Interview with Peter Duncan, 12 March 2026

00:00:01 Belle

Hello, I'm Belle from Discovery and it's the 12th of March 2026 and I'm here with Peter at the Discovery 60th anniversary event.

Hi Peter.

00:00:09 Peter

Hello.

00:00:10 Belle

Please, would you be able to start by telling me your connection with Discovery?

00:00:13 Peter

Okay, my name's Peter Duncan and I'm a social circus trainer. I use circus to teach stuff.

So, my connections with Discovery, I was a social worker here on their course in 1984-5 and was involved in bits of volunteering, but mostly from 1992 we set up a charity called Circus Eruption and we were, only a few of us, and we wanted to set up an inclusive circus.

So, every year we would come and recruit students from education, early years, social work and offer them a chance to work with us doing a circus. So, we would do the circus skills and they would engage and support young people in that process.

It was great and it was really powerful in building our confidence and competence and the reputation of the circus.

00:00:57 Belle

So are there any particular projects that you did with the circus?

00:01:01 Peter 

Well, the circus had an opportunity to build itself. 

We got to 50 teenagers with 20 volunteers regularly. It had all sorts of projects and we got some money from children in need and started to do a deaf circus, a vulnerably housed children's circus, children with impairments, all kinds of stuff.

So we were setting up lots of inclusive projects and the volunteers helped a lot with that. We did lots of fun day stuff, bits of inclusion around the campus, but mostly in a local school.

00:01:32 Belle

Have you noticed any changes during your time through working with Discovery?

00:01:36 Peter

Yeah, it's much more professional, much more coordinated, the communication is much better. It's got a website, certainly didn't have that years ago.

Yeah, so there's lots more projects.

I'm really pleased that it's still student-led, that it has lots of student trustees.

I think it's a unique organisation in that people come as volunteers and then they have that opportunity as project coordinators and then they have an opportunity as student trustees.

I think that that's an incredible journey that people can go on and those skills I think are as critical as anything you learn in your degree.

00:02:08 Belle

Is there any advice you'd give to students looking to volunteer?

00:02:12 Peter

Yeah, do it.

00:02:14 Belle

Why not?

00:02:14 Peter

Just do it.

I think you can get locked into the university world and studies and lectures and all of that.

Go outside and look at, look at what's happening in the communities around. Spread your wings outside of the tight university academic stuff.

I think that there's a lot of difficult stuff going on and if people are in trouble you should build a longer table, not a wall.

So you need to go out and do stuff.

00:02:38 Belle

Amazing.

And just to conclude the interview then, if you could describe Discovery with one word, what would you use?

00:02:45 Peter

One word?

I can go incredible vehicle.

That's 2 words, but I think that that's what it is. Okay.

00:02:51 Belle

Well, thank you so much.