The GM Moving Podcast: Recent Episodes
Greater Manchester Moving
Sharing reflections, tips and stories from people leading, learning, connecting and moving in Greater Manchester as we aim to get 75% of people active or fairly active by 2025.
Get in touch: hello@gmmoving.co.uk (mailto:hello@gmmoving.co.uk)
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Welcome to the last episode of the Right to the Streets edition of the GM Moving podcast.
Throughout the whole of Right To The Streets initiative and across the last 16 episodes of the podcast, you’ve heard us say again and again that this is not the end. Far from it: it’s just the beginning, and, collectively, it feels like we've really started something.
In this episode, we explore the longer term changes people want to see and how this work can continue to influence wider change across whole systems, from communities, through to policy makers and national government.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
Art and creativity are key ingredients in the Right to the Streets initiative, but why does public art matter, and can it really shift the perception of a place?
In this episode, Eve is joined by Stretford Stride and OT Creative Space, two local organsations who worked closely with the community to co-design artisitc interventions that brought the streets of North Trafford to life.
The poem you hear is by Maya Chowdhury and Young Identity.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
Partnership working was the very backbone to the whole Right to the Streets initiative from the very start. Partnerships between cross sector and cross discipline organisations, groups and more informal social networks.
In this episode, we're going to explore the strength of working with, investing in, and growing local partnerships in a neighbourhood, and how these relationships are the key to inspiring and enabling community-led action.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
In Manchester, we talk a lot about doing things differently. In this episode, you'll get a sense of what that looks like as we talk about using people-powered performance to influence policy.
Join us as we explore the power of Legislative Theatre, one of the approaches that we took as part of the Right To The Streets project to speak directly to policy and decision-makers - the very people who could then influence changes, at a strategy level, that would help to create safer public spaces for everyone, with a focus on women and girls.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
As listeners to the GM Moving podcast, we think you will love the #IsThisOK Podcast.
Real change begins with open and honest conversations. Listen in on crucial conversations between men about gender-based violence. A diverse range of guests, including our host Eve Holt, share their opinions in this 4 part series, hosted by Nooruddean Choudry.
Visit their Linktree or watch on Youtube.
This Right To The Streets edition of the GM Moving podcast has played, and continues to play, a pivotal role in growing the Safer Streets movement, facilitating authentic conversations that not only helped to shape the project but ensured that their experiences, stories and ideas were heard by people much wider than the communities we worked in.
This is the power of podcasts.
In this episode, we're telling you why we decided to do a podcast for the project, what this looked like in practice, our process, the huge added value, learning, challenges and of course - what’s next.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
How can public campaigns disrupt the culture of street harassment and shift cultural norms?
In this episode, Eve is joined by DIVA Creative - the marketing agency who worked with GM Moving to develop the public 'No Place For It' campaign - to discuss catalysing behaviour change to make our streets, parks, and public spaces safer, more welcoming and more joyful for everyone, especially women and girls and gender diverse communities.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
In this episode of the Right to the Streets series of the GM Moving podcast, we explore different locally designed and locally led walking, wheeling and cycling activations, and how these support people to connect with one another and the places around them.
These locally-focussed initiatives increase levels of participation, strength of social networks, the sense of community and individual confidence - all of which contribute to women and girls’s feelings of safety on the streets and their freedom to travel around without fear.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
What is an active bystander? How do they disrupt harassment against women and girls? And how do we become one?
In the second episode of series four of The GM Moving Podcast, host Eve Holt is joined by Julie Tweedale from Freedom Personal Safety to talk about how they are tackling sexual harassment in Greater Manchester through active bystander training, and Nicole Zanchetti and Dave Green from Transport for Greater Manchester to hear how the training has informed them.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag @GMMoving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
In the first episode of series four of The GM Moving Podcast, host Eve Holt explores all things data, to include what counts as data, who gets to decide how it can be collected and how it can be used to inform local community action.
She speaks to colleagues at Open Data Manchester (ODM for short), one of the key delivery partners who steered and expertly managed the data-led approach to the initiation of the Right to the Streets movement.
ODM are on the podcast to give you the full lowdown of how they worked with people locally to gather experiential data and insight.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Get in touch on social media - tag GM Moving on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn - or email us info@gmmoving.co.uk.
We all have a role to play in making our streets and public spaces safer for women and girls.
In the fourth series of The GM Moving Podcast, we've got a second round of Right to the Streets episodes from North Trafford in Greater Manchester as we trailblaze a different approach to street harassment and gender-based violence in public spaces.
Join us on a joyful journey of discovery as this series shares how the Right to the Streets movement has grown and developed, difference it's making and all that we have learned along the way. You'll be hearing from lots of people and partners involved as they shift the dial from fear to freedom.
We hope you enjoy the series, please share your thoughts with us on social media (tag GM Moving) or via email: info@gmmoving.co.uk
This is the last episode of this current series of the Right To The Streets GM Moving podcast and we certainly couldn’t finish the series without exploring one of the biggest attractions in Trafford: sport.
The area is home to two of Greater Manchester’s biggest sporting venues, Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground and Lancashire Cricket Club, which have a combined seated capacity of about 96,000. With that huge throng of people taking to the streets of Old Trafford most weeks, we wanted to explore how sports events like these impact the feeling of safety amongst the women and girls who visit or live in the area.
This we ask how inclusive this sporting community is and how our current facilities, infrastructure, programmes, role models and cultural norms help and hinder women and girls' access and participation?
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
How do young people experience our streets and public spaces and what role can they can play in making places more welcoming and joyful for everyone?
In episode 7 of the Right to the Streets series of the GM Moving podcast, we are powerfully reminded of how far we still need to go to end, the normalisation of misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of prejudice, discrimination and harassment.
It leaves many young people feeling fearful and unsafe on our streets and hinder their freedom to be active. Hear from individuals working with young people or on youth projects in Trafford and across Greater Manchester about how the world is changing for young people.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
Manchester is known around the world for its sports, culture and music venues. Trafford is home to some of the biggest concert venues including Lancashire Cricket Ground, Victoria Warehouse and Old Trafford Football Ground, all of which are popular venues for international artists and gig-goers.
In episode 6 of the Right to the Streets series of the GM Moving podcast, we're joined by Trafford Councillor Jo Harding and Sacha Lord, Manchester's Night Time Economy Adviser and founder of The Warehouse Project and Parklife as we discuss how we can make our cultural and night time spaces safer and more welcoming for women and girls.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
What changes do we need to make to create the conditions, communication and cultural shifts that can better enable active lives for all in Greater Manchester?
Welcome to the Right to the Streets series of The GM Moving Podcast, where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
In episode 5, we're focusing on what it actually means to live an active life and what we are learning about what gets in the way. We will be heading to the GM Moving Conference to find out what are the key ingredients to creating the conditions for active lives from the people making this happen.
We are also joined by The Guardian's Editor for the North of England, Helen Pidd, who will be talking about how communications and messaging, locally and in the media, impact our perception of safety on our streets, and the challenge of crafting a public narrative that normalises active lives and everyday moving for all, when public demand pushes the press to tell stories which amplify the extremes.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
Welcome to episode 4 of series 3 of The GM Moving Podcast. This is our Right to the Streets series where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
In this episode, we're talking all things public health. We head back to Old Trafford to chat to Reverend Christine Aspinall and a women's community group at St John's Centre about relationship with their streets, parks and the physical environment and the difference this makes to their lives.
We're also joined by Eleanor Roaf, Director of Public Health at Trafford Council to delve into what we mean by a 'public health approach,' her ideas for leading happy and healthy lives, and why safer streets matter to her.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
More than two thirds of people in GM say they would walk and cycle more if they felt safer, which is especially true of women and girls.
Welcome to episode 2 of series 3 of The GM Moving Podcast. This is our Right to the Streets series where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
In this episode, we head to Old Trafford on a walkabout workshop with our project partners Open Data Manchester to hear from members of the community about their experiences of walking, wheeling and cycling in the local area.
We're also joined by Active Travel Commissioner, Dame Sarah Storey, and Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, Vernon Everitt, as we explore active travel (meaning all journeys that are walked, wheeled or cycled to include people traveling by wheelchair, scooter, pushchair, e-bike and other mobility aids) and the links between active travel and trips by public transport, as we seek to make journeys to and from bus, tram and train stops safer and more inviting for all.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
How do public spaces and streets play a role in supporting active lives for all? How do long-term planning and urban design, to the more immediate changes that local people can make to make the place feel welcoming and cared for, support safer streets?
Welcome to episode 2 of series 3 of The GM Moving Podcast. This is our Right to the Streets series where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
We're joined by Elli Cosgrove, Director of CIC and Research at our Right to the Streets partner Publica, Activity Alliance's Sarah Brown-Fraser and Beyond Empower's Ben Andrews as we discuss the need to design accessibility into our public spaces. We'll also find out what the council's Civic Quarter Action Plan has in store for the areas around Trafford Town Hall and Old Trafford Cricket Ground with our guest Elizabeth Lewis, Heritage Development Officer at Trafford Council.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
Welcome back to The GM Moving Podcast. This is our Right to the Streets series where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
In Episode 1 we're talking about crime and the community with Kate Green, Deputy Mayor for Greater Manchester, Jim Faulkner, a Superintendent with Greater Manchester Police, and Nazir Afzal, former Chief Prosecutor for the North West of England and then Chief Executive of the country's police and crime commissioners.
We'll also be hearing from Grace McCorkle, one of the co-founders of an organisation called Collaborative Women UK and Ruth Hannah, chair of a local community group called Gorgeous Gorse Hill.
Episode transcript available to download.
The Right To The Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note
Please note, your voicemail may be used in a future episode of the Right To The Streets podcast and by leaving us a message you give GreaterSport permission to do so.
The GM Moving Podcast is back with a bang for series 3 as we embark on our Right to the Streets project. Funded by the Home Office and supported by a network of local partners, Right to the Streets is working with people and communities in North Trafford to make our streets and public places safer for women and girls.
"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 series 2 and share their hopes and ambitions for the future.
Full transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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 Crab, CEO of Substance, and Sheffield University academic, Dr. Katie Shearn, as they discuss the work they're doing to support Greater Manchester Moving's measurement, evaluation, and learning.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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."
Eve Holt 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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
“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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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."
In this episode, 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.
"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.
The Local Pilot programme.
Transcript available here.
"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."
GM Moving podcast is back for series 2, and this time our host, Eve Holt, speaks to Locality Leads from across Greater Manchester to see how place based working is going in their area. In this first episode Eve speaks to Richard Davis-Boreham, Strategic Director at GreaterSport who leads on the Local Pilot programme for Greater Manchester.
Useful links
The Local Pilot programme - https://www.gmmoving.co.uk/commitments/in-place/local-pilot
Transcript available at www.gmmoving.co.uk/podcastseries2.