The GM Moving Podcast - Series 2

Series 2 of The GM Moving Podcast looked at the Local Pilot and how place-based approach to behaviour change could get people moving more.

Overhead view of a group dance exercise class in a community centre

The second series of The GM Moving podcast focused on our place-based work (previously known as Local Pilot) and how it supports people to move more within their everyday lives. 

Host Eve Holt welcomed guests from each locality to hear how their place-based work has been going, what's worked, what's not and what they've learnt so far.

She also caught up with the four catalysts - those enabling functions which support the approach. 

The first episode of Series 2 was released on Thursday 11 August 2022.

You can listen to The GM Moving Podcast wherever you normally listen to podcasts (learn more about Series 1 here), or through using the links below.

Series 2 Trailer

Get a flavour of Series 2 of The GM Moving podcast and hear what you can expect from the next 17 episodes.

Further details please contact

Find out more:

Episode one: Greater Manchester

"I'd say we're the test and learn...when things go wrong we don't get told off for it, we are praised for it, as long as we learn or reflect or go back and try something different."

In this first episode of series 2 Eve speaks to Richard Davis-Boreham, Strategic Director at GreaterSport who leads on the Local Pilot programme for Greater Manchester to find out more about the Pilot and the work.

Full transcript of the episode can be found here.

Episode two: Bolton

"The power of the community was so successful that behaviour change happened instantly....We threw the rule book out of the window."

Host Eve Holt speaks to Tracy Lumer, Public Health specialist at Bolton Council, about the approach they've taken in Bolton and how the Local Pilot ways of working have gone beyond physical activity and even supported the Covid vaccination response.

Full transcript for the episode can be found here.

Episode three: Wigan

"For me it's the frustrations that Wigan was in a good place. We had the deal, we'd had all the networks, we had the steering group, everything was there."

Eve is joined at the Manchester Central Library by Chris Essex-Crosby, from Inspiring healthy lifestyles in Wigan, and Nicole McKeating-Jones, the GM Local Pilot Network Lead. Hear how everyone in Wigan is encouraged to play a role to design moving back into everyday life.

Full transcript for the episode can be found here.

Episode four: Rochdale

“We did some ladies only cycling sessions, we linked in with six different partners and it probably took us six months to get that up and running. Those ladies voices haven't been heard before and we really started to link in to the community and spoke to them... We've had 80 ladies take part in the last couple of months.”

Host Eve Holt speaks to Sarah Shard, Local Pilot Lead for Rochdale, about the approach they've taken in Rochdale, the learnings and what's next.

Full transcript of the episode can be found here.

Episode five: Salford

"We've talked about retrofitting to people's homes around energy efficiency, we've talked about retrofitting people's cars potentially around emissions, but it's almost getting to the point well actually we need to almost retrofit and make some of our roads and our places more accessible."

Host Eve caught up with Salford's Local Pilot Lead Pete alongside regular guest Nicole, one of her Greater Sport colleagues from the central GM Local Pilot team.

Full transcript of the episode can be found here.

Episode six: Manchester

"We didn't know if anyone would turn up and we had probably 25 plus ladies that came through the door. Many couldn't cycle, but they were just really eager to hear more and they wanted to learn to ride a bike. It was like a real thing they wanted to achieve."

In this episode, Angela Martin and Stacy Partridge from Manchester Active join Eve to discuss the great work that's going on locally to build relationships. Strategic Lead for the GM Local Pilot network, Jane Gardiner, also adds her insights.

Full transcript of the episode can be found here.

Episode seven: Stockport

"Sometimes it can quite easily slip through the net and people don't always see that journey of things that happened. So I certainly can’t, and wouldn't want to take the credit. It has been this partnership community approach, and hopefully we can continue with that ethos."

Here, we hear about the importance of going beyond community consultation to really listen to local people and communities as part of an ongoing conversation and relationship. Ross McGuigan and Stephen Pearson, local leads in Stockport, share their thoughts with Eve.

Full transcript available here. 

Episode eight: Oldham

"So often we hear everything just stops during Ramadan. But these ladies have gone on a journey whereby they really know how important one that social interaction, and also having that walk. And even though they were fasting, they've not had water for so many hours. They were still going out for a walk. I absolutely loved that."

I'm speaking to Claire Marshall from Oldham. And I'm delighted to be rejoined by Richard, one of my colleagues at Greater Sport who provides Exec Leadership for the Local Pilot network and place based work.

Full transcript available here. 

Episode nine: Trafford

"We're still learning about how to get to people and through all the noise of different things that challenges people's lives."

Eve is joined by Tom Haworth, Trafford Council, and Richard, GreaterSport, to talk about how they are making connections, building relationships, and creating energy for change to tackle gaps in people's activity levels across different socioeconomic groups in Trafford.

Full transcript available here.

Episode ten: Tameside

"We've got a great local resource that's been co-designed by people, but that relationship that's left in place now [...] is going to leave a bit of a legacy."

Eve is joined by Local Pilot lead Annette to discuss Tameside's borough-wide approach to physical activity and their particular focus on working with young people and families, people out of work, people in work but at risk of worklessness, and people aged 40 to 60 with, or at risk of, long term health conditions.

Full transcript available here.

Episode 11: Glossop 

"When you start off on a project that you think is targeted at that level of community or age group or cohort people, but then actually it spirals out and you get these wins [...] it's an added bonus."

In this episode, Eve talks to Helen, Glossop's Local Pilot lead, about how they are helping people out of work or at risk of becoming workless, and their plans for active travel.

Full transcript for the episode can be found here.

Episode 12: Bury

"It's okay to test and learn and fail. And if it fails, there's still massive learning that we can take from that [...] Let's take the learning, whether it's good or bad, as long as we're feeding that learning back into the process, we can discuss it as a group, and we can learn from that."

In Episode 12 of The GM Moving Podcast, Local Pilot lead Jackie shares her learning of what it takes to better engage people and communities in physical activity.

Full transcript for the episode can be found here.

Episode 13: Catalysts - Engagement

"I'm always amazed at what people can come up with with five hundred pounds. It is absolutely incredible and I've seen examples where people will tell you this has actually been life changing."

In episode 13 of The GM Moving Podcast, host Eve is joined by GM Moving's Engagement lead Kat to talk about the way that we engage and involve communities to co-design, co-produce, co-deliver, and ultimately own sustainable and realistic solutions that enable active lives for all.

Full transcript available here.

Episode 14: Catalysts - People and Leadership

"People don't necessarily fear change, they fear the loss associated with that change. So, if you're trying to work in a very different way, you can get resistance because it feels very counter-cultural to traditional ways of working. So just helping people to recognise that and give themselves a break and come up with some strategies to connect with people in different ways has been really helpful."

In episode 14 of The GM Moving Podcast, host Eve speaks to Claire, Strategic Lead for People, Leadership and Workforce at GreaterSport, about how she is supporting people across Greater Manchester to grow and develop so they can work to be the change they wish to see and deliver impactful change as leaders, connectors and enablers in the system.

Full transcript available here.

Episode 15: Catalysts - Monitoring and Evaluation

"We need to be able to become more comfortable with the uncertainty that there is [...] I think we can learn about these patterns. We can learn about some of the things that seem to produce really interesting, exciting, new things, but we can't predict what those things are going to be, but we can have more certainty that we can work in ways that are conducive to supporting population levels and change in physical activity levels, and importantly reducing inequalities in physical inactivity."

In episode 15 of The GM Moving Podcast, host Eve Holt is joined by GreaterSport's Strategic Lead for Evidence and Evaluation, Hazel Musgrove, Tim Crabbe, CEO of Substance, and Sheffield Hallam University academic, Dr. Katie Shearn, as they discuss the work they're doing to support Greater Manchester Moving's measurement, evaluation, and learning.

Full transcript available here.

Episode 16: Catalysts - Marketing and Communications

"People quite often get a bit nervous about telling stories and then they start and you discover how everybody has brilliant stories, everyone has some form of relationship to physical activity that is relatable to others. So just providing that space and that platform and that invite to share your story and know that that will resonate and that you can support others to then move a little bit more as well."

In the final episode of Season 2, host Eve is joined by Beth Sutcliffe (GreaterSport), Karen Hall (Stockport Council) and Nicky Hawkins (previously of The Frameworks Institute) to discuss how marketing and communications can speed up change across the whole system to enable more active lives.

Full transcript available here.

Bonus episode: How far we've come

"Ultimately, we know we've got a whole network of people who are massively influencing for this agenda across the whole great Manchester... We need everybody in Greater Manchester to be supporting people to move more, whether that's in their community and their job, in their school or wherever, and we can't say we've done it until then."

Hayley Lever, CEO of GreaterSport and GM Moving Exec Lead, and Justine Blomeley, Strategic Lead (Place) at Sport England, join Eve Holt in a special bonus episode of The GM Moving Podcast to discuss what they've learned from Season 2 and share their hopes and ambitions for the future.

Full transcript available here.