Alice Fogg is only 28 but already has landed a job she was dreaming of having later on in her career: Chief Officer of 'VABS', which stands for voluntary action in Badenoch & Strathspey.

VABS supports local community and voluntary groups to realise their ambitions, and Alice is well placed to lead as her entire adult life has been about community and grassroots change.

We talk about what drives this fire in her belly to put so much energy in community - and why her degree at Durham University, studying big concepts like global geopolitics, actually made her realise that the biggest difference can be make at the micro, not macro, level. And, also, why working at this level can bring the biggest joy and sense of satisfaction, too.

She talks about her childhood being a triplet, her existential breakdown, feeling isolated at Uni due to coming from a state not private school, why she came to the Highlands and how she built her resilience to deal with the many challenges young people growing up in this crazy world face.

Ultimately a really inspiring conversation and one that really consolidated by growing view that charity (and progress) really does work better if it starts at home, on our doorsteps. It's also much better for our mental health than constantly scrolling the disastrous events happening around the world that we can often feel powerless over.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Alice as much as I did. Do say hello if you see her around; even better, why not check out www.vabs.org.uk and see if there's any way you can get involved with the local charities and community initiatives in our area, or contact her directly.

Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

I'm calling today's guest, Nicol Sinclair, a 'philosopher' because I was struck, more than anything else, by how much this man absorbs information, thinks about it & then forms his own opinions on it. Exactly what we need in the age of AI!

This is true on SO MANY subjects - life, love, relationships, community, technology, feminism, marriage, kids, gender... which meant this chat was wide ranging and full of references to good stuff he's read, seen and heard. Have your notebook to the ready...

Honestly, if anyone every says to you 'men can't do emotion' or 'men aren't emotionally intelligent', send them this podcast link.

And, by the way, the 'chainsaw' reference comes in, not because he's some violent street serial killer !(!!), but because he works in forestry, and wielding a chainsaw was his childhood dream from 12. Also because it's his precious time in nature which is so fundamental to processing his thoughts and to his mental health.

Being a community podcast, this also covers his views on community which often stem from his (I'm gonna say it) idyllic, wholesome childhood where playing outside was the FOMO of the day. Expect lots of references to Top of the Pops, choppers and other such nostalgia.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Nicol as much as I did. Do say hello if you see him around!

Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today’s guest is the lovely Lorna Bray and I loved this chat because it just shows how, as neighbours, we can live so near each other.... and yet not know how much we have in common, until we sit down and have a proper, meaty conversation.

Turns out we are both big fans of being honest and keeping it real in a world of insta-perfect grids; even though Lorna is actually an expert in curating these grids, with her popular account @gurl_on_the_hill and in her comms work at Education Scotland.

We get straight into the meat and no topic is taboo here: the struggle to make friends as an adult; building back after divorce; dealing with her daughter’s diagnosis; dealing with her own anxiety; therapy; falling in love and second marriage; the challenge of moving to a small community where your other half is already well known and a big personality… And more!

Of course, being a community podcast we also talk about where Lorna has got her appreciation of community and why she, pretty much on moving to Kincraig, took on writing the village News and Events Facebook page.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Lorna as much as I did. Do say hello if you see her around; she loves nothing more than hearing a bit of Kincraig news :)

Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)