The Change Makers: How to Create Better Lives
Change Makers: Creating better lives helps to understand how exceptional individuals from different backgrounds have set out to make social change. In this exciting new podcast series, Sir Tom Hughes-Hallett interviews founders of charities social businesses and social movements, highlighting the wonderful work been done right here in the UK. After a successful business career - Tom ran Marie Curie - led the government review on charitable giving, founded two charities both of which have been a real success, and backed others some of which have failed. The charity founder he admires most is his wife - founder of Smart Works. Working with four of the country's leading charitable foundations, The National Lottery Community Fund, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Fore and The Suffolk Community Foundation; The Change Makers identified fifty founders from eight year old to eighty year olds, from north to south, from health to ornithology. Curious to know -Why did they do it? What skills do you need? Will your obsession cause you happiness or great pain? Can you afford to do this? Will the state be your friend? Are funders saints or exasperating? How do you hand on your charity to somebody else? Do you need a business plan? What academic qualifications for you need? (Clue - none!) Should you fly solo or find a friend as your cofounder who has complimentary skills to your own? These and many other topics form the basis of fascinating, serious, and often humorous stories. You will enjoy whoever you are but if you are thinking of starting to create social change, then by listening you can learn from those who have been there before you - pitfalls are flagged and handy tips shared. We hope you enjoy the ride.
Episodes
17 episodes
Clare Wilson and Fiona Ellis
“Survivors feel different to other people, like they don’t fit in, whereas here they meet each other and they connect...” In the last episode of the Change Makers Sir Tom meets Fiona Ellis and Clare Wilson, founders of
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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54:47
Sophie Humphreys OBE
In the second last episode of the first series of #TheChangeMakers, Sir Tom meets with Sophie Humphreys OBE, founder and driver of two charities: Pause, focusing on the wellbeing of children taken into care and SHiFT, a charity enabling childre...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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58:54
Brad Gudger
In episode fifteen of The Change Makers we meet Brad Gudger whose personal experience with cancer has given him an asset and skills to create a charity Alike to support and guide other people diagn...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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49:05
Esther Rantzen
In the new episode of The Change Makers, Sir Tom introduces us to Dame Esther Rantzen, who following her career as a successful broadcaster, created two charities Childline promoting child protection and
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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51:32
Junior Smart
In this episode of The Change Makers we meet an inspiring youth leader Junior Smart, who on release from prison set up the SOS Project, London’s largest gangs' ex-offenders exit programme, and a charity
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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54:56
Rory Moore
Rory Moore is our next Change Maker. Rory is an LSE student who, in the challenging times of the pandemic, founded Coronavirus Community Volunteering (CCV Global) supporting people in their local communi...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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47:42
Dame Laura Lee
In this episode Sir Tom introduces us to Dame Laura Lee, who leads a charity - Maggie's, that cares for those living with cancer. Maggie's was a vision of Maggie Keswick Jencks, who lived with advanced can...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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55:47
Sat Singh
Our next Change Maker Sat Singh started the Renaissance Foundation following personal experiences in his youth. The Renaissance Foundation offers a 3-year tailored outreach programme that ai...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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51:56
Sarah Anderson
In this episode we meet a founder of the Listening Place, a charity where a team of trained volunteers offer free, confidential and ongoing face-to-face listening, by appointment, to people who feel ...
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Season 1
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Episode 109
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59:14
Nick O'Shea
In episode eight we meet a part-time Change Maker Nick O’Shea who besides being Chief Economist for Centre for Mental Health also runs Ignition Brewery, a brewery employing people with learning disabilities, involved in all aspects of the busin...
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Season 1
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Episode 108
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57:36
Sister Mary Joy
In episode seven we listen to the extraordinary story of Sister Mary Joy as she moves from being Europe’s first female professional firewoman to being a jockey, a nun, and then a Change Maker. Sister Mary Joy established The Wormwood Scrubs Pon...
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Season 1
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Episode 107
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52:20
Geoff Stevens
In this episode, we meet Geoff Stevens, who inspired by his faith and his fathers dementia founded Pathways Care Farm, which gives vulnerable people the opportunity to learn, re-build and gro...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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48:32
Sophia Parker
In this episode Sir Tom talks to Sophia Parker, who founded a very successful charity Little Village while looking after three children under six. Little Village is a "food bank", but for clothes toys and equipment for babies and children up to...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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1:02:40
Marcellus Baz
In this episode we meet Marcellus Baz. Born and raised in Nottingham, Marcellus grew up to become a product of his surroundings. Involved in gang activity from his youth, Marcellus spent much of his time running from the law and dealing with th...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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55:55
Dame Stephanie Shirley
This week Sir Tom talks with Dame Stephanie Shirley who arrived in Birtiain as an unaccompanied child refugee in 1939 from nazi Germany on the kinder transport. She started what became Xansa plc (now part of the Sopra Group) on her dining room ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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52:16