Week 58: Vicki

Hi, I'm Vicki. I'm 21 and I'm a fourth (and final) year student at Leeds Uni. I also work part time helping students find houses.

I have lived in Clarence Dock, Burley and now Woodhouse. I spend most of my time in Leeds around the city centre so I'm looking forward to exploring in my week as a person of Leeds :) I will sadly be leaving Leeds in May so I want to see as much as possible of this great city before I go.

In my spare time I go to gigs, the cinema, the gym.. All the usual things! Expect lots of tweets about coffee shops, cakes and cocktails.

Week 57: Laura

Hi, I’m Laura. I’m 26 and proud to be Leeds born and bred!

I currently reside in Armley, on the voted most friendly street in Leeds, so I’m told by my awesome neighbours and originally from Garforth.

I’ve recently graduated with an art degree and I work at the Cuthbert Brodrick pub as a manager, whilst also running the art project Papergirl Leeds and collectively organising the upcoming Ladyfest Leeds – I like to keep myself busy!

In my ever-dwindling spare time I’m a bit of a film geek and like nothing more that chilling out with a home cooked meal and a movie (generally multi-tasking by doing some knitting/crochet at the same time). I also love checking out local gigs and exhibitions or just socialising with friends, drinking and eating :)

As my week as PoL I’ll be trying to have as many mini adventures as possible and checking out all the places I’ve not yet visited. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to not buy any new clothes; to either make my own or thrift garments, so I’ll be going on a charity shoppers expedition to seek out bargains near and far – suggestions are welcome! It's also the week before my birthday and I have the week off work so you'll be included in all the celebrations!

Week 56: Jess

I live in Burley, work in Keighley and am a librarian at a local FE college. I also run the Travelling Suitcase Library. I won't tweet about work, because I'm not allowed, but will probably be tweeting about the various events I go to, beer and the best places to drink in Leeds, telly, and books!

Week 55: Penny

I'm 36 years old, live in Headingley and teach Roman History at the University of Leeds. I moved to Leeds six years ago to take up my job at the University, and have really fallen for the city since. I love all the quirky and passionate things which go on here - the independent cinemas, arts scene, alternative scene, dances, cafes, restaurants, local activism and history events - and I love how Headingley manages to be a concentrated microcosm of the very best quirkiness and passion all by itself. I also feel like there's still a huge amount to discover here, and that's partly what I want to do in my week on the People of Leeds account - get to know 'my' Leeds better by tweeting about it, and hear about other people's Leedses (can that be a word?) as well.

 

My job means that the University is obviously very much at the centre of 'my' Leeds, so I'm hoping to provide a bit of an insight into my working life there. I won't talk about individual students, but I'll try to get across what University life is all about from the point of view of the staff. I'm also sure to have plenty to say about my academic subject, Roman history. You can expect me to report news stories about recent finds or research in my field, and talk about the similarities and differences between ancient and modern life. Out of work, I can be found out and about in Headingley, in town, or wherever interesting things are happening. Oh, and I have a camera on my phone, so can safely predict that there will be plenty of pictures of whatever I'm up to during my week as a Person of Leeds. :-)

 

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Week 54: Lizzie

I live in the northernmost part of Leeds - Otley (some even try to say it’s not Leeds – pah say I!). However, I grew up from 16 to 26 living in Hyde Park. I work in Leeds, my business is Leeds based and I love going out in Leeds!
From Monday to Wednesday, I work for the Parent Partnership Service. I support families who have children with Special Educational Needs, providing impartial support, advice and information with issues around education. This is something of a passion of mine because I am a parent of a child with disabilities.

I had my daughter at 18 years old, living in a homeless hostel for women run by the Salvation army in Bramley. I looked at her and I knew that I wanted to do better for her. At 5 months old, she got meningitis and I was told that she was going to die. She was in a coma for about a month, but luckily she came through it. Luckier still, she has no brain damage or hearing loss. She has had to have her legs broken and re-set, knees stabilised and hips operated on repeatedly since she was four. She’s brave and amazing. I’m a very proud mum of a 13 year old girl.

I also have a little boy, Ash who is 4. Because of him, I can now identify about 20 species of dinosaur and have whole conversations in Piratese (Pirates and Farmers are pretty much interchangeable). He’s small, boundlessly bouncy and does the best grinch brows this side of the Pennines.

My partner is Pete. Patient Pete we should call him. He is one of the very few bona fide geniuses (genii?) I’ve ever met. He has so many degrees/masters they are coming out of his ears, one of which he completed in 14 weeks, which was an experiment by M.I.T./Harvard to see if very smart people learn faster. Turns out, they do. He’s halfway through his PHD in computer sciences.
He works shifts, these are very bad for your health. We wanted to do something which one day could replace his shift allowance...

So, we own guestlistleeds.co.uk. We started it because there are so many brilliant places in Leeds, and we want to share them. Ok, yes, and we hope to make a few pence at the same time!

I have come to love doing guestlistleeds.co.uk more than I ever imagined. I love meeting new people, I love discovering awesome places and testing the food & drinks there. And, I love coming up with creative new ideas to help people and work in partnership with them!

I may rant, I hope I’ll make you laugh and I hope to introduce you to new things – I expect you to do the same! Challenge me – I love a good debate!

Week 53: Kirsty

Hello! I'm Kirsty, but if you're a regular follower of the account you'll know me better as ADMIN.

I'm the person who set up peopleofleeds, and this week we celebrate our FIRST BIRTHDAY! So il taking over the account as I was the first person to curate it. I'll be showing off some gems of Leeds, some of my favourite places, and some special peopleofleeds celebrations.

When I'm not adminning PoL, you can find me running events across the city, working for the council and drinking coffee.

Week 52: Isobel

Hi, I'm Isobel. I was born and bred in West Yorkshire and moved to the city of Leeds itself in 2011. I’m a 26 year old lover of Leeds and all it offers, who loves baking, reading, knitting, blogging, travelling, dancing, theatre-going and gallery attending. My mission is to keep banging on about how awesome Leeds is until people believe it, then make the most of it! In my spare time I do a bit of waitressing to pay those pesky bills.

I'm looking forward to tweeting, but feeling nervous thanks to all the fabulous people who have gone before! I imagine I'll tweet about Leeds events, interesting articles, books, feminism and my favourite places to go for a drink and some cake, because basically I think they are the most important things.