The Leeds Story Cycle

Book excerpt: It's 5th July 2014 and the world's biggest cycling race is about to depart from Leeds. 22 teams, 198 riders, 2,000 journalists and 4 million people are converging on this Yorkshire city. Among them are Gizmo the dog, with his owner; a woman carrying a tin full of memories; a refugee with a rose in their pocket; a student; a grandad and grandson; and X. For each of them, 5th July will turn out to be a life changing day. Created by community groups from across the city, The Leeds Story Cycle is what you get when you put a group of young people, asylum seekers, students, retired church folk, writers and recovering addicts in the same room and ask them to tell a story about their home town. Working with the groups, this unique collection of stories has been written by author, Chris Nickson; lyricist, Testament; poet and playwright, Rommi Smith; author, Daniel Ingram-Brown, poet, Jane Steele; playwright, Lorna Poustie; and theatre practitioners, Simon Brewis and Lynsey Jones.