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Hosted by Aaron Ashmore, The Cov Pod is a celebration of the city of Coventry and an honest and transparent look at some of the issues being faced by the city, such as homelessness and climate change. We will also be inviting people close to the city to share their Coventry story, what they love about the city and their hopes for the future. In partnership with Coventry City Council.
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We find ourselves a couple of days before the Coventry theatre debut of Boy Out The City, the autobiographical show written and performed by Coventry lad, Declan Bennett. As the Belgrade show listing tells us: "Declan takes us on a journey into the messy and turbulent world of toxic masculinity, homophobia and men’s mental health; confronting his C…
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Two Coventry Aarons collide with an interview with local photographer, cultural enthusiast, and regular gig-goer, Aaron Law. We talk about Aaron's passion for the city, the new George Wagstaffe Pheonix Tree, his work to help preserve the William Mitchell Hertford House and Three Tuns murals, as well as what it's like to travel the world following b…
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A festive treat with an interview with Coventry’s Dame, Iain Lauchlan; star, writer and director of the Coventry Belgrade pantomime With a career spanning over 40 years in the children's entertainment industry presenting many well-loved children's programmes such as Playschool, Fingermouse, and Playdays, and outside of Coventry, he is perhaps best …
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It’s no secret that local authorities across the country are facing huge financial pressures, and Coventry City Council is no different as it forecasts a £30m budget shortfall. Coventry recently shared that without additional central government funding, it could effectively declare itself bankrupt and only deliver services it has to by law. A repor…
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A sit-down with poet, rapper, writer, and most recently, Coventry's newest Poet Laureate, John Bernard. I talk to John about his relationship with the city after moving to Coventry at a young age, his pride in becoming Poet Laureate, his music career, and the work he does locally to inspire and support young people. Host: Aaron Ashmore Intro music:…
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Coventry is looking to be the best city in the UK for children and young people to live and grow up in. To find out more about Coventry's approach to children's services, I spoke to Councillor Patricia Seaman, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and Matt Clayton, Strategic Lead for Looked After Children at Coventry City Council to hear mo…
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In this episode of The Cov Pod, Aaron dives deep into the world of the renowned Godiva Festival, held annually in Coventry. Joining him are three special guests who shed light on various aspects of the festival and its preparations for this year. Aaron welcomes back Jon Hogan, Festival Director, to discuss the improved sustainability initiatives be…
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A sit-down with the founder and owner of the HMV Empire, Phil Rooney, who talks me through his history in Coventry, the changes in the pub industry, and how he became involved in music promotion, which led to the original Empire on Far Gosford Street. Phil also shares the journey of building and launching the new HMV Empire and tells us about his p…
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Welcome to the latest episode of The Cov Pod, where we explore the recent changes to the voting process in the Coventry local elections. First up, I talk to Liz Read, Electoral Services Manager at Coventry City Council, about the new requirement for photo ID when voting and the improvements in accessibility at polling stations for people with disab…
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In this episode, we hear from Stacey-Jade Mason, the founder and director of Creative Optimistic Visions (COV), a local organisation who believe we all have the right to feel safe and provides companies and individuals with the tools to enable this via education, training, mentoring, youth and community services for people of all ages. Stacey-Jade …
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In February, Dippy the Diplodocus made the journey to Coventry and their new home for the next three years in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. We speak to Cllr David Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities at Coventry City Council to discuss how Dippy the Dinosaur fits in the city’s approach to arts and museums and the vision of bringi…
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In this latest episode of The Cov Pod, we explore some of the reasons that make Coventry one of the must-visit destinations in the UK! We hear from Cllr Jim O'Boyle on the city's efforts to continue to grow and develop and Paul Jones from Destination Coventry tells us about the formation of the organisation and why hosting attractions such as the G…
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A sit down with the founder and CEO of Coventry's Positive Youth Foundation; Rashid Bhayat MBE. Rashid is a Coventrian who I hugely admire so it was brilliant to talk about his history in the city, how PYF first began, and why supporting and empowering young Coventry people remains at the heart of the organisation. I am a big fan of the work of Pos…
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In this episode of The Cov Pod, I sit down with Corey Campbell, Creative Director at Belgrade Theatre. We talk about Corey's early career, the story behind Strictly Arts Theatre Company, his role in the Belgrade's key year of Coventry being the UK City of Culture in 2021, and the Theatre's commitment to supporting and promoting community engagement…
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Godiva Festival is a date marked in the diary for almost every Coventrian and this year's music-filled weekend is fast approaching! To find out more about the decisions behind the festival, I speak to Jon Hogan, City Event Manager at Coventry City Council about how the acts are chosen, the tremendous amount of planning that goes into a festival of …
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You will no doubt know that Coventry is a host city for the Commonwealth Games in 2022 but did you also know that city is hosting the International Children’s Games this year. In August, more than 1500 of the best young sporting talents from around the world are travelling to the city for 6 days of completion across 7 sports. We kick the episode of…
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In this episode of The Cov Pod, I sit down with Laura McMillan MBE, Director of Audience Strategy, Coventry City of Culture Trust who tells me about her history in the city, how she first became involved with Coventry's bid for UK City of Culture and we take a look at a momentous year for Coventry. Laura shares why there was a commitment to making …
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Have you ever wondered what the role of Lord Mayor entails? Or how the next Mayor is decided? I sat down with former Lord Mayor Cllr John McNicholas during his last week in term to look at some of the highlights and challenges of his time as Lord Mayor from raising money at the Charity Dog Show to the restrictions caused by COVID Host: Aaron Ashmor…
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Coordinating fair and well-run local elections is obviously a crucial role for any Council and Coventry is no exception with a huge amount of work taking place to facilitate local people registering their vote. In this episode, I speak to Martin Reeves, Chief Executive, Coventry City Council, about his role as Returning Officer and the legal respon…
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It was a pleasure to sit down with John Kiely MBE - one of the cogs that help to make the Coventry business world turn. I speak to John about how he came to be a franchisee of a number of McDonald's in the city, the work he is involved in to support Coventry homeless people and young people to access training and employment, plus how it felt to be …
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You’ll no doubt be aware of Council Tax but do you know how and where that money is spent? I sat down with Cllr Richard Brown, Finance Lead for Coventry City Council and Paul Jennings, Senior Finance Manager at Coventry City Council to talk about the council’s annual budget, Council Tax, and the balance between the funding of local services and inv…
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Award-winning BBC radio and TV presenter, journalist, awards host, and all-round Coventry champion, Trish Adudu joins me on the latest episode of The Cov Pod. We talk about the racism faced by Trish's family after first moving to the city, working her way up in a career in journalism, her love for the city, and take a closer look at the businesses …
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A special Christmas-themed episode of The Cov Pod with a festive interview with Coventry film director, Debbie Isitt. The Nativity films play a special part in many Coventrian's Christmas and it was great to hear about how the films came to be, the essential role Coventry plays in the series and what it was like dangling a child off the Cathedral S…
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2021 will be looked back as a historic year for Coventry and this episode I speak to some of the people behind Coventry 2021. After being awarded UK City of Culture in 2017, we are currently halfway through a year of events and community projects which have looked to put Coventry on the cultural map. In this episode, I speak to Chenine Bhathena, Cr…
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A huge honour to speak to Coventry legend, David Moorcroft OBE for this episode of The Cov Pod. David was kind enough to share his Coventry story with me which included running in 3 Olympic games and winning gold two times at the Commonwealth Games. Enjoy! Host: Aaron Ashmore Aaron's Twitter Intro music: Heal in Time by The Institutes Outro music: …
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It is more apparent than ever how important it is to take meaningful action to address climate change and this episode takes a closer look at what work is taking place in the city to help combat it. We speak to Cllr Jim O’Boyle who tells us about the range of projects underway in the city to work towards a greener, sustainable future. This is follo…
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Episode 2 of The Cov Pod is an interview with the brilliant Pete Chambers; the oracle of Coventry music and mastermind behind The Coventry Music Museum! The interview takes a look at the impact The Specials and 2 Tone made on the city, what the Coventry music scene was like in the 70s and 80s and we even find out how the famous Ghost Town car made …
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To time with World Homeless Day, the first episode of The Cov Pod takes a look at homelessness and rough sleeping with interviews in the city with Coventry City Council representatives, Louise from The ARC; a drug and alcohol outreach support who support people to achieve a better quality of life, and finally a chat with John who has a history of r…
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The trailer for a brand new Coventry podcast, hosted by Aaron Ashmore in partnership with Coventry City Council. In The Cov Pod, we will be taking a look at some topics related to the city and interviewing notable figures about their Coventry story. Keep an eye out for episodes releasing in the next few weeks. Host: Aaron Ashmore Aaron's Twitter Mu…
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