Growing up between Zimbabwe, France, and Greystones, Jimmy spent over a decade living behind a façade while silently struggling with severe distress, addiction, and psychiatric hospitalisations. He shares how substance abuse completely hijacked his life, the moment his perspective shifted from utter despair to safety, and how he finally found freedom and purpose.

Jimmy reflects on his mental health support app, Please, the profound impact of serving others, and his vision for community-led support in Greystones, including the idea of a dedicated "Community Bench".

Chapter Timings

• 00:00 – Content Warning & Welcome to Voices of Greystones
• 01:11 – Who is Jimmy Lewis? Moving from a Façade to Peace
• 02:12 – Growing Up: From Zimbabwe and France to Greystones
• 04:21 – Early Internal Struggles and Childhood Distress
• 08:00 – The Onset of Addiction and Losing Control
• 12:31 – The Impact on Personal Relationships and Mental Health
• 15:30 – Reaching the Turning Point: Entering a 12-Step Programme
• 19:35 – Finding Safety, Sobriety, and Living Free
• 22:05 – The Challenges of Rebuilding Life One Day at a Time
• 23:54 – What Recovery Teaches About Selfishness and Service
• 25:00 – The Person Jimmy is Today: Finding Joy in Everyday Life
• 27:34 – Creating the Please App to Help Others
• 31:24 – Community and Connection in Greystones
• 33:37 – Improving Mental Health Conversations: The "Community Bench" Concept
• 34:59 – Jimmy’s Message to Anyone Currently Struggling
• 38:23 – What a Good Life Looks Like Now

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Voices of Greystones, Terry sits down with Dave Robbie, whose family's story in Greystones stretches back around 70 years.

Dave remembers a very different Greystones: playing football on Church Road when cars were few and far between, spending summer days swimming at the beach, travelling to school by train and growing up in a community where doors were left open and people simply walked into one another's homes. 

His family became deeply woven into local life. His mother, Dorothy Robbie, produced the St Patrick's Players Christmas pantomime for more than 20 years, bringing generations of Greystones children together. Dave recalls the characters, the rehearsals, the Christmas traditions and even the time a famous singer appeared in the pantomime. 

We also talk rugby, including Dave's brother Johnny's international career and eventual move to South Africa, as well as Dave's siblings Janie and Peter and the creative legacy that ran through the Robbie family. 

But underneath all those stories is something much simpler.

People.

What they meant to one another.

What made Greystones feel like a village.

And what Dave hopes the town never loses as it continues to grow.

Towards the end, Dave shares a particularly touching memory of his mother and explains why, despite all the changes, he has never found another place that quite matched Greystones.

This is a conversation about memory, family, community and the places that become part of who we are.

🎙️ Voices of Greystones is produced by High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones.

Listen to the full series and find the video episodes here:

Voices of Greystones — High Tide Studios

Every stone has a story. What's yours?

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to Voices of Greystones

00:44 — The Greystones that was once a village

03:38 — Growing up by the sea

05:25 — School, trains and a different Greystones

09:24 — Why the Robbie family came to Greystones

12:30 — Open doors and an open community

14:36 — Dorothy Robbie enters the story

16:19 — The Christmas pantomimes that brought Greystones together

18:11 — The woman behind the pantomimes

20:59 — How Dorothy Robbie changed the community

22:32 — Christmas in the Robbie household

24:37 — Life behind the pantomime curtain

27:30 — Why the pantomimes meant so much

29:06 — The village becomes a town

33:29 — Rugby, Ireland and Johnny Robbie

37:31 — The Robbie family's creative legacy

39:23 — “Don't forget the village”

39:49 — Where people gathered

43:16 — The Ormond Cinema and old Greystones

45:14 — What changed as Greystones grew?

46:48 — What should Greystones never lose?

49:20 — What did the Robbie family give Greystones?

51:06 — The story Dave will never forget about his mum

54:19 — What would Dorothy think of Greystones today?

56:17 — What should future generations remember?

58:52 — Every stone has a story

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Voices of Greystones, Terry sits down with Maxine Gallagher, who moved from Berlin to Greystones with her husband and two children believing she was coming home.

What followed wasn't quite the homecoming she had imagined.

Maxine speaks openly about leaving a life she loved in Berlin, adjusting to a much smaller town, losing her job, the pressures of starting again, and the difficulty of finding her place and rebuilding a sense of community.

But gradually, something changed.

Not through one dramatic moment, but through small interactions — a conversation, a coffee, someone noticing her, a hug, joining a choir, basketball, swimming with the Ducks and simply continuing to turn up.

Those moments began to change how she saw Greystones, community and herself.

Along the way, Maxine talks about her family, creativity, writing, music and her growing desire to call herself an artist. And she reflects on something many people who have moved away from home — or moved somewhere new — may recognise:

Perhaps home isn't always where you came from. Perhaps it's where you eventually feel safe enough to become yourself.

The conversation finishes with Maxine performing her original song “Keep On Keeping On” — a beautiful ending to a conversation about persistence, connection and the small things people do for one another.

This is a conversation about home, belonging, community, identity, creativity and finding your people.

🎙️ Voices of Greystones is a community podcast from High Tide Studios, created to preserve the stories of the people who make this town what it is.

Listen on Spotify and other podcast platforms, or watch the full episode at: hightidestudios.ie/voices

We’re also delighted to have Greystones Wellness Hub as a community partner. The Hub plays an important role in bringing people and local initiatives together, and we’re pleased to help create another space for those stories and voices to be shared. It’s a simple collaboration built around community, conversation and creating something of value for Greystones.

Check them out: https://www.thewellnesshubireland.com/

Every Stone Has A Story! What's Your?

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to Voices of Greystones

01:18 — Life Before Greystones

02:40 — The Idea of Coming Home

04:14 — The Greystones She Imagined

05:34 — When Reality Didn't Match the Plan

07:44 — “What Have We Done?”

10:11 — The Small Things That Changed Everything

11:13 — Meet the Ducks

14:23 — Learning to Put Yourself Out There

17:01 — What Community Really Means

18:56 — Finding a Different Version of Herself

20:52 — “I've Always Secretly Wanted to Be a Singer”

23:01 — Family, Berlin and Finding Perspective

24:17 — Who Are We Supposed to Become?

25:33 — “I'm an Artist”

26:09 — Would You Make the Move Again?

27:09 — What Greystones Has Taught Me

28:43 — If You're New Here, Keep Turning Up

30:31 — What Does “Home” Mean?

31:53 — Maxine Performs “Keep On Keeping On”

35:49 — End of Episode

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first ever episode of Voices of Greystones, Terry sits down with Fatima Alvarado — originally from Venezuela, now a Greystones resident, mother and community builder.

Fatima shares the story of arriving in Ireland more than a decade ago, the unexpected path that brought her to Greystones, and the moment the town began to feel like home.

She talks openly about belonging, family, faith and the simple decision to create something for the people around her. What began with a few free outdoor wellness classes grew into the Greystones Wellness

Hub and, eventually, a wider vision for bringing people, businesses and community together.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: when we recognise what other people have to offer, something changes.

This is a conversation about finding home — and then deciding to help make that home better for others.

🎙️ Voices of Greystones is produced by High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, County Wicklow.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

hightidestudios.ie/voices

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to Voices of Greystones

01:09 — Growing Up in Venezuela

02:45 — The Dream of Somewhere Green

05:15 — Leaving Home

08:25 — Finding a New Life in Ireland

10:09 — Finding Greystones

14:22 — When Greystones Became Home

17:21 — The Idea That Started With a Few People

19:20 — Bringing People Together

21:06 — From Wellness to Community

22:22 — Building Something Bigger

25:23 — What Makes Greystones Special?

27:42 — Faith and Purpose

29:50 — Learning to Quiet the Mind

32:34 — Choosing to See the Good

34:55 — What I'd Tell My Younger Self

36:23 — What Ireland Gave Me

37:00 — A Vision for Greystones

40:17 — The Greystones Quick Fire

41:56 — A Final Thought

42:31 — Every Stone Has a Story

Voices of Greystones is a community podcast celebrating the people, memories and moments that make our remarkable coastal town unique.

Proudly produced at High Tide Studios in the heart of Greystones, every episode captures honest conversations that might otherwise only be shared around a table, over a coffee or on a seafront walk.

Have a story to share, or know someone whose voice deserves to be heard?

Take part in Voices of Greystones

https://hightidestudios.ie/voices

High Tide Studios

Professional podcasts • Vodcasts • Commercial • Voiceovers • Creative content

https://hightidestudios.ie

Every Stone Has a Story. What's Yours?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.