Armley

Some citrus-y, some masculine, some feminine, a diverse range.

Fair to say, Chris, it has been a long journey from a housing estate in Armley in Leeds to building your own community interest company, Getting Clean.

So let's take us back to Chris as a young lad in school.

A bit on the edge of life, weren't you?

When we talk about ancient Britain, we often forget that it once teemed with huge creatures like a common hippopotamus.

The Armley hippo is one of those fascinating remnants, showing how warm that period was.

The specimen dates back to the Ipswichian, or last interglacial, roughly one hundred and thirty thousand years ago—a time when sea levels were up to nine meters higher than now.

That meant a different coastline and more wetlands across the island.

Its ecosystems have always adapted to shifting climates.

That resilience underpins how later societies settled and used the land.

The Armley hippo also shows the limits of fossil preservation in damp environments.

Hippopotamus bone can survive only with special conditions, so finding one here is quite exceptional.

So what experiences have you had that really stand out?

The one that I got most out of was Armley, at Leeds.

Right.

And, uh, we were in one of the big halls where they used to have all the equipment, and I was stood at one end, and I could hear a dragging sound going across, and I followed it all the way across as if a table was being dragged on a wooden floor.