Recorded on 21/08/2026

Michael Howroyd has spent more than 30 years working across a diverse range of disciplines, from landscape gardening and green-keeping through to sustainability leadership and environmental management.

During his 21-year career at the University of Leeds, he has helped establish and lead several of the University's flagship sustainability initiatives, including its Environmental Management System, Blueprint programme, reuse@leeds and most recently, its biodiversity programme.

Now serving as Biodiversity Programme Lead, Michael is focused on rethinking how organisations approach nature recovery. Rather than seeing biodiversity as something delivered solely through habitat management, he champions a people-centred approach that encourages communities to become active participants in creating positive change for nature. His ambition is to demonstrate that lasting environmental impact comes not only from improving places for wildlife, but from inspiring people to value, understand, and champion their natural world.

Want to be on Working Hours? Click the link to get your own episode or buy an episode for someone else. https://western-studios.com/be-on-a-podcast/working-hours-podcast-the-paid-plan/

Michael’s trying to get organisations across Leeds to record the wildlife they encounter over a particular weekend in April 2027 for The City Nature Challenge. Leeds is one of the few UK cities not participating and Michael wants to put us firmly on the map!

Michael provided me with an MS Form that you can complete to get involved Leeds City Nature Challenge 2027 – Fill in form

Share it around, if that’s okay.

You can find out more about Michael’s work at:

Uni of Leeds Sustainability Service on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/university-of-leeds-sustainability-service/posts/?feedView=all

Uni of Leeds Sustainability Service on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uol_sus

You can contact Michael at:

Sustainability Service email: sustainability@leeds.ac.uk

Biodiversity email address: biodiversity@leeds.ac.uk

Donate £3 or more to the podcast and help this project keep going: https://ko-fi.com/workinghours

Become a regular supporter of the project by getting a Patreon subscription to fund the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/WorkingHoursPod

Recorded on 26/06/2026

Sonja Woodcock has co-ordinated FoodWise Leeds, the city’s sustainable food partnership, since its inception in 2017. With a strong commitment to cross-sectoral collaboration, she applies a systems-based approach towards improving community food security, expanding urban agriculture, and driving awareness and action around food and the climate and nature emergency. She works closely with partners across Leeds to monitor and deliver the Leeds Food Strategy and Good Food Action Plan (2023-30).

Sonja has a longstanding interest in public procurement as a lever for food system transformation and collaborates with colleagues at the University of Leeds on action research in this area. She also works at a regional level with food partnership colleagues across West Yorkshire and is an active member within the national Sustainable Food Places Network, recently supporting the development of a strategic framework for representation and justice across the network.

Want to be on Working Hours? Click the link to get your own episode or buy an episode for someone else. https://western-studios.com/be-on-a-podcast/working-hours-podcast-the-paid-plan/

Listen to Nathan Atkinson and Kevin Mackay from Rethink Food: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/rethink-food/

Listen to Dom Charkin from Zest: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/dominic-charkin

Listen to Helen Underwood from Underwood Training: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/helen-underwood

Buy Ghost Signs here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/ghost-signs/stu-hennigan/9781910422960

You can find out more about Sonja’s work at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonja-woodcock-3316751/

World Food Day on Oct 16: https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/en/

Find out more about FoodWise:

https://foodwiseleeds.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/foodwise-leeds

https://bsky.app/profile/foodwiseleeds.bsky.social

https://www.instagram.com/foodwiseleeds/

https://www.facebook.com/foodwiseleeds

https://www.youtube.com/@foodwiseleeds

Recorded on 11/06/2026

Maria Forryan is Subject Lead of Drama at Elliott Hudson College. She has also taught A Level Music, BTEC music, GCSE English, EPQ and been a mentor for Trainee teachers whilst working there. Maria has been there for 10 years now, since moving back from Shanghai, and she also works for AQA as an A Level Drama examiner too.

Starting her teaching career as Head of Music at a comprehensive school in Oldham, although she also taught Drama - which she definitely preferred. Maria then moved to a very posh private boarding school in Suffolk, which she says, ‘looked like Hogwarts’, there she held the position of director of Drama for 4 years.

Fancying somewhere a bit louder and brighter she then took a job as Director of Performing Arts at the British International School in Shanghai before she moved back to the UK with her husband to start a family. They didn't know Leeds well but Maria’s sister lived in Morley and they liked the city from the couple of times they had visited. So, from the other side of the world they decided to move to the best city there is - Leeds. And she’s been here ever since.

Additionally, Maria: volunteers as a theatre critic and interviewer for Leeds Living magazine, which promotes living in Leeds. Usually covering professional productions, mainly at Leeds Grand and Leeds Playhouse, she also enjoys reviewing local amateur theatre too. Maria particularly like to review children's theatre as she can take her two children with her too - and they by all accounts love it. Maria also does upon request interviews with cast members or directors in the lead up to particular shows. In the last year she set up her own instagram page maria_Reviews_leeds_theatre where she shares all the links for the shows she reviews, and anything else that she sees, such as music concerts or shows outside Leeds.

Maria also plays for Leeds Wheelchair Basketball team where her husband is a coach. She is a qualified scaffolder and brick layer! A qualified minibus driver and, like me (Thanks to Underwood training – check out series 5 episode 33 for more on them) a first aider (which she uses at work). Maria is also a trustee on her kids’ PTA as well being as a parent governor.

This one goes hard on theatre and I hope it’s as fun for you to listen to this recording as it was to listen to Maria talking.

You can find Maria’s reviews on her Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maria_reviews_leeds_theatre/

Or at Leeds Living

https://leedsliving.co.uk/

Mentioned in the interview:

https://www.facebook.com/oscars.morley/

https://www.thewardrobe.co.uk

https://whiteswanleeds.co.uk/

https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/yorkshireandthehumber/thescarbroughhotelbishopsgatestreetleeds#/

https://leedsheritagetheatres.com

https://www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/people/Morley-March-Hymn-Tune-Contest/61553483114559/#

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLua32GVbRI_FcUnKVCCH8JcfEK2hgeHkh

Let me know if I've missed any links you might want.

Check out Underwood Training's episode: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/helen-underwood

Recorded on 22/06/2026

Lynette Willoughby’s first degree was in Electrical and Electronic Engineering after which she moved to Leeds to teach at Foxwood school for 2 years. After then trekking round the Pyrenees and the Alps for 3 months with a friend Lynette taught at East Leeds Women's Workshops. She then did an MSc in Microprocessor Engineering followed by over 20 years working at Leeds Poly/Leeds Metropolitan University.

Lynette was very active in the Women's Engineering Society and was President from 1993-1995. At 49 she started a part-time Fine Art degree at Leeds College of Art - Lynette had always been an artist alongside being an engineer – her mother was an artist even though as a single parent with 4 children her mother never had much time to practice her art, but Lynette grew up around all her work.

Since retiring in 2005 Lynette has concentrated more on her art, doing site-responsive installations with a friend and also making artists books, which she shows at Artists Book Fairs.

We also discuss the brilliant alternative economy idea of Time Banking in this episode.

Get in to time banking people.

https://timebanking.org/

https://lynettewilloughby.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynette_Willoughby

https://www.roundhayartists.com/

https://mrbragshaws.co.uk/

https://www.gutenberg.org/

https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/

https://www.deliziosa.co.uk/

https://www.jupiterartland.org/

https://www.alanpergusey.com/

Recorded on 23/04/2026

By day, Emma Harper is a Senior Analyst at a stockbrokers’ firm, with 26 years in finance. It's a career she truly loves! Outside of work, Emma is married with two children. She runs two charity groups - a local community fund, now in its 10th year, and a volunteer team supporting the hospice that cared for her mum. She also hosts a monthly bereavement support group in her mum’s honour, because no one navigating loss should ever feel alone.

Emma is a lifelong autoimmune and allergy warrior who is passionate about raising awareness and supporting others on that journey. She’s a “life’s too short” kind of girl. Travelling with her family is her therapy, exploring new cultures, learning, laughing, and making memories.

In 2025, she stepped into a powerful new chapter, joining a community of like-minded travel lovers on an epic journey of self-discovery, fresh travel opportunities, and serious confidence building!

Since then, she’s built an incredible team of passionate, travel-driven people.

Emma's is also organising a local business networking event called Support Local on Sunday 14th June 2026 at 7 Steps Bar in Pudsey 1pm to 5pm. It's free to attend so there's nothing to stop you popping along.

Follow Emma at: https://www.instagram.com/theharpercrew/

Links for this episode:

https://www.facebook.com/Farsleydefib/

https://www.facebook.com/people/Friends-of-Wheatfields-LS28/61579621647248/

If you want to make a podcast in West Yorkshire don't forget you can contact Western Studios Leeds Ltd at: https://western-studios.com/

Or if you just need a bit of info about starting your own podcast there's still tickets left for my Introduction to Podcasting Workshop on July 11th at Swarthmore Education Centre. Tickets are 25GBP. Reserve you spot now to avoid disappointment: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introduction-to-podcasting-with-simon-treen-tickets-1990632856460

Listen to the Leeds Business Podcast episode (made by Western Studios Leeds) about the Climb business event from last year at: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/5b1a586c-e66d-4e75-b702-02fa315f8367/

Or go to:

https://www.climb-uk.com/ to find out more about their events.