara Browne and Sean Hughes in biography, his work reveals a deep curiosity about the contradictions of life and a determination to get to the truth beneath the noise. Listen to the radio programme here (November 18) A former sports journalist with The Sunday Tribune, Howard left full-time journalism twenty years ago for what was meant to be a two-year sabbatical. He never went back. In the years since, his career has spanned 27 Ross O’Carroll-Kelly novels, award-winning plays, musicals, biographies, and television scripts. He insists none of it was part of a grand plan. “Everything since leaving journalism has been an accident,” he says. “I never set out to write novels, or plays, or TV. I just followed the path where it led.” That path includes a ten-year journey writing I Read the News Today, Oh Boy, the life story of Tara Browne, the Guinness heir immortalised in the Beatles’ A Day in the Life. It also includes his current project, a deeply researched biography of the late comedian Sean Hughes. “He won the Perrier […]
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Making a Difference: Henry Emson and The Great Reserve
“I wanted to plant a tree for each of my two children,” says Henry Emson, CEO and founder of The Great Reserve. “I thought, why not get a head start on offsetting their lifetime carbon footprint?” That simple act grew into a mission to plant 100,000 Giant Sequoias across the UK, creating a sanctuary for one of the world’s most magnificent and endangered species and a living carbon capture legacy for generations to come. Listen to the show here (November 17) The Great Reserve is based mainly in Wales, though Henry and his team are expanding across the UK. “We’re planting Giant Sequoia trees, a lot of people know them as redwoods,” he explains. “They’re the planet’s biggest tree species. They can grow over 250 feet tall and 36 feet wide. Standing beside them, you feel you’re in another world, almost Jurassic.” But these giants, native to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, are now on the IUCN Endangered Species Red List, losing up to ten per cent of their number each year. “They’ve been devastated by wildfires,” Henry says. “Decades of drought and fire suppression have created superheated fires. Even though they have fireproof bark three and a half feet thick, […]
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Making a Difference: Matt Paneitz – Building Futures from Trash
It is hard not to be awed when speaking to Matt Paneitz, executive director and founder of Long Way Home, a Guatemalan non-profit that turns waste into schools, jobs, and hope. Sitting in what he calls “the most beautiful library in all of Guatemala,” Paneitz describes a dome built from 2,000 glass bottle bricks, resting atop a 50,000-gallon water tank made of tyres and concrete. The light, he says, filters through the bottles like stained glass in a cathedral. It is both functional and symbolic: a sanctuary built from rubbish. Listen to the radio show here (date) Paneitz first came to Guatemala more than two decades ago with the US Peace Corps. What he saw changed him forever. “I’d seen people living in extreme poverty for the first time,” he says. “I’d seen too much to forget.” After returning to Texas, he found he couldn’t settle. “Every second I was back, I felt like I’d left my work undone,” he says. Within a year, he returned to Guatemala and never really left. He began with a simple idea: build a park where residents could pay the entrance fee with trash. The initiative collected mountains of discarded material and inspired the […]
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Wishing Well: Nigel Mooney – Where the Blues Took Him
For Nigel Mooney, jazz is not just music, it’s an evolving conversation, a lifelong apprenticeship, and, ultimately, a home. Widely regarded as one of Ireland’s leading jazz musicians, Nigel’s laid-back demeanour belies the decades of skill, instinct, and musical wisdom he brings to every note he plays. Listen to the show here (4 November) Born in Dublin, Nigel’s musical beginnings were less a master plan and more a happy accident. “I didn’t start with any big ambitions,” he says. “I just liked music. It was always there in the background.” His first guitar came at age eleven after a scout camp encounter with older boys strumming around a campfire. That simple moment of generosity, someone showing him where to put his fingers on the fretboard, lit the spark. His early years were shaped more by the Top of the Pops than the conservatoire. “I didn’t practice endlessly or learn theory,” he says. “I’d pick up the guitar every few months, strum a few chords, and put it away again.” Yet, by thirteen, he found himself conscripted into his school’s nascent band scene, quickly promoted to lead guitarist after playing a Pink Floyd riff that left classmates dumbfounded. “We were terrible,” […]
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Making a Difference: Reverend Benedict Atkins – From Chaos to Calling
Reverend Benedict Atkins’ journey is not an ordinary one. Now a vicar in Brighton, he once embraced Satanism as a young man searching for truth, belonging, and control in a life marked by chaos. Speaking with quiet candour, he describes his early years as “unsafe,” shaped by “pain, deception, secrets, and shame.” Religion, as he knew it then, felt hollow. “It was Sunday best,” he says, “but the rest of the time it was just pain.” Listen to the radio show here (3 Nov) Satanism, with its unflinching honesty about life’s cruelty, offered something that traditional faith had not. “It owns the cruel reality of the world,” he says. “It makes sense if you’ve grown up surrounded by chaos.” For a while, it gave him the structure and power he craved. But the control it promised was fleeting. His conversion to Christianity came unexpectedly at a youth festival in Somerset. Furious at the idea of celibate love, he tried to leave mid-sermon, only to be stopped by a stranger who asked to pray for him. “Before I knew it, I was in floods of tears,” he recalls. “It was like a wave of peace and elation, indeed it was pure […]
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Wishing Well: Love, Sex, and the Hard Way: Cindy Gallop’s Mission to Change the World
Cindy Gallop has never followed a conventional path. The British–Malaysian entrepreneur, advertising icon, and unapologetic provocateur has built a career, and a movement, around reimagining how we think about sex, technology, and female empowerment. Listen to the radio show here (October 28) “I’m half English, half Malaysian Chinese,” she begins, “and I grew up in Brunei. That mix of cultures has shaped everything about me. I bring a global perspective to everything I do.” Her parents’ story reads like a romantic fable. “My father was a young Englishman travelling the world, working odd jobs, and one day he met my mother at a YMCA dance in Singapore. He told his friend, ‘That’s the woman I’m going to marry.’ And he did.” The couple remained devoted for sixty years until her father’s death, a love story that left its mark on Cindy, though she chose a different route. “I’ve never wanted to be married, and I’ve never wanted children,” she says with characteristic candour. “I adore being single. I date younger men recreationally for sex, and I’m very open about that because we need role models who live differently and are still happy. I’m one of the happiest people I know.” […]
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Making a Difference: Essie Mooney and the Blackberry Moment
Essie Mooney did not set out to change the world, but she did. With a calm voice, gentle conviction, and an unstoppable sense of purpose, she founded EquiSteps, a therapeutic riding centre nestled in the Wicklow countryside. A place where horses walk beside children who are struggling, and where breakthroughs often come on quiet hooves. Listen to the radio show here (October 20th) “I was born more or less on the back of a horse,” Essie says. Her mother was a riding instructor, her father drove a pony and trap, and her childhood was steeped in the sights, smells, and sensibility of country life. “We hunted, we did Pony Club, it was all horses all the time.” Still, practicality prevailed in her early career. Her parents, despite being steeped in equestrian tradition, insisted that horses were a passion, not a profession. “You’ll never make money from horses,” they warned. “And so she became a primary school teacher, studying in Glasgow. But by her second year, the classroom began to chafe. “I enjoyed the children, but the paperwork, the lack of support, it wasn’t sustainable.” She returned to Ireland, to the countryside, and eventually to a job that combined her love […]
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The Wishing Well: Plant Power and Purpose, Shaggy Brown’s Path to Peace
Shaggy Brown is not his given name, but it’s the name that stuck, gifted to him by the late rapper DMX, no less. A self-described visionary and “weed consultant to the stars,” Shaggy has lived several lifetimes in one. From the streets of LA to spiritual epiphanies in the Nevada desert, his journey is shaped by plant-based living, fatherhood, psychedelics, and a deep desire for peace. Listen to the podcast here (October 17) “It all started with lactose intolerance,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I loved cheese, milk, all of it, but my body didn’t. That forced me to look for alternatives.” What began as a dietary adjustment soon evolved into a complete lifestyle shift. “At first, I was just trying to stop my stomach hurting. But over time, I realised I was learning how to thrive.” Shaggy has now been vegan for over sixteen years, long before it became a cultural movement. He credits the change not just with better health, but with clarity and discipline. “I eat to live now. My food is fuel.” The same thirst for wellness that led him to veganism also introduced him to psychedelics, which he credits with helping him find his purpose. “Once you […]
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