Movement is Life Newsletter - February 2024
Intelligent Health UK
We create healthy, active & engaged communities and deliver the popular Beat the Street health programme.
A welcome from Dr William Bird
Hello,
As we look towards the spring, I hope that you are keeping yourself fit and well. It’s nearly time for this year’s first tranche of Beat the Street games, with games across England and Scotland set to start later this month!
In January, I had the privilege of giving evidence to MPs on the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee about children and young people’s experiences of the built environment. You can read more about this in our Policy round-up.
Please do get in touch with our team if you would like to contribute to the content of our newsletter in any way. We also really appreciate your feedback!
Best Wishes,
William and the Intelligent Health team
Policy round-up
Head of External Affairs, Emily Carter , provides us with a round-up of the past few months in politics, including updates on:
The Sports Think Tank 2024 Manifesto
Today, on 1 February 2024, Sports Think Tank has published ‘The Road to the 2024 Election Manifesto - 100 policy ideas for sport, physical activity and wellbeing’. We joined 28 organisations, each with ideas for manifestos and the first 100 days in power. Our policy chapter 'Routes to Roots' looks at a cross-departmental approach to improving walkability in a place, enabling communities to be more active. Routes to Roots outlines opportunities for policymakers to revolutionise health outcomes, with the role of community at the heart of these low-cost or no-cost policy ideas.
Insights
Beat the Street headline results 2023
132,878 unique participants.
12% of the population.
126% average reach in 2023.
+6% representation form 40% most deprived.
+17% higher tapper rate.
Average economic benefit: £810 adult participant.
Beat the Street Scotland 2023
Examining our games in Falkirk North, Clydesdale and Renfrewshire.
West Reading Highlights
Beat the Street can provide a range of insights, from resilience levels, to mental wellbeing and greenspaces to name but a few. Want to learn more about what insights are possible? Message us!
Beat the Street news
Phase 2 games 🎉
In February, 7 Beat the Street games begin! Keep an eye on any updates below...
Do you want Beat the Street in your local area? Send us a message!
Follow Beat the Street on TikTok 📱
Our TikTok account is back! Scan the QR Code and it will take you straight to our page. From Wellbeing with William, to What's in my bag, there is a video for everyone!
Make sure you follow our Instagram account too, for all the latest Beat the Street news.
Partner spotlight 🔍
Wildlife & Countryside Link
Richard Benwell is CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link , a coalition of 69 environmental charities. He is also Chair of the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership and a Board member of UK Youth for Nature.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Have you heard Dr William Bird and Richard Benwell on our podcast? It's a great listen; Richard expands on the Nature 2030 policy and much more. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
What else has been going on at Intelligent Health?
As part of Intelligent Health's work as a System Partner with Sport England, we have been exploring our value for places by listening to local partners.
We now understand that ill health, inequalities and climate change are stretching the resilience of councils and communities across England. We understand that each place is unique and has its own set of assets and priorities. Our team work closely with partners to tackle these interlinked and complex issues. Through Beat the Street, we are able bring together leaders and empower communities to find ways to collaborate, recognise their shared challenges and deliver meaningful change. We are able to provide a transformational tool for partners to improve public health and place at scale. It uses behavioural science and is evidence-based. At its heart is a game, Beat the Street, that enables adults and children to connect to where they live, work and play and empowers them to make small changes to daily behaviours.
We are able to deliver at scale thanks to our digital platform that leverages innovative technology and gamification and provides a window into an audience. Our support helps build capability and capacity for partners. We combine community engagement, behavioural science, data insight, project management and marketing expertise with a digital platform that provides the window into the audience. We have moved from providing evidence of the impact of our programme into actionable insight for a place. We are now able to share this insight and drill into rich data down to an LSOA level. Insight includes the link between nature connectedness, wellbeing and resilience.
CEO and Founder of Datalla group, and Intelligent Health board member, Kevin McDonnell, recently featured William, on 'The Future Health' newsletter in a guest blog about 'The Root Cause of Ill Health'.
Thank you to everyone who provided input into this.
Any questions please email Katherine.
Christmas Business Day!
We had a great day in December with our Christmas business day. It was brilliant to have the team together! We were even joined by 'The Dancing Doctor'.
Dates for your diary ✍️
February: 1 Time to Talk Day, 4 World Cancer Day, 17 Random Acts of Kindness Day, 26 Emotional Health Day
April: 7 World Health Day, 22 Earth Day
Recommended round up
In January, 'Books and More' held another successful meeting, with 8 attendees! Thanks to all who came along, we covered so many topics in this meeting, from Christmas reads to the power of art and everything in-between. Check out some great recommendations below 👇
Reading 📖: Citizens by Jon Alexander, Donut Economics by Kate Raworth, Code of Conduct - Why We Need to Fix Parliament - and How to Do It by Chris Bryant, In Memoriam by Alice Winn, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl, Sunset by Jessie Cave, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones by Dolly Parton, Warm Data by Nora Bateson, The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell..
Listen🎧: Besides our own IH podcast ‘Movement is Life’, Things Fell Apart, Woman's Hour, LBC Radio.
Watch📺: NT at Home, Painting with Light - On the Roam (with Jason Momoa).
Remember, you can see extended information about our recommendations on the IH website.
Listen to our podcast 🎧
Season 2 is drawing to a close, but you now have 9 episodes to binge, with one more on the way later this month! Have you listened or left us a review yet? 🎧
There is an episode for everyone. From environmental, to health, to wellbeing. Don't delay, discover all the latest insights and developments from a range of sectors today!
If you are interested in promoting your organisation's work through our podcast, send us a message.
Activity inspiration! 🚶
In this edition, we are focusing on all the benefits associated with volunteering. Get active in 2024 helping a local organisation whether it's a gardening project or a sports club.
There are many ways to volunteer locally:
Benefits from voluntary work include...