The Conveners Podcast

Today’s guest on the Conveners is a personal friend of mine and someone who has been involved with GM for some years before moving back to his original roots up in North Ayrshire in Scotland. The one and only Malcolm Mcphail. Today we can hear how the Council are taking a whole systems approach in a really pragmatic way to bring partners together across North Ayrshire to really push forward the in...

Today’s guest on the Conveners podcast is Adrian Leather. Adrian is CEO of Active Lancashire -  the Active Partnership for Lancashire and the Pennines -  and someone who’s influence reaches way beyond Lancashire or even the north! Adrian is highly intelligent with fingers in many pies, including being a NED in health organisations. Adrian is an advocate and practitioner of utilising physical activ...

Today our guest on the Conveners podcast is Sarah Le Brocq.  Sarah is a patient representative on the Royal College of Physicians Advisory Group on Weight & Health, a Novo Nordisk Disease Experience Expert Panel (DEEP) member, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Obesity Strategic Council, and a member of the Obesity Global Patient Advocacy (GOPA) working group. Sarah also...

Today I’m delighted to welcome Craig Blain from Move Consulting to the Conveners. I was particularly keen to get Craig on to the pod sooner rather than later for a couple of reasons as we will explain during the episode. Craig is leading what could genuinely be termed one of the most important projects in our sectors history and there is a 'call to action' from everyone who will listen to...

Today’s guest on the Conveners podcast is Izabella Natrins. Izabella is CEO of the UK and International Health Coaching Association (UKIHCA) and an international speaker, author as well as being a chef. Izabella is a real force of nature and is leading the march to grow the UKIHCA to develop it as the gold standard professional body for health coaching in the world and to spread the word that heal...

Somehow, I’ve not previously managed to meet our guest today on the Conveners podcast - Professor Rob Copeland  - despite hearing so much about his impressive work over the years - so I was delighted to finally meet him and even more happy that Elaine and I got to find out so much more about him, and his ground-breaking work.  So, professor Rob Copeland is our guest today, he is the Director of th...

Today’s guest on the Conveners is Karen Creavin.  Karen is CEO of the Active Well-being Society in Birmingham and also plays a significant part in the Sport England Place-based programmes.   It’s fair to say that there’s a lot of chat and focus on addressing inequalities across our sector but not that much evidence or examples of what is actually going on to do so.  The Active Wellbeing Society, ...

Well this is certainly an episode that I’ve been waiting for and I’m sure some of you have too!  I was delighted to get some precious time with Lisa Dodd Mayne - Sport England's Executive Director of Place.  This is a fascinating insight, not only to Sport England, but also Lisa‘s background and how she overcame adversity and disappointment very early on in her burgeoning career and the values...

Today on the Conveners we are delighted to be joined by Lisa Rickers. Lisa spent 20 years as an NHS nurse, involved in bariatric metabolic surgery (Lisa explains exactly what that is) and more latterly, is the Founder and CEO of Ultra-Biomics, a company that has a mission to improve the metabolic health of 1 billion adults. Lisa is also a coach that uses the Hintsa 'Circle of Life' model s...

Today on The Conveners, we're thrilled to meet a key figure in politics and sports. You might guess who it is, especially with the Olympics currently in the spotlight. We're in Sheffield, to talk to Richard Caborn. Thanks to Beth from the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine for hosting us to record this episode. Richard was pivotal in bringing the 2012 Olympics to London. As th...

Once again today I am joined by Liz Terry - health club management magazine editor and all-round industry Guru. Our guest today is Dr Tim Anstiss, who has been around the sector for many years, working on how leisure and the physical activity sector can work collaboratively with health. Tim is a qualified Doctor and has been coaching people for some time in what he calls integrated health and well...

My good friend Liz Terry, editor of Health Club Management magazine and industry expert, joins me to interview William Roberts, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Public Health. This insightful discussion reveals why William deserves a platform at our industry events. His contributions to public health, especially in prevention, are invaluable. We explore RSPH's involvement in workforce d...

Andy was humbled to be joined by the legend that is Liz Terry from Health Club Management magazine at the gorgeous Jubilee Hall venue in Covent Garden. Joined by a very impressive individual, Davina Deniszczyc, who is a GP, as well as being a clinical and charity lead for Nuffield Health. This discussion centres around incredible insights into Nuffield's mission and the powerful programs they...

John I really enjoyed this conversation with an amazing politician from Birmingham - Lisa Trickett. Lisa is a former chair of the Active Well-being society that is run by Karen Creavin and is often referenced by Martyn Allison as the very best example of how the physical activity sector can work effectively with communities to improve population health and address inequalities. So John and I were...

John and I were delighted to meet Dr Hussain Al Zubaidi – a TV Doctor, the Royal College of GPs physical activity champion, a very good triathlete, and the Parkrun health lead; the Swim England medical advisor and somehow still manages to fit in being a GP one day a week! In a fascinating and personal discussion, Hussain tells us he’s faced his own health challenges and how he himself used physica...

Today we meet Sarah Haden- Godwin from Active Gloucestershire - my hometown patch as it happens. Sarah works for the Active Partnership and has just been promoted to director of people and partnerships. Sarah is also a Churchill Fellowship Fellow and had the fortunate experience of studying how systems thinking was being utilised in Australia as part of her fellowship. Sarah wrote a fascinating pa...

A really fascinating discussion today with Waseem Zafar, a councillor and politician from Birmingham who is a very passionate Aston Villa fan and formerly a board member of the Active well-being society that is famous for how they engage with the community and make things happen at a very local level - addressing health inequalities and supporting those in the community who need it most to get act...

Today, I welcome Kirsty Rowlinson-Groves to the Conveners podcast. Previously, the GM Active prehab for Cancer lead and driving force behind its successful award winning delivery. Hear how Kirsty's heartbreaking and inspiring personal story drove her to want to push back at cancer and why her purpose is to help people every day in any way she can.  Now working in the voluntary sector with 10GM...

Well today John Oxley and I were blown away by Beth Brown the Operations Manager at the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine. Beth was also previously the Macmillan cancer program lead and involved in social prescribing as part of a charity as well as being part of GLL’s health programmes in the past. The National Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine in Sheffield’s aim is to improve...

Today, John Oxley and I welcome Zoe Merchant to the Conveners podcast, currently managing the lung cancer screening programme across Greater Manchester and a key driver of the GM Active GM cancer award winning prehab for cancer programme.  A fascinating insight into not only this programme from a perspective not heard before, but also a wider examination of Zoe's thoughts on how leisure and he...

Today John Oxley and I welcome Mark Tweedie. Currently the chief executive of Brimham's Active in Harrogate and often referred to by those in the know as the architect or God father of pivot to active well -being as a result of his work at Active Tameside. Mark outlines his journey to date through sports development initially, through to his ground breaking work with Active Tameside and how he...

Today I welcome the power behind the throne of GM Active Michelle Childs. Michelle is the health lead at Life Leisure in Stockport with John Oxley, as well as being the health lead for GM Active as she chairs our health subgroup. Michelle dispels a few myths today and tells the reality of what is happening across Greater Manchester in respect to working with health, and how she is working to under...

Today, John Oxley and I welcome Ken Masser from Miova, a new company that Ken set up in 2023. Ken also continues to lead the Together and Active Future, or TAF as it's known, the local pilot organisation in Lancashire Pennines. Formerly a consultant with KPMG and then the CEO of Rossendale Leisure up until last year, Ken has been heavily involved in the Sport England LGA, whole system place -b...

Hello! I am looking forward to you listening to my new podcast called The Conveners. Our first official episode will be launching on Tuesday 23rd of April 2024. I am excited for you to listen and join us on our journey.