Meet the Mancunian-8.10-David McLenachan transcript

Intro

Welcome to Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian Podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. A warm Mancunian welcome from your host, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe. Thank you for joining me today.

Every Tuesday, I bring you the stories of Manchester's unsung heroes. The individuals who help to create positive change in our community. My aim is to inspire you, dear listener, to follow your own passions, whether through volunteering or working in the social impact sector. I'm also keen to spotlight good causes and create more awareness and support for them.

Whether you're tuning in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or on my website, meetthemancunian.co.uk, get ready for a season filled with inspiring tales of social impact within our beloved city.

Introduction to David McLenachan

Welcome to the 10th episode of Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester.

Passionate about volunteering in the community? We hear from David McLenachan, volunteer and photographer in this episode.

In David's own words.

[00:01:13] David McLenachan: I really think that's for any individual, that's the most important thing is to go out and make it happen. Now, it's really difficult to know in more specific detail how to do that and say, People I've mentioned like Mac, M A C, is one route so that you can just identify the vast number of opportunities that they collate.

But there's many other ways as well. So it might be in a more local environment. So, what do you have in your local community, your local town or area of Manchester that you might want to get engaged in? Go and see them, find out if there's any need for any volunteers and see where that takes you.

[00:01:53] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much David for joining me today.

[00:01:55] David McLenachan: Thank you Deepa, I'm looking forward to it.

[00:01:58] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: First, tell us about how you found your passion for volunteering. That's been a bit of a journey. How did that start?

[00:02:04] David McLenachan: Very much and very unexpected, and it's led me to things that I could never have imagined that I'd have been because I worked my entire life without stop, and so doing something different with my life was going into the unknown.

And I really had no idea how I was going to occupy my time. I was particularly concerned that I'd instantly get bored. And so, I really went out and tried to see what I might be able to do in my retirement.

Volunteering at The Met

[00:02:30] David McLenachan: So before I retired, I started working in the volunteer capacity at our local theatre and music venue in Bury called The Met. That's one of the most consistent things that I've been involved in. So I've now done 12 years working at the Met and it's from the Met that led to so many other things on this journey of volunteering.

[00:02:52] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is so interesting. So it's almost like volunteering has become a second career for you. Life after retirement and then your capacity of using your skills and experience.

Tell us more about the MET, 12 years of working with them, and as well as all the other wonderful volunteering opportunities you're involved in.

[00:03:09] David McLenachan: The Met was a good one to begin with because at that time, I didn't really have any concept about where volunteering might take me, but I was a reasonably regular paying customer to the Met because my passions are music and photography. So from a music perspective, it's a lovely little venue which can hold up to about 250 people depending on the configuration.

And because I've been there regularly, then I took the opportunity to apply and got involved as a volunteer. Most typically, I'm able to select the work that I do. So I go for bands that I might be interested in. And the volunteering has taken quite a wide range, which might be just checking the customers in with their tickets when they enter the facility. Or more recently, I've been doing some merchandise sales for some of the bands, which I particularly like doing. Because I feel, I've got sales background to some extent, so I find that, that's quite pleasurable, talking to people and encouraging them to buy the merchandise on the night.

Expanding Volunteering Horizons

[00:04:12] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And what are the other volunteering things you're involved in? Do you want to share some of them?

[00:04:18] David McLenachan: I say it's been an unexpected and quite unbelievable journey and the majority of it wasn't planned. And what I found very clearly is that one thing has led to another and most of the time when an opportunity arises, it probably does appeal to me. So, I usually take it up.

Now before this interview, I had a look. I've done 46 different events. Some are one off, some are regular, some are continuous over the last 12 years. It's too much to talk through them all, but there's general themes to it.

And that's why it's important to start with the Met, because that's about music. So the Met, and working for the Met, made me volunteer with their festival that they founded round about 2012, a local festival in Ramsbottom, now moved to Bury.

So I became a volunteer at festivals. And because of that, that led me to eventually working in all of the major Manchester festivals. So the Manchester International Festival, the Manchester Jazz Festival, the Manchester Literature Festival, the Manchester Science Festival and others beyond that. So round about eight festivals that I've done, most of which I carry on doing to this day.

From Volunteering to Photography

[00:05:37] David McLenachan: And because I got involved in festivals, then that actually fortuitously got me into photography to develop the other passion that I have. So over the years, I've really expanded my abilities to be able to take proper photography.

Actually, I won't mention them, but one of those festivals was what first introduced me to the chance to use photography. And I like at that time didn't have a great deal of experience, but luckily they allowed me the chance to start, and because of that start that had a string to my bow, if you like, so I could mention that I worked for this particular festival, and then it became much more accepted that I could do other work.

And over the years, from that beginning where I was not really expertise at all at live music photography, I grew obviously in experience and hopefully improving as the years go on in the sort of quality and the experience I can give photography. So now I've reached the ultimate of my aim.

I'm now a photographer working for a concern at some of the major UK festivals. So this year, I'll be doing Glastonbury Festival as well as Redding Festival. So that's about as big as it can get.

[00:06:47] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I did look at your Flickr and there's some really lovely pictures. And of course, I saw some of the pictures you took for Talking about My Generation, which is another project you and I are involved in.

[00:06:57] David McLenachan: A good contribution for our project on that, so thank you for that, Deepa.

[00:07:02] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You're very welcome.

Challenges and Rewards of Volunteering

[00:07:03] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What are the challenges that you've faced on this journey? You talked about having to establish your credentials as a photographer. Are there other challenges you've had to overcome as a volunteer?

[00:07:14] David McLenachan: Yes, probably more sort of technical challenges, because from the volunteering, I think first the perspective that I'd put is that it's great fun, and everybody you work with in volunteering, almost without fail, has got a marvellous attitude, a willingness to work because they've volunteered. So, it's radically different from normal working life, where, one might be working in a company and everybody comes into the office on Monday morning, and they don't want to be there, but they have to be there. Because obviously that's how they're earning a living.

But with volunteering, it's completely different because people have selected, I want to do this. And so, the attitude and the friendliness and the togetherness, the teamwork you get in volunteering is exceptional more so than in any other form of working life.

There are obviously challenges and I like to extend myself and to do things a little bit out of my comfort zone. So, a couple that come to mind. One of the volunteering roles I do is a patient representative for Greater Manchester Cancer. And on Wednesday next week at the conference in the centre of Manchester, which is a big affair with many hundreds of people, I am in a panel in front of everybody discussing aspects of cancer treatment.

So that's quite a challenge because you're speaking in front of hundreds of people on stage, on film and there's pressure in that and it wouldn't be to everybody's liking to be able to do that. Although I'll be nervous in advance, it's something that I like to do just to push myself that bit further.

And the second thing is that although I like to think of myself as a good photographer has led me because of what people want to do videography. and when it began with that, I found it incredibly difficult to do and get a halfway decent finished product.

But again, over the years, because I pushed myself, I'm definitely getting better at it. And I did an extensive video just last week that was probably my most challenging. And it's turned out well, and certainly the people that I was doing it for were happy with the end results. So I find that, yes, I challenged myself. Not always easy, but the rewards of doing that are so much more fulfilling.

[00:09:30] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that. And I love what you said about volunteering. As somebody who's tried to volunteer literally since I was about 18 years old. And I started volunteering at the local vets to, help with animals and then for a variety of causes over the years.

I think you're so right that it is people choosing to be there. It's people's passion that they're actually bringing to this and there's a lovely energy with working with other fellow volunteers. And then you talked about some of the challenges of stretching yourself, continuously learning, and putting yourself in situations that might be uncomfortable, but help you make even more impact.

[00:10:12] David McLenachan: And I'd add to that as well, Deepa, that older people are far too often lonely, perhaps even alone. And what I find with volunteering is I have more friends now in my life than I ever have.

It's not unusual at all for me to go into Manchester City Centre and I'll bump into somebody I know because of volunteering. So I feel that I'm very much part of the local community, very engaged and involved in that, and it gives me a really good feeling. I have more enjoyment and respect of and the Manchester folk because of my involvement with so many of them.

[00:10:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is so true. Again, it's that positive energy that people bring together and there's a lot of power in collaboration, paying it forward, making connections. Like May introduced us together, that led you to becoming a guest, and hopefully you'll be introducing me to more guests. The real power in this, that's how I, as a new Mancunian, have spoken to now over 93 guests over the last two years. So it's been wonderful.

Impact and Serious Roles

[00:11:18] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us more about the impact that you've made, and it sounds like you're doing a lot to support very many festivals, community organisations, and in many other capacities, but is there something you'd like to specifically share when you think about the impact that you're making?

[00:11:35] David McLenachan: A lot of what I do is because I have a specific interest in it and I do it because hopefully I can be good at it, but also, it's a great enjoyment. Next week, I'm doing the Manchester Jazz Festival for a few days and I absolutely always love it and the great team of people you work with.

But I do a couple of volunteering roles, which are more serious and more demanding.So an example, I'm the vice chair of governors for a local school. So I've been there for this, my ninth year now, and that's a lot more serious.

There's a lot more demand to make sure that you make the right decisions rather than regular volunteering because at the end of the day the lives and the outcomes of the 900 plus students that are at the school is very much dependent on you as a governor making the right decisions and being an effective leader for the head teacher and others to make sure that they're running the school as best as we possibly can.

So that's something that's I need to be fully professional. I need to be planned and organised and hopefully with my experience in the working life over the 34 years that I've worked, it's something that I can convey and help and support the school with.

I actually retired slightly early than expected because I had bowel cancer infection which was treated because it was detected early. But that got me into trying to support other people that are going through a similar sort of cancer journey. I first got involved a little bit with Macmillan's and one or two of the local cancer concerns, but predominantly over many years now, I've been a patient representative for Greater Manchester Cancer, and had a wide range experience.

I think I'm right in saying I've been to every hospital in the Greater Manchester area running sessions, information courses, talks, or whatever. And that again is, vital to get that right because you're working with people that are in the process between having their cancers detected many often cases before they've actually carried out the treatment or not long after the treatment. So there's still very much going through that very challenging and difficult process.

I would hope that I can convey my experience and select advice to people in that in a difficult process. I do it for many ways. Me and my colleagues, we will help to assess communications that the hospital want to send out to patients to make sure that it's in a user-friendly language that people can understand, so it's not technical, it's not too much jargon in it, and, make sure the effective communications are there.

Also done work, for example, helping promote bowel screening because the take up in certain areas of Manchester can be very low, which obviously endangers people's life longer term if they don't get detected soon. So all sorts of things like that. So again that, that's very much an important and a challenging role and really enjoy it. But you have to make decisions and be part of a process.

[00:14:51] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that. Both of them are such significant roles. And I'm sorry that you went through that cancer journey, but it's so amazing that you're taking your experience and helping other people and their families navigate what is a very challenging time for anybody who's either under screening or in the process of getting treatment.

Advice for Aspiring Volunteers

[00:15:13] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Is there a common myth about volunteering that you'd like to myth bust here?

[00:15:19] David McLenachan: I think that the thought that immediately comes to my head is this. A lot of people who want to do something but don't really know where to go or perhaps how to start as a volunteer, will think that the opportunities might be restricted.

Is there much that might work for that person? Because at the end of the day, you want to do volunteering that you have some form of a passion for. Everything that I do, I admit I have a passion for.

What I found throughout the years is that the opportunities are pretty endless. So if there's somebody out there that's thinking, I would like to do some volunteering, in a specific area or a specific reason, whatever the case may be, certainly somewhere out there in Greater Manchester area, there will be something for you to do that suits you and something that you'll feel engaged about, something that you enjoy doing, something be worthwhile because you may be helping other people or whatever the case may be or helping yourself, helping improve your own skills then it is out there. It's just a question of finding it.

And there's various mechanisms that you can use to identify that. So there's an organisation in Manchester, MAC, M A C, and they promote and gather many of the volunteering roles that are available in the Greater Manchester area, so there's opportunities that you can identify and apply for from that process. And they also run, and luckily for me, I'm a photographer for the Spirit of Manchester Awards on an annual basis, which is recognising the vast support Manchester gains from the many tens of thousands of volunteers. And the awards recognise really exceptional achievements in that field.

[00:17:05] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks, David. And that's a really good shout out. People can also listen to the seven seasons of the podcast and identify volunteering opportunities through that, because there's a lot of my guests who mentioned how people can get involved with the cause they're representing. And Spirit of Manchester, of course, is a wonderful way to identify some of the areas in which people can get involved.

What advice would you have for people looking to start a similar movement in their local community?

[00:17:35] David McLenachan: Yes, I think that it's to push yourself. To not keep thinking about it, but to do it to go out and do it and you'll find that doors can open for you and it can perhaps really be fulfilling and of great enjoyment. It's a question of the motivation to make it happen. I think that's true pretty much in everything in life, isn't it?

But I, I find that because I'm confident, because I've done so much. If there's something that I want to engage with, then I find it easy just to see what happens. Now sometimes I might apply for something and It doesn't work out for me, but that's fine because there'll be another different opportunity coming around before too long.

In fact, my challenge is to actually what I do so that I'm not over doing things. Otherwise, I have to turn things down because of all the contacts and work that I've done over the years. So it's being sensible about it as well.

 I really think that's for any individual, that's the most important thing is to go out and make it happen. Now, it's really difficult to know in more specific detail how to do that. And, people I've mentioned like Mac, M A C, is one route so that you can just identify the vast number of opportunities that they collate.

But there's many other ways as well. So it might be in a more local environment. So what do you have in your local community, your local town or area of Manchester that you might want to get engaged in? Go and see them, find out if there's any need for any volunteers and see where that takes you.

[00:19:14] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks, David. That's great advice, and I really like that about being as local as possible, as well as looking at national or Manchester specific opportunities.

An opportunity now for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about

[00:19:29] David McLenachan: The massive highlight for me is being able to work at Glastonbury Festival and I work for a certain concern that has been a long running support for the festival. And so I'm in part of their social media team, and as I mentioned before, I'll be doing photography and videography. And that's a question of pushing, and see how far I can go with that. Because although I've done a fair bit of photography for festivals in Manchester, by comparable size, they're relatively small compared with Glastonbury, with literally hundreds of thousands of people that attend and work at the event.

But I have got a decent opportunity to gain a Press Photography Pass, and that takes the level of photography that I've been doing up a notch, if you like. So not only can I take sort of general stuff, I can also hopefully take some quality images of some of the major acts that perform there. And I was able to do that at Reading Festival last year. So if that can happen for me at Glastonbury in June, only next month then that'll be absolutely ideal for me. And I know that I'll have to be upping my game to make it the best that I can.

[00:20:44] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks, and that sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Even as a newcomer to the UK, I've heard a lot about Glastonbury, and hopefully at some point, I'll be part of it as well.

Personal Reflections and Life Lessons

[00:20:55] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I come to now the signature questions I ask all my guests. The first one is, if Manchester was a colour, what colour do you think it would be and why?

[00:21:05] David McLenachan: There's absolutely only one answer I can give to that because of the football team that I support. So I've been a season ticket holder for 28 years at Manchester United,. Having said that, I don't need to say what colour Manchester should be and is for me.

[00:21:25] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You do need to perhaps for those who are not football fans.

[00:21:29] David McLenachan: Oh, everybody would know. My apologies. It's not blue. It is red.

[00:21:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Yes, it's a lovely colour and we did have Manchester United Foundation on the podcast as well. So that's really nice to know.

If you could choose a famous landmark in Manchester to represent you, which one would it be and why?

[00:21:48] David McLenachan: I'm surprising myself in saying this, actually. I was just there yesterday at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and the reason why that's perhaps the most important, when the Manchester bombs went off one of the people that worked for me was very closely involved in that, but luckily she was not injured, but she was very close to it.

And I remember that the first time came back into the centre after that was just around the Royal Exchange Theatre. So that probably is the place that is most important to me, you might say.

[00:22:26] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm so happy your colleague was okay, but I know it was a terrible, traumatic time.

If you could trade lives with someone in Manchester for a day, who would it be with and why?

I'll probably be the manager of Manchester United for a day and I'll select the team, and I'll motivate the team and I'll do such a wonderful job that we'll probably only lose by a couple of goals.

[00:22:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's a great one. Thank you for a true blue, true red football fan.

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

[00:22:59] David McLenachan: When I was younger as a student, and for many years when I first started working, I did not make the most of my life. Yes, I enjoyed it. Yes, I did some good things. I succeeded as a student to a degree, I was always employed by the same company, so I obviously did a reasonably good job. But I definitely did not make the most of my time as a younger person. And I just put it down to laziness. Lack of motivation, you might say.

By far and away, the important thing, that I could relate to as a life lesson is that simply that the more you put into something, the more you're likely to get out. And now for many years now probably the last 20 odd years of my life, I put so much more into everything that I do. Then I find that it greatly enriches and enhances my life. So that is the most important lesson I could possibly convey to anybody.

[00:23:59] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It sounds like you found your purpose and that made all the difference. You were doing things, and you were doing them well, but you really found your purpose and you're shining in that.

[00:24:10] David McLenachan: I hope so. But I certainly enjoy life to the full as much as I reasonably and sensibly can.

[00:24:17] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's the most important personality trait someone would need to be successful in your role? Let's say here maybe a role as photographer and videographer at major festivals.

[00:24:28] David McLenachan: It's actually engaging and being able to reassure people to be open and honest with people. But because of my background in business, then I've got a vast amount of experience with dealing with people of all walks of life. So in business, I would be dealing with people from they may be a farmer, they may be a warehouse man, they may be somebody working in a shop. But I also engaged and had meetings with people that were chief executives of companies or major purchasing departments of multinational companies and so forth. So I learnt about how well to deal with people.

And what most people do is that they don't listen to that person as much as they should. And by listening, you understand where that person's coming from and where that person's needs are, as opposed to you thinking, what they need or what they were going to want.

I think that's really important. I would like to think that I'm good at that. And it really relates to everything I do in actual fact, because photography is a good example of that. No matter who the person is, if it's somebody that's perhaps relatively well known or an important person, they're in your hands and they expect you to be saying, this is what we need to do about it, but not in a commanding or dictatorial way, but in an expert giving advice way.

So photography and video work, you have to convey that sense of knowledge and experience and knowing what to do particularly thinking on your feet. So if it's an unexpected eventuality, then how do I deal with this? How do I help the person get over that? And it's only by doing that and properly communicating with people in a very convivial, friendly way, that you can get the most out of somebody.

[00:26:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Insightful tips. One is about, deep listening and being emotionally intelligent. And the second, about being the expert, but in a collaborative and advisory capacity so that you can get the best out of the time people are giving you for that photography or videography.

How can interested people reach out to you and learn more? And also, where can they find your work?

[00:26:58] David McLenachan: By all means, follow me. And I'll probably follow you back on Instagram, which is D McLenchan, that's D M C L E N A C H A N. Or Twitter, where I post some of my work not so much on the photography, more general stuff, which is Avalon underscore Fields, which is a Glastonbury reference. So those are the two online connections.

[00:27:26] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks David. I'll make sure to include all these links in the show notes so people can find you.

Heartwarming Volunteering Stories

[00:27:31] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And to end the podcast, is there a funny or a heart warming story you'd like to share with listeners?

[00:27:37] David McLenachan: I'll leave you with this one, actually. I haven't mentioned it because it was a one off, but when they came about for COVID because of my connections with Greater Manchester Cancer, I got invited to be a volunteer.

The very first vaccination centre in Manchester was at Wythenshawe. I started working there in the first week that vaccinations were starting to get to be given out. So it's very much an unknown entity then. It was quite a trial period obviously that first week was specifically a trial and then it's extended throughout the the rest of Manchester and over the next like year and a half of that, I worked in every single major vaccination centre.

I think there was maybe 13 I think it was it throughout the Greater Manchester area. which was an incredibly important time and from a personal point of view it was a very valuable time because I was actually doing something of use rather than being confined at home with nothing to really do.

So the very first day that I worked at the vaccination centres in the December when the vaccines become available at Wythenshawe. The majority of the people there were extremely elderly. And I'll never forget a couple that came in the morning. They'd been married for 67 years. And they were both over 100 years old. And they came in, and because they viewed it as a really important occasion, they'd got dressed up, so he was wearing a suit and she was wearing, the best clothes, if you like.

And they said that it's really important this and that's why we got dressed up and we want to show everybody else that this is the right way forward .This is the right thing to do.

And it just happened obviously because the photographer said can we take some photographs while we're here? So I took their photographs and actually, they were involved in some of the local news stories and because obviously, again, it was a major news story at the time, wasn't it? So they were in some of the Manchester press as a result of the photographs and the little story that they had to take.

And I thought that it was so heartwarming because these were fantastic people that were over a hundred years old, but they still had a certain sprightliness about themselves. And they wished to not only protect themselves, but convey the message out to the rest of the Manchester community of how important it was and, get out there, get your vaccine and hopefully protect yourself.

[00:30:05] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That is such a lovely story. Very powerful because I know this is a time when a lot of people had vaccine hesitation and were worried about coming forward to see this hundred plus year old couple role modelling must have been amazing. And, obviously you took their story and helped the local press hear more about it, which again helped reach more people.

And also, being involved at such a time, we definitely benefited from this as many others did, but I also know it was a time of a lot of misinformation and hesitancy and many large groups of communities just not willing to take the vaccine.

[00:30:46] David McLenachan: I'll say more about that in a second, but looking back in it now, and it may be not even a very considerate thing to say. I look back on that, time when we were working in the vaccination centres as a really good time because we were all as volunteers, meeting hundreds and hundreds of people every day.

I did 54 shifts, so I'll have been so like tens of thousands of people that I helped. And I look back at it now and think now this amazing community spirit in the main. It was a very positive sort of experience. There was difficulties as well and there were certain challenges that people had to face with various things and but it was also, it was heartwarming.

You spoke about the communities where it was more difficult to convince people to take the vaccine because I worked alongside the COVID connectors. So a bunch of women. West Indies descent and it was their community that was one of the more difficult ones to convince to take the vaccine. There was various taboos about it. And they were trying to break down those barriers.

So these wonderful women that were incredibly engaging and lively and fun who took some photographs of were going round, local community centres, schools, meeting points and whatever, to tell the truth of it all, and why the vaccine, should be taken and how it's going to protect you as opposed to, endanger you. And that was really wonderful. It was really good to see that.

[00:32:22] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: There was a lot of work that a lot of lovely charities were doing and people of all communities coming forward to be front and centre for this.

Thank you so much, David. This has been a really interesting conversation.

[00:32:35] David McLenachan: Volunteer. It's the best thing I can do. And it's the best thing you can do too.

[00:32:40] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for taking the time.

[00:32:43] David McLenachan: It's my pleasure. I enjoyed it.

Outro

David, I really enjoyed learning about volunteering in the community today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the 10th episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast season eight.

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, 13th August 2024, I speak to Claire Hines about community retail.

Thank you for joining me on the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I hope today's conversation has sparked new ideas and inspired you to act in your community. A big thank you to my wonderful community for your continuous support and valuable feedback. Your stories shape the very essence of my podcast, driving me forward with purpose.

I'm eager to hear your thoughts. Visit my website at www.meethemancunian to share your insights. Remember, this podcast is your platform too.

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Together, we're more than just listeners. We're a vibrant community dedicated to making a difference in Manchester. Spread the love by sharing, commenting and engaging with my guests and me.

Keep fostering connections and always remember the power to change the world lies within each of us.

Until next time.