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A child's eye view of growing up in the East End of Glasgow.

Audrey Gillan returns to the East End of Glasgow, where she grew up, to collect impressions of childhood there now.

Audrey Gillan returns to Shettleston in the East End of Glasgow, where she grew up in the 1970s, to capture a child's-eye view of the place now.

The headline story coming out of Glasgow's East End is stark - up to 43% of children there are living in poverty.  But indicators of deprivation can be difficult to interpret.  And spending time with the children themselves, as Audrey does over a period of half a year, reawakens a rich, almost forgotten, memory store of the texture of childhood - its smells and flavours, the intoxication of a new friendship, the excitement of putting on a show, the rollercoaster of everyday happinesses and cloudier moments.   

Audrey is helped by 11-year-old Jayden, a wannabe celebrity who she first meets at Fuse Youth Café, which Audrey remembers as an old pub. He's a shy performer but instinctive sound recordist who documents his life, both in and out of his home.  

She also gets drawn into the culinary adventures of John and Holly, aged 7 and 8 respectively, at the Pavilion after-school club and spends time with Alicja, an 11-year-old who was born in Poland and now keeps an eye out for her older brother, as well as performing on her ukulele each morning to calm her schoolmates. And like all the kids Audrey meets, she spends every spare moment on Tik Tok!

Produced by Alan Hall and Audrey Gillan
with the assistance of Jordan Shaw
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

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