Fostering community wellbeing with Josh Deegan

Meet the Mancunian-9.2-Josh Deegan- transcript

Welcome to Season 9

Intro

Hello, listeners, and welcome to Season 9 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I'm your host, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, offering you a warm Mancunian welcome.

Celebrating Manchester's Community Champions

This season is extra special as I'm collaborating with the Spirit of Manchester awards, celebrating the city's voluntary and community sector. Throughout the season, I'll be featuring interviews with the award winners and nominees, shining a light on the incredible work happening across our city.

Every Tuesday I bring you the stories of Manchester's community champions, individuals working for a range of causes and making life better for the people of Manchester.

 My hope is to inspire you to discover your own purpose, whether through volunteering or getting involved in the social impact sector, while also celebrating good causes and spreading positivity.

You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or my website at meetthemancunian.co.uk.

Stay tuned for a season full of inspiring social impact stories.

Episode 2: Meet Josh Deegan

Passionate about supporting sports in the community. In the second episode of Season 9, we hear from Josh Deegan, Volunteer, Happy Some Days, and Spirit of Manchester Award winner for Community Cohesion.

Thanks Josh for joining me today.

[00:01:21] Josh Deegan: Thanks for having me.

[00:01:23] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And brilliant we could actually find podcasting in common. Looking forward to hearing more about that over the conversation.

Tell us first about how you found your passion for supporting the local community. When did that start?

[00:01:35] Josh Deegan: Oh, blimey, wow, how long have you got? Happy Somedays. We're based in Wythenshawe which is an area in South Manchester and I think Wythenshawe just naturally has a large community vibe and community focus about it really. And I've always enjoyed giving back to this community.

I'm very proud to be from Wythenshawe. I know that a lot of the other members who come to Happy Somedays are from Wythenshawe those on the committee and those who just come and are a part of what we do, those that are from the area originally, or who live in the area now, they're all very proud of the area and have given something back and have wanted to be part of this community. It's a real honour and a real privilege to be able to do that, really.

[00:02:19] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: As another Wythenshawe resident, it's really nice to hear that. And obviously it's a very lovely community that we live in. And of course, across Manchester as well.

The Birth of Happy Somedays

[00:02:30] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us about Happy SomeDays. How did you get involved?

[00:02:33] Josh Deegan: Happy Somedays came about during lockdown really. Actually no, I'll tell you what, it was before lockdown. It was literally about three weeks before lockdown though, to be fair. Friend of mine Joe Farrow, who is probably, we call him the founder, but he doesn't like that term to be honest with you.

But he's the one who got the ball rolling with everything really. He got in touch with me very early 2020. He'd been out of playing football for a while because he'd played Saturday League, I think it was. And he'd had a very nasty sort of accident with his leg.

Broke a lot of bones and he wanted to get back into it, but he didn't want to get back into it in a competitive fashion. He wanted to get back into it through just casual and having a place where there was no competitiveness. And there was no sort of need to be brilliant. A place where people could come and just be themselves and, be creative. Have no stigma, no need to have a huge ability with their football or with any sort of sport that we do really.

And that's what we wanted. So, he got in touch with me because we knew that I'd been involved with things like that in the past. And he said, shall we do it? Shall we try and get something sorted?

So we're like, okay, let's try and sort something out. So we booked a pitch, we booked a five a side pitch, and in our very first session we had six people turn up. So we ended up doing three a side, but it was six more than we thought we'd get, which was great. So we arranged to do it about a fortnight afterwards, but within that fortnight that's when COVID hit and the country went into lockdown, so obviously we weren't allowed to do it.

But we kept, we'd started a WhatsApp group out, we kept the WhatsApp group active, more and more people were joining it, so you know, when we're allowed to, we'd love to get involved with something like this. And by the time the restrictions were lifted, we had a lot of people that wanted to be part of this and come along and, be part of what we created, that we ended up having to book bigger pitches and better times. And it just spiralled from there really.

[00:04:36] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Sounds like a very interesting journey. And obviously the challenging time of keeping engaged while waiting for a safer time to get together.

What are the challenges that you face beyond the lockdown in this journey of taking Happy Some Days to the community?

Expanding Beyond Football

[00:04:52] Josh Deegan: We created a WhatsApp group, and we kept it active. And we said that, once we are allowed to get back doing this, obviously we had the football side of it. But people were saying, what about other things as well? And we were like you tell us what the sort of things you'd like to do and we can look into it.

 There was badminton that was mooted. There was just having general walks and walk and talk sort of thing. We partnered with the Wythenshawe Waste Warriors as well and they were still trying to do bits and bobs during COVID. So we were like, okay, we can look to partner up with them.

But this is a phrase that I've used in the past to just describe us and our incentive, is it's become a bit of a monster, but in a good way, in the sense that we have a lot of participants, like last year we had 3,000 plus, and it can be a bit like, oh wow, trying to keep on top of it, of who's where and who's doing what.

But we have a very good committee that's full of, I think, 16, 17 people that, that look after it in some way, shape or form. Our participants shape it, we only do what our participants want us to do. If we can accommodate it, we will try and accommodate it. And, if someone wants to do something that we don't do, then we'll look into it as best we can, and we'll try and manage it as best we can.

Like I say, we've got a bit of a team there, if you like, within the committee that can look into it. That represents everything that we do in Happy Somedays, not just the football. That's one thing that I really wanted to get across. We don't just do football, there's a lot more to it than that.

But we have a team there that span the entirety of what we do. And we try our best to manage it. Sometimes it can be hard, other times it's a lot easier. We have to remember that, it is adults that we are managing and they're quite capable of managing themselves. But at the same time, we have a duty of care to the people that turn up as well to whatever session.

And I think we do, I think we do really well with it. I think we have to give ourselves credit for that, really.

[00:06:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Josh, when you say you offer a range of options, including football, what are the options that you offer?

[00:06:50] Josh Deegan: So going back to the football, we have a men's side. That was the first one that we managed to sort. In 2021, we were able to then sort a women's side as well. So we were having men's and women's simultaneously taking place.

Within that, you form friendships. We've formed a lot of friendships, and those friendships have actually gone beyond that, I think. I think now we are very much a family. The men's side and the women's side, together we become a family.

Just after we launched the women's side, a friend of ours got in touch with us, Hayden, from HD Fitness and Wellbeing. He is a qualified personal trainer. He got in touch with us and said, Look, I really want to be involved with what you're doing. I really enjoy it. I want to give something back. As I said at the start, give something back to the community. So, he worked with us to offer free fitness sessions to the community, which is a big thing, really, when you think about it.

We heard a stat from Mike Kane, who's the MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, that said that Wythenshawe obesity levels is one of the highest in not just Manchester, but Greater Manchester, which is shocking, really, when you think about it. So for us to be able to give fitness sessions free of charge to people right on their doorstep, it's a huge thing. Kudos to Hayden for getting in touch with us and being able to offer that. That's a big thing that we do. There's football, there's fitness, there's walks and talks.

We have various community events that take place throughout the year as well. We have a pub that the landlord is part of what we do. And he says, look, anytime you want to use the room for any events, for family things or for the evening just to get your name out there in the community and use us as a bit of a base. You can use it whenever you want. So, we do that.

And we've got a festival coming up in August, which we've got a band playing. We're going to involve a lot of the community within that because. Before the festival, we're going to have a day full of sport, basically, so we're going to be offering like fitness tasters during the day with Hayden, and on the pitches where we play, we're going to have various games, and the various games are going to be from teams within the community.

So that's going to go from under nines, right through to adult men's and adult women throughout the day, and then in the evening of a bit of a celebration of what we do with the festival. So that's on the 17th of August. I need to make sure I remember that and get that in there. 17th of August. If you're local, come down and check it out. It's going to be great. So that's in a nutshell what we do, but there's so much more than that as well.

[00:09:20] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us more about the impact that you're making in the community. It looks like you're making a lot of impact, reaching up to 3,000 people a year.

[00:09:29] Josh Deegan: Last year we had over 3,000 participants take part across all the sessions that we do. Which is mad, when you think we started with six people in 2020 and now we've got, over 3,000 people coming to us not just from Wythenshawe but from across sort of South Manchester and beyond as well.

We're trying in terms of the impact that we have on the community, like I said then, we are trying to make it accessible for all. So, no matter your ability, no matter your fitness level, whether you've got a disability. So, I myself to bring it to a personal level. I'm registered as partially sighted, so I'm visually impaired. I have been my entire life since I was born.

We have people who play for us who have autism, cerebral palsy. And just them to know that they've got a safe space to come and be part of what we do, whether it is a sport, whether it's walking sorts, whether it's, the events that we hold in the community. For them to know they can come and be themselves, be part of it, it's a beautiful thing.

And I mentioned before about the Wythenshawe Waste Warriors, we've got litter picks with them. Last year, I think we did, I think it was last year, it might have been the year before, we did the Wythenshawe Pride event at the Lifestyle Centre here. This year we've actually got our own float for Pride as well, so we're going to be going along to that and having our own float there.

But I think it just comes back to, everything just comes back to giving people of Wythenshawe, of Manchester, South Manchester and the surrounding areas, a space where they can come and be themselves. and not have any prejudice or stigma attached to it. That's the absolute biggest thing that we want to get across.

[00:11:06] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You're absolutely right. You allow people of all abilities to feel like they're welcomed and can participate. That is really powerful.

The Spirit of Manchester Award

[00:11:14] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: When we talk about the Spirit of Manchester Award that you've been nominated for, what does that mean to you and your organisation?

[00:11:21] Josh Deegan: Oh, it means the world. It really does mean the world. We've been nominated previously for a Be Proud Award. We've been nominated twice for that. We unfortunately lost out twice, but we lost out to some very worthy winners. And within the category that we're in for this, with the Spirit of Manchester, I think it's us and two others.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember, but I think Tree of Life is one of them. I love it's Tree of Life, local to us. I know exactly what they're doing, which is great. But honestly, it means the world because like I said, we are trying to reach a lot of people in the community.

We are trying to give something back. And for that to be recognised is a huge thing. We are really hoping, I know we probably shouldn't say this, but I personally am really hoping that we can win the award on the day, just because, as I say, we've been nominated for other things and lost out, so to win it on the day would be a huge thing, just to say, not that we need an award to say it and to prove it, but just to have that as something to look at and go, you know what, that is proof that what we're doing, what we're trying to do, what we're trying to achieve, we are doing it, and it's great.

But, it's just to be nominated is a massive achievement, so that's a real honour and a real privilege.

[00:12:28] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Congratulations on your nomination. It is definitely great to know that you've been shortlisted for your award. There's a huge impact on the community. (Note: Interview recorded before the Spirit of Manchester Award Ceremony where Happy Somedays won the award for Community Cohesion.)

Advice for Starting Similar Movements

[00:12:37] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Now if you would think about people who are looking to start a similar movement in other parts of the world, what advice would you have for them? Maybe in another part of the UK or in another part of the world.

[00:12:49] Josh Deegan: To be honest with you, we've actually networked with a lot of other places that are very similar to ourselves. We have networking games so within the football, we try and invite people who are very similar to us in terms of our ethos and their ethos along to play us.

We've also travelled to their place as well, we've been to Blackpool, Wrexham. We class Wrexham as an international friendly, allow it. We thought it was great. And, we do have a lot of questions coming to our inbox on social media about what we're doing and how we're achieving it.

I think the biggest bit of advice we can get is, get your name out there as much as you can. Try your best to be as welcoming as you can. If you have to look into things such as public liability or insurance or that sort of thing, then we are able to look into that.

We had a guy that helps us out called Damon. He sponsors us as well actually. He's in charge of the riding stables at Wythenshawe Park. He helps us in terms of the liability sort of side of it and the sponsorship.

But it's just about networking. I think that's the biggest thing, just network. Get your name out there. Let people know about what it is that you're doing and eventually people will find it because people need things like this. People need to feel like they can go to somewhere where they can be a part of something and a part of the community and from that, people then want to give back.

Instead of you asking them, or instead of them feeling like they should, they become feeling as though, actually I'd like to and then it just grows and grows from there so that's my biggest advice, just network. And eventually you will find the people. If you build it, they will come basically.

[00:14:21] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I like that very much about the networking and the awareness creation. That's great advice.

[00:14:27] Josh Deegan: Absolutely.

Signature Questions

[00:14:27] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm now going to move to the signature questions I ask all my guests.

The first one for you if you could choose a famous landmark in Manchester to represent you, what would it be?

[00:14:36] Josh Deegan: Do you know what I would say? I would say a park. So, whether it's Heathland Park, whether it's Wythenshawe Park, I'd say a park, because in a park you can do various different things. You can go and find a cafe and sit down with mates so that, which is something that we do a lot. You can go and play sport.

You can go on all the equipment in the play areas and, be a big, massive, big kid again. So I would say all the different parks that we have in Manchester, I think that embodies us the best, really. Because, as I say, you can do various different things there.

We do various different things. And within that, you can have a good time and you can just sit back and admire it. And that's what we do sometimes. We just sit, take a little bit of a backseat and look at what we've done and be like, wow, this started with six people and now we've got all of this. I think that's something that I'd choose for that. I don't know whether that's a good answer or not. I hope it is, but that's what I choose.

[00:15:25] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It's a good answer, Josh, although I should say this is actually supposed to be your landmark that represents you, not Happy Some Days. But I think it works. I like Wythenshawe Park. Like you said, there's something for everyone from the woods to park area to riding stables and all kinds of options.

[00:15:43] Josh Deegan: Absolutely.

Life Lessons and Personal Journey

[00:15:44] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's the most important life lesson that you've learned so far?

[00:15:48] Josh Deegan: The most important life lesson that I have learned is to look after yourself, is to take care of number one, physical health, mental health, they go hand in hand. If you look after them both, then I think you'll be okay.

Just very briefly, I'll go into this, but myself personally 2017, I was very overweight. And I managed to get myself on a bit of a mission, to sort myself out weight wise and everything else and I managed to achieve it. I achieved it in the space of a year. And having something like Happy Somedays where I can go and still remain active and even share how I'm feeling with people as well, it's a massive thing.

So that's the biggest life lesson I've learned. If you look after yourself physically, then mentally it will all come together as well.

[00:16:37] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Totally resonate this whole idea that love the body you've got and, make sure that you take care of it as well. And like you said, take care of your health and your mental health.

Connecting with Happy Somedays

[00:16:48] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: How can people get in touch with you? Where can they find Happy Somedays? Where can they find you?

[00:16:54] Josh Deegan: We are very active on social media. We have a Facebook page. If you search for Happy Somedays on Facebook, you will find it. I think the address is facebook.com/Happy Somedays group. That's to find us on Facebook. We are on Instagram as well. We are at happy underscore some days and we are at happy underscore some days on Twitter slash x as well.

We have a TikTok account. It's not very active on TikTok. We need to do more on that. But again, you will find us on there is Happy Somedays. And we have a website which is www do HappySomedays.couk. You can fire us a message on there and that'll come to us in our email inbox.

And if you've got a question about anything that we offer, then we can put you in touch with relevant people and get you involved in everything that we do, whether it is, the football side of it, whether it's fitness, whether you just want to come and be part of the friendship group, whether you just want to, take part in a walk and talk.

If you want to be a guest on our podcast that we do. Then by all means get in touch with us.

Final Thoughts and Community Impact

[00:17:52] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Before we finish, is there anything that I haven't asked you about that you really want to talk about or cover?

[00:17:58] Josh Deegan: I think we've covered pretty much everything, but the biggest sort of thing that I want to get is because people look at us and think, oh it's just a football team, but it's not. We're a lot more than that. A lot of the things that we do are really helping the people of Wythenshawe, South Manchester and beyond.

We're constantly trying to give back to the community. If people want to get involved with us, if they want to network with us, then by all means, just get in touch and the more people we can help, the better. I hope that's something that I've got across within this on our behalf really.

I just want to say thank you to you for having us on and being part of this, and hopefully we can return the favour and you can be a guest on our podcast as well.

[00:18:32] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I would love that. I must say I'm not the most fit person. I do love walking and I walk a lot with my dogs. So maybe we can talk about, nature and the benefits of being outdoors, because I think that really helps my mental health after a busy day at work, taking a nice walk with the dogs and unwinding and enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Wythenshawe that we live in.

So thanks so much for your time, Josh.

Outro

Thank you for listening to the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I hope today's episode has inspired you to reflect on your own purpose and how you can contribute to making positive change.

Next week on Tuesday, 5th October, we speak to Claire Biggs talking about sustainability and the environment.

Gratitude and Community

I'm truly grateful for this amazing community of listeners. Your stories inspire this podcast and I look forward to hearing more of them. If you'd like to share your story or connect, visit my website at meetthemancunian.co.uk or find me on social media @MeettheMancunian on Instagram and Facebook, @MancunianPod on Twitter and @MeettheMancunianPodcast on YouTube.

Thank you again to my wonderful listeners. You inspire me. Together we're a community dedicated to uplifting Manchester and supporting Mancunians.

Inspiring Positive Change

Remember, we can make an impact together. Thank you for tuning in and being a part of this incredible community. Your involvement helps amplify the voices of those making a difference.

Together, we can inspire even more positive change in Manchester and beyond. Remember, no act of kindness is too small, and by working together, we can truly make a meaningful impact.

Thank you for listening.