Woman's Hour

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Woman's Hour: Listener Week: Is it ever good to give up on dreams?  Working class women & university, Living funerals

Listener Week: Is it ever good to give up on dreams?  Working class women & university, Living funerals

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Listener Week: Is it ever good to give up on dreams?  Working class women & university, Living funerals

We’re often told not to give up on our dreams, but what if they’re causing unhappiness?

One listener Monica emailed in to tell us that now in her 70s she has given up a life-long dream of becoming a novelist and has described the decision as ‘liberating’.

For Woman's Hour's Listener Week, you, our listeners, decide what we cover on the programme.

Nuala McGovern is joined by Monica and chartered psychologist Catherine Hallissey to discuss when it might be the right decision to give up on your dream. We'd like to hear your views on the issue. Have you decided to change course or realised a goal isn’t meant to be?

Earlier this month, we heard the experiences of young people who are opting to live at home while they study at university because of the cost of living. That prompted a listener, Dr Pam Woolner from Newcastle University, to get in touch to tell us about the latest research by her colleague Dr Sam Shields. It looks into the experiences of working class women going to university and the challenges they face. Sam is senior lecturer in Education at Newcastle University and joins Nuala along with the writer Jessica Andrews who was the first in her family to go to university, leaving her home in the north-east of England to study in London.    

One of our listeners got in touch to tell us that his daughter had discovered a previously unseen poem by Georgiana the Duchess of Devonshire, who you may know about from the Keira Knightley film, The Duchess. We’ll be bringing you that poem and discussing why the duchess was such an influential political figure in her day.

And Nelly has asked us to talk about living funerals.  She was inspired by Kris Hallenga, the founder of the CoppaFeel breast cancer awareness charity, who has stage 4 breast cancer and who held a living funeral for herself.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Andrew Garratt

00:00 OPENER	
01:43 LIVING FUNERALS
22.46 WORKING CLASS ACADEMICS
35.45 DUCHESS POEM	
46.57 GIVING UP ON DREAMS	
5439 CLOSE

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Listener Week: Is it ever good to give up on dreams? Working class women & university, Living funerals

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