ACCESSIBLE TRAVEL: Manor houses needn’t be an oxymoron
By Erica Crompton While researching manor houses, stately homes and Scottish castles for an intimate wedding for two one thing struck me: many of the olde worldy hotels with that air of romance seem to put their heritage above access for wheelchair users, like my fiance. Whether it’s steps at the entrance, showers with lips […]
NEPA took the light just after evening prayers By Omorogieva Sylvester Ihonwa
No one on Oremeji Street looked up. A few children groaned but then returned to their game. A generator coughed to life farther down the road, only to sputter into silence. The darkness felt as familiar as the cracked gutters and the dusty road. Eniayo’s mother slid open the wooden doors of her stall and […]
“Finding love again after loss is not betrayal, it’s part of healing”
By Nicky Wake When my husband Andy died in 2020, I genuinely thought the joyful part of my life was ok. By that point, we’d already spent three years living through the aftermath of the catastrophic heart attack and brain injury he suffered in 2017. One of my most haunting memories was performing CPR while […]
“Losing my grandma made me realise young men need to talk more about grief”
By Matthew Haywood Since winning Survivor UK in 2023, I’ve tried to use that platform to build my TikTok and try to bring a bit of joy to people online. Most of my videos are usually about me getting outdoors, messing about or trying out some crazy challenges. I try not take life too seriously, […]
“Understanding my ADHD finally helped me understand myself”
By Roxana Tascu For most of my life, I genuinely believed I was somehow both high achieving and failing at the same time. From the outside, people often saw somebody driven, intelligent and ambitious, but inside I constantly felt as though I was barely holding everything together. As a child growing up in Romania, I […]
“I turned baby loss into a place where other women feel less alone”
By Sam Naughton When my baby died at ten weeks pregnant, my entire world had shattered in the space of a few seconds. My husband Ben and I had already named our baby Willow and we had already started imagining the life we thought we were going to have with them alongside my elder daughter […]
Stratford-upon-Avon’s Butterfly Farm soothes my soul
Photo & words by Erica Crompton In Stratford’s heart, where a river glides, A rainbow-winged world is waiting inside. A place where colours rise like choir or prayer, A verdant paradise holds every kind of care. Butterflies drift close as if they know How fragile days can feel, how spirits slow. In this bright haven, […]
“Is Luxembourg Europe’s most accessible city?”
By Erica Crompton Luxembourg is steadily developing a network of comfort hiking trails as part of its Tourism without Barriers campaign, with accessible routes around places such as Bissen and Remich. I travelled with my fiancé, Paul, who uses a wheelchair full time, to see how these trails work in practice. Our first stop is […]
Exclusion as an Architectural Design
Star Zahra I have lived several different lives within the span of one. In Nigeria, class is not a static label; it is a pendulum, and I have swung across its entire arc. When I was born, my father, a young man in his twenties already established at the Nigerian Ports Authority as a fireman, […]
The sky beneath our clouds: how class divides can impact wellbeing
By Abhra Pal As a wordsmith myself, I am often mired in the myth that true art form would be one with artlessness. Every progress closer to that artlessness makes us see some form of nihilist beauty of existentialism. The paradox lies in simplicity. I do not know whether the time will come when I make […]