26/10/2017 Timeline

Tonight...

Is there enough support for people

with rare forms of cancer?

And we go behind the scenes

at the theatre group that's launched

the careers of many Scottish actors.

Welcome to Timeline,

where we've been visiting the drama

company breaking down barriers

in helping people into careers

on stage and screen.

Also, the mentoring project

turning around young lives.

And...

The Scottish hip hop star who's gone

from rapping to writing

with his new book picking

up rave reviews.

How much support is there for people

with rare forms of cancer?

Kevin O'Neil is one of only 15

people in the world diagnosed

with malignant myopericytoma.

He lives with chronic pain

after surgery to remove a tumour

the weight of a large bag

of potatoes from his back.

Kevin's trying to track down

the other people with the same

diagnosis so he can speak to someone

who knows what he's going through.

Here's his story.

You are told you are one of 15

people worldwide with a rare tumour

and you think it's like winning the

lottery, that type of thing. The

condition I have is called malignant

myopericytoma and I had a tumour

which started in the wall of my

chest here and it spread round to

the shoulder blade. What was

happening was that because the rib

cage was protecting the lung, the

Juma itself was forcing out Mike

shoulder blade and over a 12 week

period it came to the discomfort of

25 centimetres with 35 centimetres

deep and I had surgery to remove it

in a 12 hour operation. It I was in

a medical induced coma for two and a

half days. The majority of the ribs

were taken away, I have two small

ribs there and it is a complete

chest rebuild. There is nobody to go

to with such a rare tumour, there is

me and 14 elsewhere so how do you do

it? Facebook, Twitter, set up a

blog? But the whole idea is to try

to get five or six people who have

the same condition as myself, to be

able to say, how do you get by your

day and deal with the pain and

you're off days?

Kevin's condition

come with it being so unique, one of

15 worldwide Comey does not have

that person he can sit and have a

copy with or talk about how he feels

on a day-to-day basis. -- have a

coffee. He had been ill for a number

of years, a number of which he went

undiagnosed and five operations

later and I thank my stars we still

have him.

Kevin O'Neil?

Hello.

I and

three very senior colleagues removed

the tumour on his back and I've

never seen anything like it before

or since. He has been an incredibly

strong personality and his constant

positive attitude is really very

uplifting.

I just think that when you see what

the nurses and the doctors and the

clinicians and everyone involved

with the NHS does on a daily basis,

it is just, it blows me away. They

have saved my life. I have too much

to offer still, I'm 48 years old, I

certainly would hate to be the last

thing, from items to lose their

father at an early age and I just

thought that I had to make sure I

get through this.

Kevin O'Neil there.

So should more be done to help

people with rare cancers?

Janice Malone is from

Macmillan Cancer Support.

Is that a typical story come is

there much support for people with

rare cancers like that?

It is a

fairly common story for people who

have a rarer Cancer, to deal a

heightened degree of uncertainty as

to what the future might hold for

them and also to feel isolated and

alone because as Kevin said in the

film, there is nobody can talk to

about his particular experience.

One

out of 15 in the world.

And what

kind of support is there for those

people who are the only ones?

There

is a huge amount of support out

there, for example at Macmillan we

have an online community which

allows people with a rarer cancer to

reach out to be for sometimes all

around the world who have a rarer

cancer. There are a number of

different support mechanisms, so

somebody with a rarer cancer can tap

into them also sometimes the

feelings and experiences of somebody

with a rarer cancer might be similar

to someone with a more common cancer

as well. We know that those types of

things, around your emotional

well-being, needing somebody to talk

to about how you feel, that is

important to people. Financial

worries are important to people, and

they will be similar across the

board.

How big a help its online

support compared to one to one?

It

depends on people's preferences. I'm

a big advocate for trying to make

sure we tailor the support to the

individual. Some people love the

online support and think it is the

right thing for them but others

would be preferring to sit down

face-to-face with somebody and

everything in between. Kevin

mentioned about writing a blog and

things like that, those are ways of

reaching out to people and they are

becoming more popular.

People like

Kevin feel they are alone, so would

you consider setting up a rare

cancer group?

Absolutely, and if

there are people out there in

experiencing that like Kevin and

they feel they are not getting the

support they need, come and talk to

us at Macmillan and we would be

delighted to have that conversation

and to see what we can do for

people.

Thank you very much for

coming to tell us about that.

It's given many Scots their first

taste of acting, with stars who've

gone on to appear in big screen

films, as well as small screen hits

like Burnistoun and River City.

Now the drama group Toonspeak,

which provides access to the arts

to disadvantaged communities,

is marking 30 years

since it was founded.

We asked Paul English to look

at the secret of its success.

Some things in the north of Glasgow

have changed in the last 30 years.

The red Road flats, once a marker in

this part of the city skyline, are

now long gone, but there is one

aspect of life here which remains a

towering presence. Social worker

Stephen King started Toonspeak young

people is that in 1987. Having grown

up in the area he recognised the

need for young people to be able to

express themselves through

performing arts.

For a lot of young

people it was about building

self-confidence and being part of a

troupe, a community of people

working together. But for others it

was about imagining that ability to

be working in a theatre and in an

arts environment, a television

environment and to be able to

realise that.

And many of them did,

including Stephen Purdon, better

known as shell suit bob in River

City. Iain Robinson also learned his

trade at Toonspeak. As well as

Anniston Star Luis student --

Burnistoun star Louise Stuart.

We

went away on a workshop which was

almost like a therapy session as

much as anything. If you were

interested in the technical side you

could go behind the scenes, there

was encouragement of writing and I

always argued that performing art is

important because of those

communication skills and clarity of

diction, they are all important no

matter your line of work. The

majority of kids that went to

Toonspeak when we did not in the

industry, there is a variety of

jobs. My two best friends from

Toonspeak are a deputy headteacher

and a civil servant at the city

council but the skills and

confidence and communication skills

that they honed here...

Tell me

about how important it was in your

day going to Toonspeak, that you

could access the art like that.

Having that place to go and finding

a tribe I think is quite important.

You can go to school and do your

thing but there is also that of

place that is equally as important

in terms of developing relationships

and social skills and I don't think

I would have went into acting

having, if there wasn't something

like Toonspeak, for sure.

30 years

on and it is still inspiring the

careers of young people both on and

off the stage.

I love coming here

and just meeting everybody and

playing the games and acting.

I

really like it, I have been coming

since it started.

It feels like home

here, like you can not like to

anything but have fun with your

friends and all that.

As the face of

this community changes, some things

remain as important now as they were

30 years ago and with Toonspeak

ready for the next act, that is good

news for the unknown stars of

tomorrow.

Jasmine Main chairs Toonspeak.

You have been through it as well.

I

sneaked in when I was ten years old!

You're meant to be 11 so I told a

wee white light!

And it launched

your own acting career that you do

you see in the groups you are

teaching the stars of the future?

I

do and I think confidence and drama

is so much more than just

performing, it is life skills. It is

your social ability, your social

capital, to go to the shop and ask

where the milk is fixed confidence.

And for a lot of the wee ones we are

working with, they don't have that,

and it is also a safe space and time

for them to be creative and not

worry about what is going on. And

that was my safe space as well and I

was lucky to be able to go and do

other things. I know how important

it is.

And how are you for money at

the moment?

Are you wanting a tap?!

But it is hard at Toonspeak, we

offer the transport and we feed the

participants. That is one of the

biggest issues of the moment.

Funders, everybody wants to fund

exciting stuff but for that to

happen we need to get the young

people safely through the door and

that sometimes means picking them up

at the front door and making sure

they get there. And for us that is

one of the main issues, myself as

chair of the board, it is that I am

keen to make sure it continues over

the next 30 years. It is such a

difference.

And what would you say

to people who are looking at

different projects to fund, and say,

that is nice but it is the icing on

the cake and not a core priority

project?

I think it is so much more,

and if you can imagine and you can

problem solved, that is all that in

there for anybody, come along to

Toonspeak and see what you think and

look at the projects. I know when

they walk through the door that the

young people have got them and I

have every confidence. It is about

being creative but also so much more

and it is your life skills and your

safe place and having that can make

so much of a difference and the

potential with young people, you can

see it within two weeks, a month,

you can see the change.

Thank you

very much for coming in.

And that's not the only project

helping young people tonight.

That's right.

Let's look at another

initiative designed to help

disadvantaged youngsters

realise their potential

through mentoring.

MCR Pathways partners an older

mentor with a young person who's

struggling at school.

It's been so successful at a Glasgow

school that it's now being rolled

out to the rest of the city

and will soon come to

other parts of Scotland.

Timeline went to meet two

young men who benefited.

Ayew OK telling us some of the

challenges you had growing up?

When

I arrived in Scotland, England was

not my first language. My first

language was Portuguese. I never did

primary school, or even the third

year. I started from the fourth

year.

I had challenges growing up.

Homelessness, the care system,

Eamonn McCann after five of us on

her own.

I lived with two brothers.

We did not have mum or dad.

Sometimes you felt you needed a

cuddle from ma'am.

Every good thing

that happened, you braced yourself

for something bad to happen.

Coming

from Angola, how difficult did you

find it to embed in the Glasgow

culture?

Music was different,

environment was different,

everything was different.

What was

your confidence like?

I would come

into school, head down, not looking

or talking to anybody. I just wanted

to get in, get lunch and get home.

That led to me going in a primary

four level, reading and writing.

Your head was all over the place,

rather than focused on the

classroom?

I would definitely say

that now.

Why did you not feel you

could go to further education?

You

needed certain grades and I did not

have that. To have that you had to

do exams, which I could not do

because I never had the national

five. So I was like, after school,

that's the end, nothing else to do.

What is life like now?

For me, I

would say it is a thousand times

better. I am doing an HND. And I see

that there is a door opening.

What

is your lifelike now compared to

your life as Young Liam?

Not bad,

quite different. I am not homeless.

That is a positive. I graduated two

years ago.

Which is amazing, given

you were four years behind when you

join secondary school.

How do you feel about the programme?

I have been doing it for two and a

half years. Something that is

important for the young people who

need some extra help.

Why did you

get involved?

I realised there were

a lot of young people in the school

who were in the same classrooms,

with the same teachers, but

education outcomes were so much

worse. We quickly realised it was

because of their background and home

situations, rather than their

abilities. So we spoke and spent a

lot of time with those young people,

of which you were one, to find out

what the challengers were, and more

importantly the solutions that we

would actually put in place to

support young people like yourself

that had experienced a disadvantaged

background, to allow them to get to

a place that they can engage better

with the education system and what

it has to offer.

Afonso And Liam with their mentors.

Iain MacRitchie is the

founder of MCR Pathways.

What does the mint or actually do?

We get asked the question of how can

we see a change in those young

people, 48% going to college,

university or a job after school, up

to 80%. Believe it or not, it is

breathtakingly simple. What we ask

is that our mentors come to school

and first and foremost it is just

about listening to those young

people, building a relationship,

empathising, one of trust. Before

moving on to, what is the potential

of the young person? At the moment,

our young people are too much

defined by their circumstances, the

difficulties they experience at

home. Our programme is simply about,

you will be defined by your talent

and potential. Then it is a focus

of, what could you do? Go and try

stuff. It is about building

confidence and self-esteem.

Is on

the danger that for young people are

just feels like another adults

telling them what to do?

It does,

but our programme is about equality.

For example, we do not tell the

mentors about the young person's

past. It is focused on what they

could be in the future. The young

person decides and chooses to become

part of the programme. It is

completely voluntary. We have found

there is as much impact on the

mentors as there is the young

person. It just ends up being a no

lose situation for any party.

Should

charities be picking up the slack

for a service that councils should

provide?

I think the best, nation is

both. The skills that charities

bring in terms of understanding the

communities, a local need in

particular, needs to work in the

mainstream. We could not do what we

do outside the school system. It has

to be within the school system, and

there is a fabulous partnership

between what we have with Glasgow

City Council and the schools.

Thanks

for coming in.

If you have a story to tell

or if there's anything you think

we should be following

up, let us know.

You can get in touch

through Facebook or Twitter,

you can find us online,

or you can email us -

[email protected].

Look forward to hearing from you.

Shereen.

What do you know

about paper cutting?

I thought it's what happens

when you cut yourself

opening an envelope.

Ouch!

But, turns out it's an art form

which has proved pretty successful

for Dundee-based Boo Paterson.

Like many artists she's

found it a struggle

to make that breakthrough,

but her hard work has paid off

with the launch of a book designed

to enable others who want to get

into paper cut art.

This is a piece called Seasick,

which I created in response to the

first wave of refugees drowning in

the Mediterranean. I was imagining

what it would be like to drown. I

started paper cutting when I was

three or four, and I used to make

paper sculptures out of print paper.

As an adult, I became a journalist

on the straight from school and I

worked in that industry four-year

is. But whilst also working in

cabaret and circus. I ran away with

the circus, actually, to Australia.

And many of the Anna Moore 's I love

from Australia are in the book. When

I came up with the idea for the book

I was extremely poor and I wanted to

think of a way out of that

situation. I am now ready to cut.

The general rule is to start in the

middle and work your way out. This

is one of the easy ones. I made the

book so that it started off very,

very easy and it gets harder as it

goes on. The principle of the book

is to have people doing art. I think

that was the great success of the

colouring books. It meant that

people who were not good at art

could do it. We can see one of my

earlier works, which is called art

vultures. It was basically the only

thing that was feeding me. They took

away my working tax credit because I

was not earning enough. I made this

work out of the working tax credit

rejection forms. I am primarily a

political artist. The plight of

refugees in particular in forms much

of my work. With that in mind, the

book is actually a real departure

for me. In a way, that kind of

commercial illustration is the

graft. The stuff that you do because

you feel it deeply is almost

effortless. There is the finished

artwork. And now all we need to do

is to do the relief. When you are

holding a scalpel, you definitely

concentrate more acutely. It is that

focus which gets you into a flow

state, which children are

infrequently when they are playing,

when they do not know there is time

passing. Back to the book, and

choose a piece of colour for the

mount. And you can stick this on,

either with the spray mount, all

with foam squares.

Boo Paterson there.

You thought it was about making

paper aeroplanes. A beautiful

artform.

He's a newspaper columnist,

a broadcaster, and a star

of the Scottish hip hop scene.

But Darren McGarvey,

also known as Loki, has added

a new string to his bow.

His first book is about to be

published, called Poverty Safari,

with rave reviews already

from the likes of JK

Rowling and Irvine Welsh.

Darren's here now.

High praise, Darren. Tell us what

the book is about.

For me, it has

three central ideas. The experience

of poverty, which is not often given

enough space or airtime to be

vividly described in such a way that

people who have not experienced it

can understand it. Secondly, a

critical analysis from the

perspective of a working-class

person who has engaged with services

and institutions, a critical

analysis of what I call the poverty

industry. I am not slagging off

charities or public institutions. I

think there is a great -- a lot of

great and important work going on,

but there are issues around how the

institutions engage with

working-class people and involve

them in discussion. Often, they

parachute into communities like an

imperial force, viewing housing

schemes as primitive cultures that

need to be upgraded. The third part

focuses more on my own personal

journey of recovery and how a lot of

the issues in my life, health

problems, poverty, homelessness, a

lot of that began to improve not

just when I engaged with public

services but when I started to take

more responsibility and be more

honest about my own problems. So the

book oscillates between a memoir and

social critique with those themes.

It is very powerful. If it is not a

crass question, tell us what it is

like to be poor.

First of all, you

don't really know you are poor until

you go somewhere that is not poor. I

described this in the book, my first

journey to the west end of Glasgow.

Anyone from a working-class

community has an idea about the west

end. The first thing I noticed was

how calm it was. I was like, OK,

this is how people dress when they

are not afraid they will be stabbed.

It was this serenity that I had

never known. For me, that was the

fundamental difference. Not so much

the affluence, the money, but the

stress levels. The stress levels

were lower in the affluent

community, so it was easier to

negotiate compromise, to be more

socially mobile. In the community I

come from, everyone carries this

emotional baggage all the time.

Conflict.

Conflict. When you are

stressed, you are in fight or

flight. When you have a community

and families dealing with stress and

the unhealthy coping strategies that

arise from that, you start to

understand what you mean by social

immobility. It is not necessarily

just about money. It is about stress

management, emotional awareness and

literacy. To a certain extent, that

can involve people taking a bit more

responsibility for how they

emotionally react to things, the

things they put in their body, how

it changes the way they behave,

their mental health. I talk from a

position of experience, so not

pontificating about stuff I have not

been through.

To what extent do you

think individuals and communities

can make a difference, rather than

waiting for the government to come

and help?

First of all, I would like

to in courage people in this

condition, in this culture of

tribalism, and I understand where it

has come from and I am not making a

value judgment about any group,

whether people on the radical left,

or political parties on the

mainstream right or left, but really

we need people in this country who

understand multiple ways of looking

at things and are able to

communicate between multiple tribes,

to try and not so much build a

consensus, I do not want to be

involved in a political discussion,

but I want to go into communities

and say, yes, we need to change the

system, rail against corruption and

deal with social inequality, but

also we need to challenge each other

about the violence in our

communities, the regressive social

attitudes in our communities, and we

have to do that without being

accused of blaming poor people.

Because ultimately, in working-class

communities there is an appetite for

people to take responsibility. And I

think I have the ground when it

comes to that stuff. -- I have my

ear to the ground.

The book is called Poverty Safari.

That's your Timeline for this week.

Thanks for watching.

Shereen and I will be back next

week, same time same place,

when we'll have an interview

with the actor and presenter

Ross Kemp, who's been

inside Barlinnie prison

for a new documentary.

So do please join us then.