Championing Environmental Conservation with Simon Owen

Meet the Mancunian-10.5-Simon Owen-transcript

Intro

[00:00:00] Hello listeners and welcome to Season 10 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I'm your host Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe offering you a warm Mancunian welcome.

I'm delighted to bring to you Season 10, where I celebrate social impact community heroes across Manchester. I hope, dear listener, you can learn from their life experiences, the challenges they have overcome and their passion for their cause. My aim for the Meet the Mancunian podcast is to inspire you to live your life with purpose and impact, inspired by the stories my guests share every Tuesday throughout the season.

You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or my website meetthemancunian.co.uk. Get ready for another season full of thought-provoking conversations and life changing stories.

Simon Owen on Environmental Support

[00:00:55] Welcome to the fifth episode of Season 10 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester.

[00:01:03] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Passionate about supporting the environment, we hear from Simon Owen, founder and owner of Standby Productions in this episode.

In Simon's own words.

[00:01:12] Simon Owen: I think there's an intrinsic link between humans and nature, and it immediately improves people's wellbeing, and that is exactly what Lancashire Wildlife Trust does. They bring people to nature, and I love that, and I love that kind of ethos, and I love that's the work that they're doing. This has then actually led to me becoming their first ever ambassador.

[00:01:32] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Simon, thanks for taking the time. I know it's a fairly gloomy day in Manchester, but we're going to be talking about some interesting work, which will hopefully bring a bit of cheer.

[00:01:41] Simon Owen: Thanks very much for having me and pleasure to be invited on the podcast.

[00:01:44] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us about how you sparked your interest in supporting the environment. How did that start? Was there some defining moment?

[00:01:51] Simon Owen: I think for me; I've always gone out birdwatching and been involved in nature. My dad used to go birdwatching a lot and probably dragging me along as a kid. And I probably was there thinking I want to go home and go and play with toys and whatever.

But it definitely gave me a good understanding of being out in nature and sitting and watching and enjoying nature. Off the back of that, when I started Standby Productions, we're a video production company. So I started to get video equipment and photography equipment. And then I used to take the camera out when I used to go on these walks with my dad and then start to film wildlife and birds and scenery and things like that, which then led to me gaining a real bank of content and footage of wildlife, which then came along to put in a little wildlife film together back in 2014.

It was a little 60 second short film, which then led to winning a competition on TV that was run by the Eden channel at the time. And it was judged by no less than Michaela Strachan. And I think I'd done really, I always kept my kind of bird nerd to one side because we make quite cool edgy, awesome video content through Standby Productions. And I never said, oh, I'd go and sit in a hide and film birds and things like that. If there was a kind of spark or something like that, I think around COVID time, I just noticed a lot more people were getting in touch with nature, getting in touch with the environment.

And I thought, why have I kept these two things so separate? And that was the point where I thought, how can I bring into my business and do something good for the planet and for people rather than. Or not just rather than just running a business because there's a lot to running a business as I'm sure everyone knows. But actually, having a business that is purpose led rather than simply creating the content we create for brands and businesses and for corporates.

[00:03:32] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I love the fact that you started with birdwatching with your dad, and then you made this film, which won an award, which sounds really interesting. If you want to share it at some point, or any other films related to the subject, I can always include it with the podcast. And then, like you said, finding that purpose so that you can bring that purpose to your work and bringing both your passion and your profession together. That sounds really good.

Partnership with Wildlife Trust

[00:03:58] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us more about how you got involved with the Wildlife Trust of Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. How are you associated and what do they do?

[00:04:07] Simon Owen: Around the COVID time, I was then looking for a charity that we could support where it would give back to the environment, give back to the planet and make wildlife and the environment part of DNA because it was already in my DNA like I was already passionate about this.

Just loved David Attenborough's programs so I thought how can I do something and give something back. And I found out about the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and North Merseyside because of the work that they were doing right on our doorstep.

So my office is in Ancoats. I live in South Manchester, and they were doing the conservation and restoration of peatlands in Greater Manchester. So peatlands that are in Salford, 20 minutes from the office. And I then had to work out how we were going to support them and what that support was going to look like.

And I knew nothing about peatlands I knew absolutely nothing about peatlands. But they are an absolute kind of super habitat. And within that, I then started to learn about peatlands and find out why they were such important habitats.

Just to throw a stat out there. The UK peatlands store more carbon than the forests of the UK, France and Germany all combined. Yet, they only result in about 5 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. So for comparison, aviation accounts for around 6-7%. So 5 percent of degraded peatland can release emissions. So it's just a really important carbon store.

So what we ended up doing was agreeing that we would donate 1 percent of our annual turnover to the Wildlife Trust. And that's the agreement and the partnership that we put in. I love that any donation that we offered had an impact directly on our doorstep.

I'm a great believer that if you can do something on your own doorstep, on your own patch, and if everyone did that, then everything would connect up, right? So, you'd have these kind of corridors of everything connecting and everything working together. But it all starts by looking after what's on your patch. And I say that as a proud Mancunian, as well. I wanted to help something that was nearby.

And I've learned so much about peatlands, and also about the work that the Wildlife Trust do. We also then offer to make films for them, so in part, we then donate films as well and also get our wellies on and get stuck in. And we've done wellbeing days with them, we've done volunteer days with them. And it's not just the environment, they actually bring people to nature and that then obviously means, it benefits communities as well, which is great, and also people's wellbeing.

I think there's an intrinsic link between humans and nature, and it immediately improves people's wellbeing, and that is exactly what Lancashire Wildlife Trust does. They bring people to nature, and I love that, and I love that kind of ethos, and I love that's the work that they're doing.

This has then actually led to me becoming their first ever ambassador. As of October this year, they offered me the position of ambassador for the Trust, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Merseyside, which of course I gladly and honourably accepted. And I was really humbled to be offered it, to be honest, especially being the first one ever.

And that means that I can now shout about and promote the amazing work that they're doing. And it's not just peatlands, they look after so many different habitats because the Northwest has got- you've got coastal areas, you've got sort of mountains, hills, you've got the uplands, all kinds of different habitats. So it's amazing to see what they do and get deep dive into the work that they're doing and be a real advocate for that.

[00:07:28] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Wonderful, and congratulations on becoming their ambassador, and it sounds like there's so much good work out there, and like you said on our doorstep, I'd love to hear more.

Challenges and Community Impact

[00:07:37] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Are there any obstacles you've had to overcome or maybe the charities had to overcome on this journey of trying to connect people, the environment or supporting the empowered rich biodiversity of the peatlands?

[00:07:51] Simon Owen: One thing I have to say I didn't know is that the Wildlife Trust Was a charity, so their biggest challenge always is funding and gaining funds, whether it's through corporate members or whether it's through individuals that have memberships or whether it's through sourcing funding to then deliver on their projects. So they're often looking for philanthropists or whether it's national lottery funding, anything like that.

There's hundreds of challenges that these kinds of organisations have, but one of the projects that they're just getting off the ground is to increase the population of red squirrels back into the UK. Now to do that, you've got to reduce the number of grey squirrels.

Now that in itself, it's not controversial as such. Because, they're not killing the grey squirrels or anything like that. They're trying to work it out with breeding and try and prevent the breeding actually happening between the grey squirrels, and that means the red squirrels can then thrive, but within that it becomes some conflict and some challenges.

The other parts are land management. So anything where, trying to bring diversity to an area, you've got to work with the people that live in that area. Some of the biggest landowners in the UK are farming and other organisations like United Utilities. And I say this because we've just finished a beautiful project with them about the West Pennine Moors, which is an area between Darwen Tower and Rivington Pike and that kind of surrounding area there. And up on the moors there, you've got lots of peatland that all needs to be restored and preserved. In order to do that, they need to do a two-year planning and research stage to see what they could do to increase the biodiversity here as well.

There's even UK rainforests. I didn't know UK rainforests were a thing.

[00:09:21] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I didn't know. Wow.

[00:09:22] Simon Owen: They are. So there's actually temperate rainforest there is there as well, which is unbelievable. Basically, the projects over there will be that if the rainwater falls on the moors and goes into well restored and well looked after peatland. It filters the water on the moors, which then means that the water that goes into the reservoirs that United Utilities own don't have to do as much cleaning, don't have to do as much cleansing, don't have to use as many chemicals. And the water that essentially then goes out to the population is a higher quality.

And that's just from working on the moors and making sure that the peatlands are in really good condition and not degraded because I think something like, and I'll have to fact check this, but I think it's 98 percent of Peatlands are degraded. So there's only 2 percent left, which is just a shocking figure and it's dug up for things like retail bags of compost or even in the whiskey trade as well. You often see like peated whiskey, things like that.

And it's really trying to stop that happening because as soon as you dig that peatland up, all that carbon is released to the atmosphere. So, the idea is that you've got to keep the carbon in there and not dig it up and not degrade it essentially. And it needs to be wet. So you've got to work with landowners, farmers, other organisations to then be allowed to do that or able to do that and deliver on the projects that they want to deliver on.

[00:10:33] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: This is quite significant challenges. Obviously, the funding one is universal across every one of my guests, regardless of the category. But this whole aspect of responsible land use, making sure that everyone's aware, because it starts with awareness, right? And nobody is probably going to go and destroy something, but they don't realise the impact it causes when it's degraded.

And then, like you said, also ethically helping red squirrels thrive. I'm fond of all squirrels, so I want them all to thrive, but I understand there is only, that much of a squirrel population which can be supported. So thank you for sharing those.

When you think about some of the communities which have benefited the most from the work that the Wildlife Trust does, what would you say they are?

[00:11:24] Simon Owen: I have to say that's really varied because you've got the universal benefit just to humankind within the UK that the work they're going to do is going to help the planet, help the environment, help reduce carbon emissions, increase biodiversity. There's projects within this where they're doing tests at the moment.

] They're really looking at innovative ways to look after the land and to benefit people. So one of the things is peatland is renowned for not being able to be farmed on, for example. So they're looking and doing tests at what's called paludiculture, which is where you can try and grow crops within wet peatland. They call it growing crops with wet feet.

[00:12:01] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Okay.

[00:12:01] Simon Owen: Now, if they can get that off the ground and if that works, then that obviously then has a benefit to the farming community because then that means that they can still make their land a resource of income by increasing the crops.

And then on the flip side, I've also been privileged to go and visit a project in Blackburn, it's called the Greenhouses Project. And there's some derelict greenhouses there that they've restored, and it's become a bit of a community hub. Now that means people from diverse backgrounds or underprivileged backgrounds or people that have struggled from a mental health point of view are able to go there, meet a community. They're growing -crops, fruit and vegetables there. They've restored the greenhouses back to their sort of former glory as it were. And it was a whole side of the Wildlife Trust that I just didn't almost know about and it was almost more community focused than it was about wildlife and the planet and general environment.

We also worked on a project that was called My Place where again, it helped underprivileged and people of disadvantage to do wellbeing days and spend time out in nature and do things that just learn how to trim some bushes or to create a fire outside.

These were all young people and we got to interview them and speak to them. The change it has had in their lives by being out in nature and being part of this small group is absolutely unbelievable. I'll give you one story that really hit home to me because it was told to me recently. We interviewed a girl who had really suffered with depression and things like that, and actually come close to being suicidal and, in an awful state. I think it's like a course almost so that she was part of the My Place community. It genuinely saved her life. It genuinely changed her life.

Someone from the Wildlife Trust was at an event recently. And a lady walked over because the video that we'd made was playing on the stall. And she walked over and said, Oh my goodness. I love this video so much. You guys are so special because the girl there in that video, that's my daughter. And she's now thriving. And she's gone off to university and she's just doing so well.

She's got a job and all this kind of thing. And it was just this absolute wow moment that had gone so full circle, to go right back to something that we create or a film that we made two or three years ago, I enjoyed making and enjoyed interviewing the young people.

They also do forest schools. They just do so much. It's really hard to narrow it down, but it certainly benefits a lot of communities. That's for sure.

[00:14:18] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I really like that about the My Place, and like you said, it's life changing to connect to in the environment, to feel like you can have some important key skills, growing skills, like just playing with soil and doing things like that. It is really wonderful.

I'd like you to think from the Wildlife Trust, what would you say are the biggest impacts? You've talked a little bit about the impact on people.

[00:14:40] Simon Owen: Because I didn't know much about peatlands specifically, I suggested to them that if I don't know about them, lots of other people won't know about them. So I said that we should make a film to explain the power of Peatlands. I'd say, so that was one of the first projects that I then took on was to then go to of the local mosses in Salford think it's Chat Moss, we went to in Salford. We made a film that really sat in line with a bit of a mission in order to ban the use of peat in retail bags of compost. So that was one of the things that we thought this film aligns. It's an educational piece.

I'm going to learn all about it, but then also we've made a film that then everyone else will understand the power of peatlands. And that film was instrumental in helping them get the story of peatland restoration out there. And just having, that kind of quality content, is a huge thing for them. And it's still a major feature in all of their comms, I would say.

And then regarding donations, it's been huge because having that kind of continued source of unrestricted income into the peatlands team, it's just amazing for them. And so often that funding is tied to the delivery of certain projects, other sources of income. The overall kind of sustainability of things like a peatlands project would really suffer. Essentially our donations are vital to the actual business of getting our peatlands restored. That's exactly what those kind of funds go towards.

And then from an ambassador point of view, they need to get into business communities. They need other corporate members. They need network of people that they wouldn't normally have access to. And I've been brought on board to do that side of it.

So hopefully as it's only just come out in their latest magazine and I've not even launched on LinkedIn yet, so that's going to come out soon as well, we'll have a positive impact and grow their members.

[00:16:20] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I love that you're using the power of film making to tell that story because when you read about it, it sounds a little different. And when you experience it, even if you haven't actually been there yourself, the video can really tell that power.

The biggest challenge that every charity, including the Wildlife Trust has is funds. And you're helping with that and doing that with unrestricted income, which as a trustee for an animal charity, I totally understand it is so powerful to get. Unrestricted funds as opposed to restricted income, which is earmarked for certain services or projects.

[00:16:56] Simon Owen: One thing I will say about that first film we made about the Peatlands though was that they're quite unique habitats. They're flat, they're basically bogs, they're actually really quite difficult to make look super pretty and really nice. So we made a bit off a little bit more than we could chew in terms of okay, yeah, let's make this amazing film.

And then we got there. Oh, wow. This is actually quite hard to showcase. But then once you get stuck into it and learn about it and you see the wildlife that's there, it just all starts to come to life. You just have to look a little bit harder in a bog to make that look better from drone than it did ground level, let's say.

[00:17:28] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That speaks to your creative lens, isn't it?

What is something people often misunderstand about your field? So maybe taking peatlands because not everybody knows what a peatland is.

[00:17:39] Simon Owen: I honestly think that it's about how bogs are. I know that sounds really silly, but had said to me, can you make a wildlife film or make a film about a bog? I'd be like, I'm sorry, what? I don't understand. That's so unglamorous. What could a bog possibly be good for? Why is that a good thing?

And I think the biggest myth is that bogs can be brilliant. And that's, definitely come from the Wildlife Trust that I now feel this way and think this way. Just based on the fact that they are absolute super habitats and they store twice as much carbon as the world's rainforests and things like that.

They are just incredible habitats. It'd be quite easy for anybody to think, Oh, we want to plant a tree for doing this. And, you've planted a tree. It's really tangible. And there you go. But to support something like peatland or to look at the conservation restoration of essentially what are bogs, it's a pretty difficult sell. So I think it's just about putting bogs on the map, let's say.

[00:18:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I love it about putting bogs on the map. A nice one for some kind of quotable quote.

Finding Your Passion and Making an Impact

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's your top tip for people trying to make an impact in their community? It doesn't need to be in the environment, but just more generally, how should they get started?

[00:18:49] Simon Owen: I think it's really important that people find something that's that they are passionate about. I just happen to have found what I would class is almost the perfect charity for me personally because it's wildlife. But it's also environmental and it's also community. And it helps with mental wellbeing, all these things I'm really passionate about.

So I think, the first thing that everybody needs to think about if they're going to support an organisation or a charity is to find one that resonates with them the most. You mentioned that you support, was it an animal charity. I assume then you have a love for animals.

That's your starting point. That's where you go and speak to somebody and then try and make that happen And then it's finding people that are just super passionate about what they do. And I’m pretty sure whoever you end up speaking to in these kind of organisations, you'll find passionate people that genuinely care about what they're delivering.

And I’ve been absolutely blown away not only the passion of the team at Lancashire Wildlife Trust, but also how absolutely lovely they all are as well. They are just such a pleasure to be around and to work with. I was at Manchester Green Summit yesterday and spending time with the team and sitting in the talks and spending time on their stall and stand. And they're just such a lovely group of people that are genuinely doing something good and having positive impact on the ground.

And I would just encourage every business owner, or anyone involved in business to try and do something that gives back and gives back to whether it's a planet or communities or people. I just think it's vitally important. It's by far the best initiative I've ever put into my business hands down, because it makes everything that we do just feel better for the soul, feel better for the projects that we're doing, knowing every project we take on 1 percent of that turnover goes to supporting something that is having a positive impact right on our doorstep.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Basically, you've talked a lot about being one, being true to yourself and finding the causes that matter to you. And then also finding those passionate people who care the most about those causes. Great tips.

Unique Partnerships and Creative Funding

[00:20:39] Simon Owen: Just thought of something else there actually because I think one thing that I maybe struggled with when I started the relationship there was how do we fund them? How do we support them?

My original plan actually was to plant a tree for every video we made as a business. And they actually turned around and said, it's actually not trees that we need, although they're great and they are needed, but we actually need to preserve the peatlands.

And I was like we can't do one square foot of peatland per video. That doesn't make any sense. We actually came up with a unique partnership where I said why don't we donate 1 percent of our turnover? I know there's 1 percent for the planet that's similar, but ours was just straight turnover straight to them. And speaking directly to the charity involved.

So I think one of the sort of challenges potentially is how you help and how you fund and how you get in touch with people. And the sort of top tip there is to maybe consider some ideas of ways to support and thinking outside the box a little bit in terms of what you could do to support these kind of charities because that's exactly what we had to do.

[00:21:37] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I like that. And also your shout out to business owners to consider finding their purpose exactly like we want our listeners to do, to find their purpose, get inspired and get involved whether as a volunteer or working in the sector.

An opportunity now for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about, maybe something about your ambassador plans for 2025?

Harnessing Business for Environmental Good

[00:21:59] Simon Owen: With the ambassador role, I will be able to harness the business community, I think, to try and increase their corporate membership. So that's looking for gaining more. organisations and businesses to support Lancashire Wildlife Trust. They've got three or four off the shelf packages in terms of corporate member memberships that people can do almost straight away from as little as 500 pound a year.

And I think it's looking at gaining more traction with other businesses and finding other businesses that are aligned that might be interested to help Lancashire Wildlife Trust. And that's really my goal for next year. And also to continue making awareness films and to support them in that sense as well. It obviously aligns that on a weekend I would go out filming wildlife anyway. So now, there's real purpose that comes along it.

[00:22:46] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I like that. I like that about your weekends and your work.

Signature Questions: Manchester's Unique Social Impact

[00:22:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm now going to move to the signature questions I ask all my guests. So first of all, what makes Manchester a unique place for social impact work.

[00:22:59] Simon Owen: I was at the Manchester Green Summit yesterday, Andy Burnham's Green Summit. Thing that kept coming out from that is that Manchester it's a city of, I'm going to say fighters, but not in the physical sense, we have to scrap, and we have to work really hard to do really well in things and we don't get the funding like they do in London.

There's a lot that goes on in the South that doesn't happen in the North and I think that just gives a bit of doggy determination. Often seen as underdogs, and I think that's where It feels like that in what I do. It feels like that actually with what the Wildlife Trust are doing. It feels like that just in Manchester in general. We've got pretty awful weather for a lot of the time. And I think that gives us some pretty gritty determination to get on with life and succeed at life.

[00:23:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Gritty and scrappy is what I'm taking out and I have heard that before. And I love that in a way because I keep hearing about Manchester doing things differently. And some of it is because we've had to and some of it because we've adapted to situation, so it's perfect.

[00:23:56] Simon Owen: And there's a general coming togetherness I think in Manchester as well which comes from a kind of community sense where you only need to speak to someone that's got on a bus that's lived in the south for their whole life. And they say I can't believe how friendly everyone is.

And it's just, you think that's a cliche. But it's just not, because people are always telling me that so it can't be a cliche. It can't just be something you've read somewhere, that is a genuine thing. And I think that means that people are more open to coming together as a community and to help situations, help people, help planet, whatever it is. I think that's definitely a Mancunian trait for sure.

[00:24:28] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: For sure, I think it's an urban myth that's true in this case.

[00:24:32] Simon Owen: 100 percent.

[00:24:33] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: If you could have dinner with any historical figure in Manchester, who would it be with and why?

[00:24:39] Simon Owen: I'm going to go back in history here and Emmeline Pankhurst actually, I think what she did in Manchester was incredible. I think it came years and years too late. I think it would just be great to sit and pick her brains about having that, talk about dogged determination. She's the epitome of that, right? And probably started a lot of that movement in terms of just standing up for your rights. And quite rightly. I'd say her.

[00:25:01] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Her statue is just outside my office at St. Peter's Square, so it's very nice. It's at the gate when we enter, so I say hello to her pretty much every day I'm at work.

[00:25:12] Simon Owen: Amazing. That's so cool.

[00:25:14] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: If you were to create a social impact superhero, what powers would they have and what cause would they fight for?

[00:25:20] Simon Owen: There's probably one that almost exists in Sir David Attenborough. I think I'd start a superpower would be his voice. I think the cause would have to be around climate change. I think the negligence around that area is quite terrifying. There's a genuine climate emergency happening that people aren't doing enough for. So I think that has to be, for me, the cause that that would be, I am almost describing Sir David Attenborough, right? You could say he already is a bit of a superhero, but let's say him, but give him another 40 years if we could.

[00:25:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And a cape definitely is wonderful. Very inspiring.

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

[00:25:58] Simon Owen: I recently came across this quote, and I've said it a few times recently. But it's that kindness can be a competitive advantage. And I think as a life lesson that kind of works really nicely for where I've taken my business and how almost like a mantra for how I want to live.

It's not all about the rat race. It's not all about the corporate dollar, but kindness goes a long way. Not always financially and commercially, but it goes a long way just as an individual and as a person,

[00:26:27] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Love that thought. It's such a nice thing because like you said, the world can definitely do with more kindness and if people are genuinely kind or just smile or just be warm to each other, the place feels so different. Even in the dark, gloomy streets, you feel safer, warmer. Especially gives me a very nice feeling walking around with my dogs.

[00:26:48] Simon Owen: Definitely. I'd like to think that in business, there's business runs on commercials and advantage and competition. And I think if you can be kind in that space, then hopefully it can pay dividends in return in terms of having, whether it's a competitive advantage or whether it's just making great relationships as you go through business and treating people with respect. I think that's important as well.

[00:27:09] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: This is what I was thinking about relationships, right? The relationships become so much stronger because like you said, you're giving people that space, that respect and being kind. Love it. More power to you. I think it's a very unique one. I haven't heard that before from people as an important life lesson.

[00:27:28] Simon Owen: I just wish I knew who said it originally, because I think it's such a good quote, but I don't want to take full credibility for it, but I've lived by ever since the moment I heard it.

[00:27:36] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: How can interested people reach out to you and learn more about the Wildlife Trust?

[00:27:41] Simon Owen: So to reach out to me would be through Standby Productions.co.uk. The best way to get in touch with me personally is definitely my LinkedIn. So it's just Simon Owen on LinkedIn. You'll see a little camera emoji and a little planet emoji, which pretty much sums up what we're about. So yeah, find me on LinkedIn. You could also follow me on Instagram, which is at wildest. And that's my kind of wildlife and ambassador Instagram page.

If you want to get in touch with Lancashire Wildlife Trust, then it's lancswt.org.uk is their website. And if you want to follow them on Instagram, where they post loads of things about the amazing work that they're doing, it's at Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

In terms of the Wildlife Trust, all you have to do is search Lancashire Wildlife Trust corporate membership. And you would go straight to the page where you can support them as a corporate member.

[00:28:31] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for that. I will make sure I include them in the show notes.

Caption: Female Kingfisher catches a Minnow from a local river. Photograph by Simon Owen. 

Heartwarming Stories and Final Thoughts

[00:28:34] Simon Owen: Is there a funny or a heartwarming story you'd like to end the podcast on? Anything nice from one of your wellbeing days or volunteer days when you as a team went there?

We did a lovely volunteering day where we went out to the Fylde coast and in fact, we might be doing it again this year, but we went and planted leftover Christmas trees. So Christmas trees that are then picked up and then they're planted into the beaches to create sand dunes, which then acts as a flood defence to the local community.

[00:29:02] Simon Owen: So we went and did that back in. I think they do it in January or February, obviously after Christmas and there's Christmas trees everywhere. And the weather was absolutely horrendous. It was blowing a gale, it was quite funny. We had a team that weren't used to that kind of thing. They were getting blown about and it was getting rain in their faces. I was loving it. I was getting stuck in and things like that. But you could definitely see this, like taking the people out of the city and putting them out on the coast and digging trenches to plant these Christmas trees.

And it's another project and another thing that they do that you just would never consider or really expect but the sand gets pushed onto the trees and then that forms the sand. That's what creates then flood defences, et cetera, and also creates new habitats.

So I think getting out there, getting stuck into the trenches of digging the holes for the Christmas trees and things was a brilliant day out and a brilliant way to support them and do something positive, but also get out into nature and take on the elements.

[00:29:55] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think you picked the day which was the most challenging, wasn't it? With the gales and all that. But yeah, it does sound really lovely and a great way to use Christmas trees. I assume these are natural Christmas trees, not artificial.

Thank you so much, Simon. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you for sharing a little bit of education as well on peatlands and their role in the environment and how much carbon they capture. And, so much to learn more about the wonderful work that the Wildlife Trust is doing.

[00:30:23] Simon Owen: It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you as well. Thank you very much. Talk about kindness. It's a dull and miserable day out there in Manchester to have a conversation with you, so thanks very much.

Outro

Simon, I really enjoyed learning about supporting the environment today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the fifth episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, Season 10. I hope today's episode has inspired you to make positive change wherever you live. Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode, or log on to meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week on Tuesday, 25th March 2025, I speak to Lydia German about supporting conservation efforts in the region.

It's wonderful to hear from you, dear listener. You can share your story or send me a message on my website meetthemancunian.co.uk or on social media @MeettheMancunian on Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky, and @MeettheMancunianpodcast on YouTube. Thank you to my wonderful community of listeners. Remember, your voice, your story, and your actions matter.

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it, and let's inspire even more positive change. To a better, kinder world, and until next time, let's continue making Manchester and beyond a place of greater impact, compassion, and action.