The Happy Pod: Beers, braids and bonding

Summary

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Global News Podcast: The Happy Pod – "Beers, Braids and Bonding"

Date: March 21, 2026
Host: Holly Gibbs, BBC World Service

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Episode Overview

This uplifting episode of The Happy Pod explores stories of connection, community, and innovation from around the world. Key themes include progressive fatherhood and mental health with “Pints and Ponytails,” cutting-edge research that upcycles plastic waste into Parkinson’s medication, the triumphant return of rhinos to Uganda, fresh perspectives on aging well, and the life-affirming impact of a London coffee vendor. Through a blend of interviews and on-the-ground reporting, the episode highlights how small acts, new ideas, and attitudes can create ripples of positive change.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Pints and Ponytails: Braids, Beers, and Breaking Stereotypes

[01:14–08:14]

What is "Pints and Ponytails"?

• A pub-based gathering where dads learn to braid hair—typically considered a feminine skill—on mannequins while enjoying a pint.
• Founded by Matthew Lewis Carter and Lawrence Price, both of whom struggled with mental health when they became fathers.

Impact on Fatherhood and Community:

• The event quickly went viral; the concept spread worldwide, receiving messages from dads "from Mumbai to Sydney to LA to Guatemala" ([04:33], Matthew).
• Provides a safe space for men to discuss fatherhood challenges and mental health in a familiar, supportive setting.

Notable Quotes:

• “It gives dads a real opportunity to spend an extra 5, 10 minutes with their daughters... they might not remember the braiding, but they’ll remember the conversations.”
  — Matthew Lewis Carter ([01:14], [04:54])
• “There is a form of masculinity that is so confident within its own masculinity with these feminine traits... A man that is confident in his ability to have feminine traits and lean into that and teach those findings to his children.”
  — Matthew Lewis Carter ([07:33])
• “We wanted to make sure that we were providing a safe space for dads to get together and to learn a new skill that honours their daughters and in doing that, break old stereotypes.”
  — Lawrence Price ([04:01])
• A father's note: “My daughter always says my hands are too big to do hair, but I can’t wait to share the new skills I’ve learned tomorrow.”
  — Shared by Matthew Lewis Carter ([04:54])

Key Insight:

• The events symbolize a generational shift toward more involved and emotionally present fatherhood, breaking down gender stereotypes and strengthening family bonds.

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2. Turning Plastic Waste into Parkinson’s Drugs

[08:14–12:08]

The Innovation:

• University of Edinburgh researchers have devised a way to convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic—common in food packaging—into Levodopa, a key Parkinson’s medication.

How It Works:

• Engineered bacteria (E. coli) break down PET plastic and biologically convert it into the drug over 24 hours at room temperature, consuming less energy than traditional fossil-fuel based methods.

Implications:

• Tackles two major issues: plastic pollution and pharmaceutical sustainability.
• Potential to create a new “bio-upcycling” industry using waste for medical benefit.

Expert Input:

• “Plastic waste is just carbon... we can program microbes to do things with carbon... could we potentially design a strain of bacteria that could turn plastic waste into something... more than just another plastic bottle? And, yeah, we're really thrilled that we've been able to do it.”
  — Professor Stephen Wallace ([10:13])

Reaction:

• Dr. Becky Jones (Parkinson’s UK): “It’s really exciting to see any Parkinson’s research, but particularly new and innovative ways of creating the Levodopa drug... helping people live well with Parkinson’s for as long as possible.”
  ([11:25])

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3. Return of Rhinos to Uganda

[12:08–16:20]

Conservation Milestone:

• Southern white rhinos have been reintroduced into Kidepo National Park, Uganda, 43 years after local extinction due to poaching and political instability.

Restoration Effort:

• Eight rhinos were relocated from a private breeding ranch.
• Plan includes further introductions and significant community engagement, including sharing 20% of tourism revenues.

Local Voices:

• “It’s a great day, it’s a great season for Uganda... the communities are very excited... jobs, employment from local communities, and community development programs of their choice.”
  — Dr. James Misinguzi ([13:13], [14:08])

Global Perspective:

• “Uganda has the same level of attractions as Kenya... using the tourism as a development tool for humans to have a better life.”
  — Jeff Morgan, Global Conservation ([15:01])

Optimism for the Future:

• “Rhino recovery in Uganda is just one great story and we hope for many more... protect our current national parks, take care of what’s left, the last 10% of our forests and our wildlife species.”
  — Jeff Morgan ([15:44])

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4. "Getting Older Is Good for You": Research Challenges Aging Stereotypes

[20:18–23:23]

The Study:

• Yale research followed 11,000+ Americans over 65 for 12 years.
• 32% had measurable improvement in cognitive function; 28% improved physically (walking speed).

The Mind-Body Connection:

• Positive beliefs about aging correlated strongly with improved function.
• “Those with more positive beliefs about aging were significantly more likely to show improvements both in cognition and in walking speed.”
  — Graham Easton ([21:43])

Limitations and Advice:

• Genetics and lifestyle are most influential, but attitudes can positively “tweak around the edges.”
• “There is significant, if small, effect between the way you think about aging and your health.”
  — Graham Easton ([21:43])

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5. The Story of a Mysterious Moroccan Mineral

[23:23–26:24]

A Geologist's Adventure:

• Anna Grayson bought a blue mineral in Morocco over 50 years ago. Years of investigation revealed it as a new mineral—Eronite—now displayed at the UK’s Natural History Museum.

Memorable Moment:

• “For some reason it just captured the public imagination... the sense of adventure, the romance of Morocco... also the fact that a woman had done it.”
  — Anna Grayson ([25:09], [26:24])

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6. London Coffee Vendor Builds Community

[26:24–30:34]

The Heart of Crane Park:

• Dieko Yari, an Iranian immigrant, set up a coffee stall in Crane Park, London. He’s become a beloved community figure—saving lives, providing comfort, and building bonds among locals.

Community Testimonies:

• “Everybody gathers here, everybody chats now, everybody loves him. You just realize this man is just like a little angel.”
  — Park Visitor ([27:06])
• “If we lost this caravan for any reason, I’d be absolutely devastated.”
  — Park Visitor ([28:50])
• “I can't believe it sometimes... sometimes I think, okay, I'm living in a little bit heaven... it’s lovely.”
  — Dieko Yari ([29:52])
• After recovering from an assault and theft, the community raised more than £1,000 for him in 24 hours.

Lasting Message:

• “We care about each other and that’s the point... it’s love, really, it’s love.”
  — Dieko Yari ([30:05], [30:06])

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Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “It’s traditionally a feminine task that dads want to step up and get involved with. In doing so, it then deepens the conversation that they can have with their daughter.”
  — Matthew Lewis Carter ([02:59])
• “The communities are very excited. The communities are very, very happy to see that this species is coming back 43 years down the road...”
  — Dr. James Misinguzi ([14:08])
• “...32% had a measurable improvement in cognitive function and 28% had an improvement in their physical function.”
  — Graham Easton ([20:56])
• “It’s community.” “Yes.” “Love.” “It’s love, really, it’s love.”
  — Park Visitors and Dieko Yari ([30:04–06])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Pints and Ponytails: [01:14–08:14]
• Plastic to Parkinson’s Drug: [08:14–12:08]
• Rhinos Return to Uganda: [12:08–16:20]
• Research on Aging: [20:18–23:23]
• Moroccan Mineral Mystery: [23:23–26:24]
• Coffee Stall Community: [26:24–30:34]

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Conclusion

This episode offers a heartening tour of global stories highlighting how empathy, curiosity, scientific ingenuity, and a little local initiative can enrich lives and communities. Whether it’s reshaping fatherhood, turning trash to medicine, restoring species, redefining aging, or serving coffee with heart, each story weaves a narrative of hope and human connection.

Transcript

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[Holly Gibbs]

this is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

it gives dads a real opportunity to spend an extra 5, 10 minutes with their daughters. I'm not saying every single day and in doing so, we're hoping that the conversations that they have along the way, they might not remember the braiding, but they'll remember the conversations the dads behind

[Holly Gibbs]

the viral sensation Pints and Ponytails how new research has found a way to convert a common plastic into a drug for Parkinson's disease.

[Professor Stephen Wallace]

When you think about plastic, people tend to think of it as this, you know, waste or end of life material that doesn't have any value or any sort of potential potential for further use. But plastic waste is just carbon.

[Holly Gibbs]

Plus the return of rhinos to Uganda.

[Dr. James Misinguzi]

It's a great day. It's a great season for Uganda. The communities are very excited to see that this species is coming back 43

[Holly Gibbs]

years down the road and why getting old is actually good for you. We start with a dad's night out with a twist.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

Welcome to Pints and Ponytails.

[Holly Gibbs]

That's Pints and Ponytails, a meeting of dads at the pub learning how to do hair on mannequins. The sessions, however, are much more than just buns and braids. The whole thing was the brainchild of Matthew Lewis Carter and Lawrence Price, who both experienced mental health struggles in the early days of becoming a dad and decided to set up their own podcast and host events such as Pints and Ponytails. When they posted the footage of the event on social media, it encouraged millions of people around the world to get in touch and try it for themselves. I spoke to Matthew and Lawrence.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

It's easy to watch a video of pints and ponytails and just see dads learning to braid their daughter's hair. But there's so much more to it than that. It's traditionally a feminine task that dads want to step up and get involved with. In doing so, it then deepens the conversation that they can have with their daughter. We put up a first event, we got 10 friends together and the Internet just loved it. And we thought, okay, let's, let's do this again, but let's make it bigger. We had 35 dads turn up at the second event. But these dads turned up fully present, fully wanting to learn a skill to establish a deeper connection with their girls. And what we found is there was a nervous energy in the room when the dads first come in. It's quite a strange thing to see when you come into a room full of like 35 mannequins and pints just strapped to the table. It's like the start of a horror film. But after that, the nervous energy slowly started to dissipate.

[Lawrence Price]

We wanted to make sure that we were providing a safe space for dads to get together and to learn a new skill that honors their daughters and in doing that, break old stereotypes. We are getting hundreds of men, not just in the UK but globally get in touch because they actively want to be a part of this new progressive approach to fatherhood. So we feel at the moment we've kind of stumbled into something which is a huge honour but a huge responsibility to help facilitate the safe spaces for all those dads to step up.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

We've had messages from Mumbai to Sydney to LA to Guatemala. Like, it's really just like we've had voice notes from dads from. I was listening to one from Ecuador before we jumped on, on this. So I think there's a real thirst for the dads.

[Holly Gibbs]

What's the feedback been from fathers who attend these sessions?

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

We got a lot of the dads to write a post it note and one of them just said, my daughter always says my hands are too big to do hair, but I can't wait to share the new skills I've learned tomorrow. And there were so many just beautiful messages like that. It really speaks kudos to these dad who turned up to this event. It gives dads a real opportunity to spend an extra 5, 10 minutes with their daughters. I'm not saying every single day. And in doing. So we're hoping that the conversations that they have along the way, look, they might not remember the braiding, but they'll remember the conversations. And I think that's what our goal is here.

[Lawrence Price]

Yeah. It's through our actions that the next generation learn. And that's what's been so encouraging for us to see all these dads stepping up and wanting to break old stereotypes. And for us, that's just hugely optimistic about the next generation and the hands they're in.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

Yeah. I think what we also have, we've had a lot of messages from girls and their memories of their dads doing their hair.

[Holly Gibbs]

I can relate, no offense to my dad, but when he did my hair, it was awful, bless him. But he would have. He would have benefited from pints of ponytails.

[Professor Stephen Wallace]

Yeah.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

And you know what, it's just like the braiding, the hairstyles, they don't have to be perfect. It's so easy to look at the event and think, oh, do you know, we need to be doing lots of different hairstyles. But if we just give them a few of the basic skills, and maybe if mum isn't there one day, or if mum isn't up for the task in the morning, the dads can go, look, it's okay. I've got this today.

[Holly Gibbs]

Apart from learning how to do a ponytail, why is it important that things like this exist?

[Lawrence Price]

There are so many layers to this, so many reasons. Something we haven't touched upon yet as well is the symbolism of dads stepping into the space that traditionally, stereotypically, has been considered a role of the mother in terms of preparing and styling and doing the daughter's hair. And the symbolism of dad stepping into that space to take that on themselves really does thread into dads stepping up to start to take and pick up more of the invisible load at home as well. So it might start with doing the hair for their daughters, but it will then go on to, you know, many other areas as well. It's a safe space for dads to share their mental health journey since becoming fathers, specifically with other men in the same position as them in a pub environment that they're familiar with. And it is also, crucially, a skill that, again, opens up another door in which dads can connect on a deeper level with their daughters. And 10 minutes a day, here or there, over many weeks, months, and years. I mean, that can completely. That can deepen the relationship with a father and a daughter to a level which they never might have had previously.

[Matthew Lewis Carter]

There is a generation of boys now who are coming into the world and they're already being labeled toxic, which, you know, we think is so far from the truth. I don't think boys come into this world being toxic. They come with love and kindness. But I really hope that we can stand there and just, you know, wave a flag and say, there is a group of dads out there. There is a form of masculinity that is so confident within its own masculinity with these feminine traits. And I think that is the sign of a real man, a man that is confident in his ability to have feminine traits and lean into that and teach those findings to his children.

[Holly Gibbs]

Matthew Lewis Carter and Lawrence Price. Next to an unexpected solution that could help in the fight against both plastic pollution and Parkinson's disease. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have found a way to convert a common plastic found in food and drink packaging into a drug, which is regarded as the best way of managing the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The drug already exists, but this method could have a big impact on the way medicine is made in the future. I caught up with our reporter Lucy Acheson.

[Lucy Acheson]

So the drug is called Levodopa and it's the main treatment for Parkinson's disease. It's traditionally made using fossil fuel derived chemicals and obviously that has a huge environmental impact. What the drug does is it essentially helps restore dopamine levels in the brain and that improves the symptoms of Parkinson's, like tremors, stiffness and slow movement. Dopamine is a chemical which is essential for controlling movement. So if you're able to restore it in the brain, then you can really improve the symptoms that people experience.

[Holly Gibbs]

And how did the researchers find out that this was possible?

[Lucy Acheson]

This uses a new approach which is called engineering biology. It's part of a wider move towards more sustainable and lower energy drug production. The researchers built on their earlier work, which included producing paracetamol from plastic using similar methods. And so what they did was they genetically engineered E. Coli bacteria and they reprogrammed it to help make useful compounds. How this works in practice is essentially the plastic. And specifically here we're talking about polyethylene terephthalate, which is used in food and drink packaging. It's broken down into its chemical blocks and then the bacteria is used to convert those molecules into Levodopa through a series of biological reactions. The whole process takes around 24 hours and it happens at room temperature, so it uses far less energy than typical production methods. Professor Stephen Wallace is from the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological sciences who led the research.

[Professor Stephen Wallace]

I think when you think about plastic, people tend to think of it as this waste or end of life material that doesn't have any value or any sort of potential for further use. But plastic waste is just carbon. And we work in my lab in an area of biotechnology called engineering biology, where we can program microbe microbes to do things with carbon. So when we started this project a couple of years ago, we were like, great, could we potentially design a strain of bacteria that could turn plastic waste into something, you know, a bit more than just another plastic bottle or a discarded piece of material? And, yeah, we're really thrilled that we've been able to do it.

[Holly Gibbs]

Wow. So what's the reaction been?

[Lucy Acheson]

Well, it's been extremely positive on two fronts. So environmentally, around 50 million tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate plastic is produced year much of it becomes waste and it also takes hundreds of years to break down. So this method suggests that plastic waste could actually be repurposed into something valuable, tackling pollution medically. It also offers a more sustainable way to produce essential drugs and it reduces our reliance on fossil fuels. Dr. Becky Jones is from the charity Parkinson's UK.

[Dr. Becky Jones]

It's really exciting to see any Parkinson's research, but particularly new and innovative ways of creating the Levodopa drug. Levodopa is needed and used by many people to manage their symptoms. So it's really exciting to see new and innovative ways of using that drug that's helping people live well with Parkinson's for as long as possible.

[Holly Gibbs]

So, Lucy, what's next for the drug?

[Lucy Acheson]

Professor Wallace and his team are now working with their industry partners to see if this process can be scaled up commercially. If that's successful, it could mean that plastic waste becomes a raw material for medicines and a new industry could emerge, which is bio Upcyc.

[Holly Gibbs]

Lucy Acheson to Uganda now, and a conservation milestone. For the first time in more than 40 years, rhinos have returned to the country's Kidepo National Park, a vast expanse of savannah in the remote northeast near the border with South Sudan. Tom Rolls has more details.

[Tom Rolls]

The last rhino in Kdepo is thought to have been killed back in 1983, making the species extinct in the wild. In Uganda, poachers, wanting their meat and horns, had exploited political instability to wipe out around 700 of the animals once found in the country's national parks. But now two southern white rhinos have arrived at a new protected sanctuary, the first of eight intended to help re establish a thriving population in the Park. They were moved there from a privately owned ranch which has been breeding rhinos from four it imported from Kenya in 2005. Dr. James Misinguzi is the executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. He says it marks the beginning of a new rhino story for Kadepo.

[Dr. James Misinguzi]

It's a great day, it's a great season for Uganda that a species that got wiped out 43 years ago in 1983 has been introduced back into the country. We started with a seed population of six rhinos and we've been able to multiply them 61, thereby having a founder population. Now we have made a decision to introduce them into the wild. So we are taking the Southern White Rhino, eight of them, into Chidepo Valley National Park. We have also started a program to take 20 of them into Ajay Wildlife Reserve.

[Tom Rolls]

The rhinos will be monitored by veterinary teams to ensure they adapt to their new home. And Dr. Muzunguzi says they've also taken steps to protect them from poachers, using rangers and remote tracking and getting the support of local people.

[Dr. James Misinguzi]

We have sat down with the communities to show them the benefits that are going to our crew as a result of the introduction of these animals. And they have agreed to work with us to protect them. The communities are very excited. The communities are very, very happy to see that this species is coming back 43 years down the road because there are so many benefits that are going to accrue. First of all, jobs. Because as the Uganda government, we have a policy that once we have species introduced and the national park set up and boosted, then we have employment from local communities. We also give back 20% of the revenues collected to the communities to be able to carry out community development programs of their choice.

[Tom Rolls]

Jeff Morgan is the founder of Global Conservation, which has been helping to ensure the rhinos will be safe at Kdepo. He says people will also benefit from it becoming a safari destination.

[Jeff Morgan]

Uganda has the same level of attractions as Kenya. It just has not been, you know, developed as well. And so really using the tourism as a development tool for humans to have a better life that's exciting for me is to see, you know, I can become a guide. I can open my own lodge, I can have a taxi, I can have a restaurant. All the people around the national park can benefit from that park's protection.

[Tom Rolls]

This reintroduction is part of Uganda's National Rhino Conservation Strategy, which aims to restore the animals to all the areas they used to inhabit. And it's hoped they will also help other species by restoring natural ecosystems. Geoff Morgan says he's optimistic.

[Jeff Morgan]

My dream is to have them in all the parks soon in Uganda and throughout Africa. What it brings to me is it shows that the places are being protected again so that we can introduce key species like this. Rhino recovery in Uganda is just one great story and we hope for many more. I think what we have to do as a species, our human species, is protect our current national parks, take care of what's Left, the last 10% of our forests and our wildlife species.

[Holly Gibbs]

Tom Rolls reporting. Coming up in this podcast, case closed.

[Anna Grayson]

Well, I looked in every book I could. I asked people and it wasn't until 15 years later I was in the Natural History Museum and live outside broadcast brought this mineral in and they said, we can't identify it. They then looked at me, said, is it a fake? Could it be a fake?

[Holly Gibbs]

How one woman's mysterious rock is now on display in a museum.

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[Holly Gibbs]

Welcome back to the Happy Pod People often joke that getting older means being over the hill or past it, but others prefer to think of themselves as improving with age like a fine wine. Well, new research from Yale University suggests that for some that's actually true. It found that around a third of people over the age of 65 showed improvements in things like memory and problem solving, while more than a quarter had better physical abilities as they got older. The BBC's Laura Foster discussed the findings with Graham Easton, a clinical communications professor at Queen Mary University in London.

[Graham Easton]

It was from a large national study in the US of 11,000 participants over 65 and they followed them for 12 years and they looked specifically at two things. One was their cognitive function using things like memory tests and math skills, and the other was the physical function and what they used to measure that was their walking speed, which is quite a good marker that we know in elderly people, things like disability or hospitalization and stuff. They then discovered that when they looked at the individual trajectories of these people over 12 years, they found that 32% had a measurable improvement in cognitive function and 28% had an improvement in their physical function.

[Holly Gibbs]

So scientists have noticed these improvements.

[Anna Grayson]

Why do they think this happened?

[Graham Easton]

Well, what was really interesting is that they also measured the participants beliefs or thoughts or attitudes to ageing using a questionnaire. And they found that those with more positive beliefs about aging were significantly more likely to show improvements both in cognition and in walking speed. And common attitudes can be absorbed from a very young age and become quite strong self talk that can then influence biological and health issues. There've been quite a few studies that suggest there is a significant, if small, effect between the way you think about aging and your health.

[Lucy Acheson]

And are people's attitudes shaping their capabilities or are people's capabilities shaping their attitudes, do you think?

[Graham Easton]

Because this is an observational study, we can't prove a link Cause and effect the researchers did go to quite a lot of trouble to reduce the chance that it was just down to better functioning people feeling more positive about aging. So at the beginning, they checked their baseline health and functioning, for example, and adjusted for other factors too. And even having done that, they found that still this positivity predicted later improvements in function.

[Holly Gibbs]

But not everyone improved with age, sadly.

[Anna Grayson]

What could one do in order to

[Holly Gibbs]

help ensure they age well?

[Graham Easton]

Our genetics are probably the most important factor and then environmental factors and how we look after ourselves, what we eat and so on. Particularly good evidence around the Mediterranean diet and things like positive attitude are probably more about tweaking around the edges of those things.

[Holly Gibbs]

Graham Easton. Next, the story of how a mysterious and unidentified mineral from Morocco ended up in the British National History Museum. Anna Grayson, a trained geologist, bought the rock from a roadside store whilst on holiday in the North African country more than 50 years ago. After years of arguments and even claims that it could be fake, it has finally been identified as an Eronite. Anna Grayson spoke to the BBC's Richard Hamilton.

[Anna Grayson]

I was pregnant and I was feeling a bit unwell, so I said, could we stop the car? We did buy one of these wonderful mineral stalls they had there. It was mainly full of sparkly stuff, but there was this one blue thing, this big blue chunk, and I went to have a look at it and I knew that I'd seen some tiny fragments of it before I went to look at it and I asked the chap and I said, what is it? And he said, c' est la pix, madame, meaning it's lapis lazuli. I could see immediately it wasn't just the wrong shade of blue, this is more of a Prussian blue. Lapis is a real ultramarine rich blue. So I thought, well, ask a few more questions. Where does it come from? Dans les matagne, madame, Just dans les Montaigne. I wasn't going to get any more information in the mountains in the mountains? Yes, in the mountains. But what was interesting was structures on it because it shines, it's got faces as if it's got a sort of triangular pyramidal look about it. And this structure is called slickensides. And it's formed in faults, geological faults. So in a way this is a fossil earthquake, which makes me think it's come from the Atlas and the main faulted region. I thought, I'm going to buy it anyway. So I did some really hard bargaining. I quite like bargaining in Morocco. And after some time we got the price right.

[Graham Easton]

So how did you start to then try and find out exactly what it was?

[Anna Grayson]

Well, I looked in every book I could. I asked people, I took it down to the Camborne School of Mines and I in Cornwall, and they looked at it and from the color they thought, oh, that looks like copper. And that turned out to be incorrect. And it wasn't until 15 years later I was in the Natural History Museum and live outside broadcast brought this mineral in. And they said, we can't identify it. They then looked at me, said, is it a fake? Could it be a fake? Because a lot of fakes did come out of Morocco at that time. I said, I'm sure it's not a fake because of the structures on it. And they said, can we keep it for a bit? So they had it for a year and they found that it had properties completely new to science. And it didn't really fall into one of the established mineral categories because it looks like a mineral called an amphibole, but a zeolite, which is usually a lighter color than this, has tiny channels running through the crystals, empty channels that water molecules can get down, but not much else. So it was completely unique. So in 1996 it was decided to announce to the world that it was a brand new mineral. And for some reason it just captured the public imagination. I think the sense of adventure, the romance of Morocco. I think also the fact that a woman had done it. You don't expect women to do that. You didn't then, anyway.

[Holly Gibbs]

Anna Grayson speaking to Richard Hamilton. For many of us, coffee is an essential part of our mornings. But the customers of one coffee stall in a park here in London and say they get more than just a beverage from its owner. Dieko Yari, who came to the UK from Iran nine years ago, has been running his store for a year and has already made a huge difference to the local community. Jane McCubbin went along to find out more. We meet a million people in our lives every day.

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

But some, some, some you only meet

[Anna Grayson]

meet once in a lifetime.

[Park Visitor 1]

He's a really good guy. You couldn't ask for a better person.

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

Everybody gathers here, everybody chats now everybody loves him. You just realize that this man is just like a little angel. He's so kind. And Dieko is the once in a lifetime.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

A year ago, he opened a coffee cart in London's Crane park and quietly, gently, started to change the lives of those he met. And they in turn changed his.

[Park Visitor 2]

Nice to see you.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Chat to people here and everyone has a die echo story. You saved Brian from the river.

[Park Visitor 1]

Well, Ethel had her eye taken out, put her foot down and disappeared in the water. I jumped in after her. Then Diego stripped down to his underpants and then he got his arms around me legs and pushed me up and two blokes pulled me up in my arms. Fantastic guy. Yes. Does everything for you.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He saved Peter from grief.

[Park Visitor 3]

My wife used to come here. She was very disabled and was quite ill. She adopted Diego as a son because his family were in Iran. She called him a son, so he started calling me Dad. I just met so many people here. Dog walkers are brilliant. Sorry, I'm getting a bit emotional.

[Park Visitor 2]

Yes, this is Andrea. It was like my mom, you know, all the time, give me advice, you know, sometimes I'm not charging the people. Say, no, you need to charge people, you know.

[Anna Grayson]

She was looking out for you.

[Park Visitor 2]

Yeah, it's looking after for me. And she was very nice. I really miss her.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

He was a pallbearer at Andrea's funeral. And a birthday card from Peter to Diaco reads, son, I am proud to be your stepfather.

[Park Visitor 3]

Every time he says, oh, dad, how are you?

[Park Visitor 2]

You know, because everyone is a specialist.

[Park Visitor 3]

If we lost this caravan for any reason, I'd be absolutely devastated.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Management of the land here has recently changed hands and Diaco fears the future of the coffee cart is uncertain.

[Anna Grayson]

We cannot lose him.

[Park Visitor 2]

He's so good.

[Anna Grayson]

Is everybody worried about that? Everybody is worried about it.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The local authority says they're keen to see him stay and his new friends say they'll do all they can to make that happen. They've already shown him amazing support.

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

In February, it was his birthday.

[Park Visitor 2]

How are you?

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

Sadly, that night, leaving the park, he was assaulted and they took his takings. So I set up a crowdfunder and within about 24 hours, I think we had over a thousand pounds.

[Park Visitor 2]

It was a bad experience, but I'm so sorry. No worries. Yeah. Bye now. Thank you so much, my love. Have a lovely day.

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

He can now see his value and his worth. And I think that's so important to a human being.

[Park Visitor 2]

Harry, come here.

[Narrator (Jane McCubbin)]

Because he is so important to us all, you know, this is amazing, you

[Park Visitor 2]

know, I can't believe it sometimes, you know, say, wow, like, what a lovely community, you know, and this is lovely for me. Sometimes I think, okay, I'm living in a little bit heaven, you know, hidden place. It's lovely.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It's community.

[Park Visitor 2]

Yes.

[Anna Grayson]

Love.

[Park Visitor 2]

It's love, really, it's love.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

You must miss your family dreadfully. But this feels like Pamela, those people

[Park Visitor 2]

there, you know, they're sitting there. It's part of my family. I have a lot of mom and dad here, you know, and everyone talking to me, you know, everyone. I'm sad, you know, they're coming and give me a hug, you know, they give me that confidence to be strong. It's going to be a good things happen, you know, just need a little bit of time. We care about each other and that's the point. I don't know, how can I say? Appreciate that.

[Holly Gibbs]

Jane McCubbin reporting. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. We'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. this edition was produced by Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Holly Gibbs. Until next time, goodbye.

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