Game Changers

How can you overcome stereotypes, and get everyone swimming?Alice Dearing has enjoyed a highly decorated career, culminating at the Tokyo Olympics. She made history, becoming the first black woman to swim for Team GB at an Olympic Games in 2021.Alice started swimming at a young age, encouraged by her mum. She fell in love with the sport and rapid progress followed: success at county level, then regional, then national. She was junior World Champion in 2016 and took on the gruelling open water 10km at the Olympics four years later.Now, having retired from swimming, Alice is taking on an even bigger challenge. She was shocked when she discovered that, in 2020 in England, 95% of black adults and 80% of black children did not swim. Similarly, 93% of Asian adults and 78% of Asian children did not swim either.And so, Alice co-founded the Black Swimming Association (BSA). The aim was to get more people into pools, dispelling stereotypes which have been holding back black and Asian people from learning to swim. With help from The National Lottery, the BSA is now helping communities across the country – getting many people into the water for the first time. It’s been a huge success; Alice has seen firsthand how people are overcoming their fear of water and are discovering the pleasures of swimming. Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Alice. They compare Olympic experiences as National Lottery funded elite athletes and discuss Alice’s Game Changing work. Aimee discovers Alice’s incredible drive – to change the narrative around how black and Asian people are viewed in aquatics.We are also joined by broadcaster, Clare Balding, who reads a new poem celebrating the National Lottery’s Sports Game Changers.  And poet Robert Montgomery describes how meeting Alice inspired his work, which was displayed with great drama in sporting locations across the UK.Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode. Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can you transform peoples lives through running?Growing up in South Africa, parkrun founder - Paul Sinton Hewitt - used running as a way to unwind and challenge himself. But it was often a solitary experience. Later, as his career took him around the world, he realised what he wanted was a running community.And so, he dreamed up parkrun: to bring people together, to run, to chat, in a welcoming atmosphere – all at no cost.It’s been a sensation.  Each week at parks around the world, hundreds of thousands of people meet at the start line. And with a little help from The National Lottery, it’s now bigger than ever.Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Paul to talk about his visionary idea, and discovers not just Paul’s modesty, but his ambition – to make parkrun an even bigger success.We also have a special guest: broadcaster Clare Balding reads a new poem inspired by The National Lottery’s sporting Game Changers.  The poem has been written for display in several sporting locations across the UK. Artist and poet Robert Montgomery describes the challenge of floating the poem on the surface of a swimming pool, and the inspiration he has taken from Paul and all the Game Changers in Sport.Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode. Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can you reduce loneliness for older people?  That was the question Trevor Lyttleton asked himself in 1965. His solution was to bring together young volunteers with elderly people who had fallen off the radar, and get them chatting over a cup of tea. The monthly tea parties grew and grew. The charity started in London, with a small group of friends in Marylebone. By the time Trevor retired as chair in 2015 it was nationwide: 8000 volunteers were providing vital links to lonely pensioners at 600 tea parties every month.And with a little help from The National Lottery, it’s now reaching a more diverse community than ever before.Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Trevor to find out how Re-engage has changed people’s lives. On the way she discovers Trevor’s own remarkable career as a Grammy-nominated composer.We also pay a visit to St James’s Park in London, where an inspiring new artwork is revealed. Artist Luis Gomez de Teran has been commissioned to paint seven exceptional Community Game Changers - including Trevor. He describes how he was struck by Trevor’s incredible story, and how the Game Changers energized him to produce this uplifting artwork.Broadcaster and DJ Adele Roberts also joins the Game Changers as their portraits are revealed, in a park which has a strong personal resonance in her own life.Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode. Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you create a gym which is accessible to everyone? Many years ago, Game Changer Javeno McLean sat down in his mum’s kitchen in front of a blank sheet of paper. He sketched out his vision – a gym where the whole community, including the elderly and people with disabilities, could work up a sweat, and get fit.After an incredible amount of hard work, persistence, and a little help from The National Lottery, Javeno achieved his goal. J7 Health Centre in Manchester uses exercise as a tool to help communities find happiness, and improve quality of life. Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Javeno, to ask how he turned that pencil sketch into a reality, and discovers Javeno’s incredible optimism, empathy and good humour.And we pay a visit to London, where an inspiring new artwork is being created. In the serene oasis of St James Park, artist Luis Gomez de Teran has been commissioned to paint seven exceptional Game Changing individuals who have been transforming Communities over the last three decades including Javeno. Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode. Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.ukTRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know has been affected by suicide or needs to talk to someone, please get in contact with the Samaritans online https://www.samaritans.org/ or call them for free on their 24-hour helpline 116 123. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you inspire people to believe in a sustainable future? When our Game Changer - Sir Tim Smit – came across a disused clay quarry in Cornwall in the 1990s, he knew he’d found the answer. Sir Tim is the visionary co-founder of the Eden Project, which transformed sterile soil into a lush green landscape, and turned a forgotten quarry into a global destination for nature, culture and sustainability. The National Lottery was an original funder of the Eden Project, and continues to fund projects there to this day.  Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Sir Tim, to find out what it took to create this vision. She asks how he inspires people to believe in a better future, and encounters Sir Tim’s incredible drive and inspiring energy. And we pay a visit to historic Whitby Abbey, for the unveiling of a breathtaking new artwork. Sir Tony Robinson joins the Game Changers on the Yorkshire clifftops, to experience the work by David Popa, celebrating these exceptional Game Changing individuals who have been transforming different Heritage communities over the last three decades.  Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode.Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.