Meet the Mancunian - 5.1 - Talking supporting the blind with John Galloway

Meet the Mancunian – 5.1- John Galloway-Transcript

Intro

Welcome to the fifth season of the Meet the Macunian podcast, social impact stories from Manchester. I'm Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, your friendly host. It's a privilege and a pleasure for me to interview some of the most inspiring people working in Manchester's social impact sector and feature them on this podcast.

My guests are leaders and worker bees associated as employees, trustees, and volunteers with social enterprises, non-profits, and community groups. They share their life stories and passions with you, dear listener. My aim through this podcast is to inspire you and share a bit of good news.

My guest tackled serious concerns in Manchester but many of these are also universal themes resonating in many parts of the globe. All my guests talk about the power of collaboration and how together we are stronger. They, of course, expand on their pride in Manchester and Mancunians as well.

I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Google, or any of your favourite podcasting platforms. You can also listen to the podcast episodes and read the transcripts on my website www.meetthemancunian.co.uk.

If you are a new listener, you can log on to www.meetthemancunian.co uk to listen to the first four seasons of the podcast, and read more about my podcasting story. If you are a returning listener, welcome back. Thank you for your support.

Welcome to the first episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, season five. Passionate about supporting people of all abilities, we hear from John Galloway, co-founder, Speed of Sight charity in this episode.

Episode 1

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm delighted to introduce my guest, John Galloway, co-founder, Speed of Sight charity. Thank you so much, John, for joining me.

John Galloway: You're very welcome. Thank you for the very kind invitation.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm really looking forward to hearing all about the good work you're doing. But first perhaps tell us about your passion for helping the visually challenged or the blind. How did that start?

John Galloway: I suppose that started. It's a good question. A long time ago, back in the early noughties, so in the year 2000, I happened to have the good fortune of meeting a gentleman who was to become my business bank manager, who at the same time himself was blind and his personal story intrigued me. Very much so. He had just about achieved, believe it or not, a Guinness World record for riding a motorcycle at almost a hundred miles per hour.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Wow, amazing.

John Galloway: So that, that caught my attention. And I got to know Michael. A lot better. I understood what he had done was the impossible made possible. A blind man riding a motorbike almost a hundred miles an hour, you've got to hold your hands up. But I was soon to find out that his journey was just beginning when it comes to high octane motorsports and he wanted to drive a car believe it or not, at 150 miles an hour. And he needed someone to help project manage that, and that was to be me.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Wow. That is such an interesting story. And I guess, is that how you got started with the Speed of Sight charity?

John Galloway: No. So Speed of Sight charity wasn't to happen for another 10 years after.  

So you are right. That was the reason why Speed of Sight charity set up and I actually left my daytime job, the business that I had when I opened a bank account with Mike and the bank he worked for and he also left the bank he worked for. And together we co-founded this charity Speed of Sight in 2012.

And I'm pleased to say that Speed of Sight provides the impossible possible by allowing people who are blind, people who have other limiting disabilities. So autism might be the case depending where they are on the autistic ladder. Epilepsy would be another, down syndrome would be. Stroke would be another.

So those are just some examples of where some people with those types of disabilities may never be able to drive a car either for the first time in their lives or regrettably since they encountered that disability. So stroke, epilepsy, et cetera.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us a little more about speed of Sight charity and what it does. You know you've talked about the people you benefit, but what is the experience that you provide to these people?

John Galloway: So Deepa, I want you and anybody else listening to this right now to put yourself in the place of someone who's encountering this disability, even if it means closing your eyes. And imagining for the first time you are about to climb into the seat of a racing car, and I mean a racing car, a real racing car, and you're not sat in the passenger seat, you're actually sat in the driving seat.

You can feel the steering wheel. You've got the pedals beneath your feet, the brake and the accelerator. You are on a real racing circuit. And for the first time in your life, you are about to drive that car around a circuit again and again and again, and working together as a team, sat alongside you is an instructor.

John Galloway: Now that instructor also has a steering wheel. Unlike most cars, our cars are especially adapted. So there's a steering wheel on either side. There's brakes and an accelerator on either side and Deepa. let pretend for one moment, you are the person with that particular difficulty or disability.

And I say Deepa. Can you feel those? Can you feel the steering wheel? Yes, I can. Deepa. Can you feel beneath your feet, the accelerator or the brakes? Yes, I can. Well, together we're about to go quicker than you could ever imagined, and when I say to you, go and you can hear me talk to you and vice versa through the headsets in the helmet you are now wearing to help to keep you and the instructor. And through the headpiece, we're able to work together as a team. So when I say accelerate it, you accelerate. When I say brake, you brake. When I say left, left, left, you steer left. When I say right, right, right, you steer right.

And if you're not braking enough, then our instructor will brake enough. If you are not accelerating enough, then the instructor will accelerate more. If you are not steering enough to keep you on course to the left or to the right, then the instructor is also there to help you keep on track.

So lap one, imagine you are very nervous, you're quite scared, you can't quite comprehend what you are now doing. Then you do a lap two. And you're a little bit quicker because you're thinking, oh, this is different. Lap three and four, you're going much quicker, much, much quicker. And then lap five, six, and seven, you are going round and round and round this whole racing circuit.

Lap 7, 8, 9, and 10 you are in a different space. You're now living your life in that moment. You're not thinking about the difficulty that you have in life seeing or moving or hearing or communicating, or the aches and pains that you have, or the trials and tribulations that we on a day-to-day basis, that we all have to encounter.

And by the time you get to lap 15 and 16, you are on cloud 9, 10, 11, and you're still going. And by this time you're now in lap 20 and lap 20, you are given the chequered flag, Deepa. Your experience is over, and as you arrive into the pit area, like any racing driver, you come to a stop. Our pit crew are there to greet you and maybe myself or one of the other team members.

As you come to a stop, we approach you. The car is safe to go to. We take your helmet off. We take off your balaclava. If you've got hair, your hair is like racing driver hair. It's all over the place. You've had the breeze of the wind and everything else associated with our weather over here.

And I will say to you Deepa, you've just had your Speed of Sight experience. Come on, tell me about it.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is amazing. That is really amazing. And you've brought it alive in a few minutes. Thank you for sharing that because we've got listeners from around 44 countries and I'm sure they'd be very interested.

Thank you for sharing that, but tell me a little bit about the challenges. There must be many, because you are doing the near impossible. You're giving people who are perhaps having that first experience or an experience after a disability for the first time. Are there any challenges that you've faced and how have you overcome them?

John Galloway: The challenges for the charity or the challenges for the individual?

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think challenges for the charity. What are the challenges for the Speed of Sight charity as you deliver these experiences?

John Galloway: How long is this podcast going to last?

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Pick two maybe that you think that you would really want to talk about

John Galloway:In no particular order. If you can imagine. And I'm happy because this is a podcast for anyone to correct me with what I'm about to say. But in 10 years, no one else has corrected me yet. Speed of Sight as to the best of our knowledge is the only charity in the world that does what we do in the way that we do it for blind and people with other disabilities.

Yes, there are military charities that do specific driving activities and, and other things for people who are ex-military. But we cater for men, women, children, all ages or backgrounds. And the challenges that we have is that we don't receive any government funding.

Because we are so unique, we're still making a name for ourselves. Would you ever think to Google a blind or driving experience for someone who's blind or disabled? Probably not. Probably more likely now, but certainly 8, 9, 10 years ago that was not the case. So we were ground-breaking.

To do these experiences, we have to go to racing circuits all over the country. And that needs funding. We need insurance to fund what we do. I mean, to give you an idea, our commercial insurance, our public liabilities, probably 10 times more. Than any normal day-to-day business.

Of course our cars need to be bought and specially adapted. We need to get the team members or all volunteers from A to B, and we need to get the cars there. So financially it's a challenge. I know that was a long question I answered but I had to get there sooner or later. So every day our challenges are faced and we're lucky that we have a couple of initiatives that business people really, really like and are now readily stepping forward to want to be involved in our movement.

Another challenge the other challenge I suppose, is finding more venues and in particular, we're quite weak in the south of England, so we definitely would like to have more venues that we can visit in the south of England and, and therefore anywhere else around the UK but the south of of England in particular is somewhere we'd like to go to more often.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing those. What impact would you say you've made so far? Obviously for the individual there would be a huge impact because you've given them that life-defining experience, something that perhaps they've always had a hankering for, is there something else you could tell us about?

John Galloway: You know what? When you look at, yes, I absolutely can, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that. But I can tell you that after doing this for 10 years now and we've delivered well over 2000 of these experiences. In fact, probably nearer two and a half thousand experiences for people with disabilities.

They come back to us and they tell us, right? Of course, in the moment, almost without any exception, every one of our drivers  are elated and they're in the moment and they have excitement, and they will either share how profound that was through being tearful, a happy, tearful experience, maybe being speechless, unable to say what they've just experienced on the other hand, or others that were more than happily gesticulate and scream and shout about how amazing that experience was in that given time.

And I've learned to understand that all of those pieces of feedback on the day are special. What I wasn't to realise, and now that I've been doing it 10 years, I can say to you with, with clarity, we will get emails and communication from people who did the experience five years ago, six years ago, eight years ago, where they will send us an email and say, do you know?

The experience that I did with you all the way back then changed my life because if you think about it Deepa and anybody else out there right now, how do you feel when you have just achieved something that you never thought you could? How do you feel even better when you achieve something that people tell you that you couldn't?

So driving these cars isn't just about an experience of, oh, we've just had a bit of fun in a car. It's lovely. We'll go home now, it doesn't do that. It changes you as a human being because you've just done something the world told you that you can't do. So guess what? Here's the thing. What else can I now do that you are all telling me I never will be able to do.

John Galloway: So, yeah, I feel extremely touched and humbled every single time we operate one of these experiences, but we couldn't do it without the vast supporters that we have. The volunteers that we have are incredible. And the, the partnerships through businesses, through our Inspired 25 club, is inspiring.

John Galloway: I have the pleasure of doing this podcast, but I would be nothing without the people who support the charity.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. I really like the fact that they're coming back to you and it's changing their life and it's giving them the confidence to take on more challenges because the world is not always as kind as it could be to people who are disabled, so that's really impressive.

How could people reach out to you and learn more? Where can they find your website? Social media?

John Galloway: Yeah. There's obviously our website, all of the Ws followed by speed of sight.org. I'll repeat that. Speedofsight.org and sight is spelled as S I G H T.

They will also find us on Twitter and Instagram. And they will also find us on Facebook or in particular if somebody wants to talk to me about a partnering with Speed of Sight and becoming an Inspire member starting from as little as 25 pounds a month, that company can engage in something that ticks the boxes for CSR [corporate social responsibility] and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance).

And they can find me on LinkedIn. johnGalloway@speedofsite.org Co-founder.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks a lot, John. I'll include the link to your website and then all your socials as well.

I wanted to ask you about some advice you may have for people looking to start something similar. You said you're ground-breaking in one of the only charities in the world, but perhaps somebody gets inspired and wants to do something similar in another part of the world. How would they start?

John Galloway: I have to say to you, I have been quite lucky in my professional career. I've been involved in many businesses over the years. Speed of Sight is the only charity that I've ever been involved in, and I've been doing that for 10 years. I've built companies up, not the biggest companies in the world, but at my peak on my own, I had a business with a different business partner where we able to employ 35 people.

And the reason why I'm giving you that story is that running a charity is the hardest thing in the world. It's the hardest challenge that I've ever experienced. Don't run a charity if you think you're going to be doing it to earn money. Because that's not what it's about. It's about making a difference.

And if it's about making a difference, then you have to have that burning desire, that passion to do what you believe needs to be done. The financial rewards do not come easily. So I would say to anybody, yes, by all means, do a Speed of Sight, or by all means, do whatever your passion is or charity, but you have to have that burning desire and be able to make at times the financial sacrifices that you have to do to get to where you want to be.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that. And I can imagine it, it is very challenging, especially in the current economic climate where you know, absolutely companies might be a little bit more prudent about what they invest in and consider their choices.

An opportunity now for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about yet before I asked you my signature questions.

John Galloway: So, again, I feel privileged to have opportunities like this Deepa We were introduced and I was encouraged to come onto your brilliant podcast. And basically people will come often and have conversations with either me or of a team members in Speed of Sight and they will say, you are inspirational and what you are doing is amazing.

And I simply have this in response. I'm not inspirational, but what is inspirational is the outcome of what we deliver. Inspiration Deepa does not pay the bills, so, two years ago, we came up with an initiative. It's simply called the Inspire 25 Club, and we put it out there to any business owner, large or small.

If you are prepared to make a donation of 25 pounds a month, we will recognise that on our social media. We will do a social media welcome video thanking you as a business. We will then stick your logo and a 30 word description of your business on our website, and you will have exclusive invitations to attend any of our track days around the country.

And if you follow the hashtag Inspire 25 Club hashtag on LinkedIn, you'll see how good it has actually been. And we now have in the region of 120 businesses who donate 25 pounds plus a month. So collectively, that one business that donates 25 pounds a month has now become one of our biggest sponsors.

And we are looking to have a movement, an army of businesses. Who hopefully are going to queue up down the trackside and want to join forces to make this even bigger and greater.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that, John and I do hope business owners and individuals who might be looking for some kind of cause to support might come forward.

We do have listeners across the UK and across the world as well. So shout out to anybody who's listening.

John Galloway: I will add one more thing, and you are quite right and I have paid tribute already to our amazing volunteers, but that's not to say that we don't need more. Because we do every single day. We would love to grow our volunteering supporters across the UK. So again, as well as Inspire members, we would love anybody who feels they want to make a difference in someone's life. Even  so be it just for one day, please get in touch.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you, and again, shout out to listeners. Hopefully they will come forward and get in touch with you via your website and your socials.

John Galloway: Thank you very much.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm now going to ask you my signature questions that I ask all my guests. So the first one for you is to describe the Mancunian spirit in a word or a phrase.

John Galloway: Resilient. Let's face it, we live in challenging times and they do, they do say there's the north, south divide, you know, and the weather for sure.

Most of my family that live in England live in London. And indeed I was born in London. However, my home is the Northwest and Manchester. I'm proud to be here since 1971. The people are more friendly, I seem to feel. Sorry for those of you that live in London or down the south now, they just seem to be more approachable.

The weather's definitely nicer in the south, so I'm very jealous of the weather down there. Manchester's always raining or it feels like it a lot of the time, but people just seem like they're one that they're happy to give you the time of day. Right. That maybe isn't everybody, but it's certainly my experience of most and they like to work together to support one another and to be able to make a difference.

And they've got a great sense of humour. We don't take ourselves too seriously and you know, we're happy to get our hands dirty and get the job done.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I resonate with everything you've said and I relate to that as a brand new Mancunian, not one who's lived here as long as you.

Can you share one Mancunian that you think inspires you, and the person could be from the past or the present?

John Galloway: Ooh. What can I say? There's so many. I mean, obviously for football fans out there, you know George, George Best. What an absolute icon of a man. Ricky Hatton, who's a legendary boxer. Hard Manhattan. Alex Ferguson. What a great example of a manager. Was took on a big club that was dwindling and basically nowhere to be seen. And he made them into the empire that they are, they're huge. And I'm not even, a Manchester United fans, it pains me to say that and what, what you do in Man City. So, you know, there's so many. Tony Wilson. Fantastic entrepreneur. Manor Drive. You know, the, one of the powers behind the Hacienda, there's just so many to pick Deepa. There's so many…

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You just need to pick one, but I understand, I know it's good that you have so many that come to your mind as well.

What's the most important life lesson you've learned so far?

John Galloway: If you believe in something, don't give up. If you believe in something, And you can see that you can visualise it, but don't let people put you down.

You know, for those of you that can't see me, I'm from an Afro-Caribbean background. I'm a child of the seventies and eighties and you know, it wasn't necessarily the easiest of times to grow up. But I was a firm believer that you should never give up. And in that time, you know, I've achieved a lot with will and determination and I'm proud to say that the fight goes on,

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I hope it always stays. Thank you for sharing that. It's an important life lesson to keep going and to have that belief in yourself as well.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

John Galloway: Because I've got a bald head, maybe a genie. So the powers of a genie enabling me to grant wishes. One wish at time.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I like it. I'm going to claim one of those wishes soon, but thank you. That's a good one.

Is there a funny story you'd like to share with listeners? Something at work or something in Manchester that you'd like to share?

John Galloway: There's for those people that know me, they would give you a long list of things that I make them laugh and I'm not even trying to be funny.

So I can imagine many of them now listening to this would be, or tell them that story or tell them this. But what I'll say is that my best friend and co-founder of this charity, which I haven't really laboured on at all, he was born blind. He has no sight at all. And remember I've just said that he's my best mate.

John Galloway: So if we go to a pub or, or bar or if we go out I'm bearing in mind he can't see a thing and, and there has been the odd occasion. Maybe more than 1, 2, 3, or four, where I will leave him momentarily, either at the bar or wherever we are and I'll literally just leave him because I've forgotten he can't see. Right. And I'm quite proud about that because, I don't look at Mike or people with disabilities for the disabilities that you can see them have. People are just people regardless. So I find it funny that I can leave a, a blind man or woman, right? Forgetting that they're blind and they're just people.

I think I find it funny. Mike probably didn't,

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: We're gonna have to ask Mike, aren’t we. But yes, thank you for sharing that.

This is the end of the podcast, so thanks so much, John. It's been really a pleasure to talk to you today and you know, thank you so much for sharing about how you've, in the last 10 years made such a big difference to those who are visually impaired or those who are blind or having disabilities of different kinds as well.

John Galloway: Thank you, Deepa. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You are the podcast queen extraordinaire. Much appreciated and thank you for your time.

Outro

John, I really enjoyed learning about helping people of all abilities, experience the thrill of driving.

Dear listener, thank you for listening to the first episode of Season five, the Meet the Mancunian Podcast, social impact stories from Manchester.

I hope you enjoyed it. And it motivates you to follow your own dreams and passions. Pleased do consider visiting the website, www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to leave me some feedback or suggestions on what causes resonated with you or ones that you would like to see featured here. I really welcome listener feedback and will do my best to incorporate your suggestions in future episodes.

Next week, the Meet the Mancunian podcast talks to Jane Dennison about supporting adult fitness. Tune in on Tuesday 25th, April, 2023 to hear the next episode.

You can follow the podcast on social media as @Meet the Mancunian on Instagram or Facebook or as @MancunianPod on Twitter. It would be lovely if you can share or leave a comment. Please do also consider introducing this podcast to a friend or a family member.

You can also sign up for my new weekly newsletter on www.meetthemancunian.co.uk. No spam, weekly episode round ups, bonus content and a preview of what’s coming up next on the podcast.

Thank you so much.