Amazing Starts Here

How do you inspire people to believe in a sustainable future? 

When our Game Changer - Sir Tim Smit – came across a disused clay quarry in Cornwall in the 1990s, he knew he’d found the answer. 

Sir Tim is the visionary co-founder of the Eden Project, which transformed sterile soil into a lush green landscape, and turned a forgotten quarry into a global destination for nature, culture and sustainability. The National Lottery was an original funder of the Eden Project, and continues to fund projects there to this day.  

Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – meets Sir Tim, to find out what it took to create this vision. She asks how he inspires people to believe in a better future, and encounters Sir Tim’s incredible drive and inspiring energy. 

And we pay a visit to historic Whitby Abbey, for the unveiling of a breathtaking new artwork. 

Sir Tony Robinson joins the Game Changers on the Yorkshire clifftops, to experience the work by David Popa, celebrating these exceptional Game Changing individuals who have been transforming different Heritage communities over the last three decades.  

Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode.

Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk  

What’s the best way to inspire the next generation of scientists?

That was the question facing our Game Changer Teresa Anderson MBE. She’s a physicist and the director of the Discovery Centre at Jodrell Bank. For the past 18 years, she has been driving the Observatory’s redevelopment, hoping to attract a new, diverse generation of people to gaze at the stars, and discover the wonders of space.

The stunning new exhibition spaces are the result, built with a little help from The National Lottery.

Game Changers host, Aimee Fuller - two-time Olympian, author and broadcaster – visits the Observatory – a UNESCO World Heritage Site - to meet Teresa, and see the vision for herself.

And we take a trip to historic Whitby Abbey, perched on the cliffs of the windswept Yorkshire coast. Here, a breathtaking new artwork has been created by David Popa, celebrating the Game Changers - exceptional individuals who have had an extraordinary impact on heritage and conservation over the last three decades.

Be inspired. Follow to catch every episode.

Game Changers is brought to you by National Lottery players, who raise £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. For more information about projects that help ordinary people, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

A Listen production for The National Lottery. 

What does it take for a person to make a big impact? What drives them? Where do they find inspiration?

In the brand-new revamped series of Game Changers, Aimee Fuller – two-time Olympian – meets ordinary people who do extraordinary things with a little help from The National Lottery.

This extra special series celebrates the 30th birthday of The National Lottery, and Aimee hears from people who have achieved remarkable things across the UK. From the person who has brought millions of people together through parkrun, to the Discovery Centre attracting a new, diverse, generation to Jodrell Bank. From a voluntary project helping isolated elderly people, to the visionary gym that went viral after helping people with disabilities work up a sweat and get fit.

Aimee discovers how the people who built these projects broke through, and how they continue to bring profound change, inspiration, and collective joy to millions. 

Joining us are the likes of Sir Tony Robinson and Adele Roberts, who champion Game Changers across the worlds of arts, heritage, community and sport. They introduce specially created artworks at major landmarks - at Whitby Abbey with its windswept cliffs, at the parkland oasis of St James Park, and the bustling V&A Museum in London.

Join Aimee Fuller on an extraordinary journey.

Homework, football boots, glucagon kit. For football-mad 14-year-old Lochlan Murdoch between school and training, managing Type 1 Diabetes has been a job 10 years in the making. However, after a devastating injury on the pitch, Lochlan was motivated and inspired to educate those around him on both the physical and mental impact of having diabetes at a young age - and the impact he would have would be well beyond his expectations.

In this episode, Sam Quek meets Lochlan and his mum Lesley to find out about Lochlan's Legacy, a National Lottery funded project about how adults can positively impact young people's mental health and the unexpected impact Kilmarnock FC had in the teenager’s journey.

Listen to discover Lochlan's story and his remarkable legacy.

Amazing Starts Here is brought to you by National Lottery players, for more information about good causes in your area, visit: https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk

A Listen production for The National Lottery.

Work pressure, isolation and stigma: the challenges facing the UK's farmers can be familiar, but as We Are Farming Minds, the Hertfordshire-based mental health charity demonstrates, these factors can be heightened for farmers, by their unique careers and remote lives. 

In this episode of Amazing Starts Here, Sam Quek catches up with Sam and Emily Stables from the National Lottery funded We Are Farming Minds project, where they support individuals and open up conversations about mental health issues in the most remote farming communities. 

You'll hear about the lives of people that We Are Farming Minds has changed through their support line, social events, counselling and awareness training. Plus, discover how this couple faced the challenges of bringing the taboo topic of suicide into the mainstream, how they are looking to the future, leading the charge on mental health services in their community, and they reveal all about their visits from country-loving royals. 

Trigger Warning: This episode includes stories and descriptions of suicide; some contents may be upsetting or trigger an adverse reaction. Listener discretion is advised.