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Verene and Alastair live in Glasgow. Verene is Alastair’s second wife. He has two children from his first marriage. He and Verene wanted to have a child together, but the process was complicated because Alastair had had a vasectomy 20-years before. With the use of IVF, Verene fell pregnant with a baby boy they named Ossian in 2006. He was stillborn on New Year’s Day 2007.

They wanted to share the conversation at this point because they'd not long returned from a visit to Alastair’s daughter, meeting Alastair’s first grandson for the first time. They didn’t know how it was going to go, but the hugeness of the event marked a profound turning point for Verene.

Verene was born in Marseille on 28th August 1971 and grew up in Algeria, Ivory Coast and the Congo where her dad was an adult educator. Alastair was born in Doncaster in 17th November 1955 and grew up on the Isle of Lewis – which explains his distinctive accent. His dad was a doctor and his mum was a nurse, so they were very much a part of the local community.

Faith has always been a big part of both Verene and Alastair’s lives, and they very much believe in ‘giving back’. They live in Govan in Glasgow and Verene works in helping communities to work collaboratively and to resolve conflict creatively. This has taken her from her doorstep in Govan to Indonesia, South Africa and more…

Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, academic and activist. He was involved with Scottish land reform, especially on Eigg, and helped to set up the Govan-based GalGael Trust, which is an organisation which teaches traditional skills like boat-building to those who are marginalised through joblessness, depression or addiction.

Alastair and Verene recorded this conversation in The Listening Project booth in St. Enoch's Square in Glasgow on June 19th, 2015.

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