10GM and GM Moving Test and Learn Investments in Action
In 2023, 10GM invested in two VCSE infrastructure organisations in Greater Manchester to test out approaches that support Sport England and GM Moving’s ambition of ‘connecting communities’ to enable active lives for all. Investments were made into test and learn sites in Wigan and Bury to explore how VCSE infrastructure organisations and community-based approaches can support people to move more.
About the programme
In 2023, 10GM invested in two VCSE infrastructure organisations in Greater Manchester to test out approaches that support Sport England and GM Moving’s ambition of ‘connecting communities’ to enable active lives for all. Investments were made into test and learn sites in Wigan and Bury to explore how VCSE infrastructure organisations and community-based approaches can support people to move more.
The two sites were chosen deliberately to represent different challenges. Wigan offered established good practice and strong sports clubs in need of better connections, while Bury’s Whitefield and Besses area presented greater need, higher deprivation and untapped potential for community development.
Both pilots demonstrated that relationship-centred, place-based work is at the heart of lasting change. Building trust with community groups, sports clubs and statutory partners took time, patience and persistent engagement. Sports clubs in Wigan began to recognise their broader role as community assets through this work. In Bury, VCSE groups facilitated access to youth voice, family engagement and hyperlocal insight. With capacity building support, these organisations provided trusted spaces, volunteering opportunities and new pathways into physical activity. The work also shaped wider system change. In Bury, the test and learn approach directly influenced Live Well planning and is now seen as a model for neighbourhood-based prevention work. In Wigan, new feedback loops and improved connectivity with the system emerged through the relationships built with clubs.
Key findings from this work include: the importance of relational, place-based working; the need for dedicated roles that can operate flexibly; the power of community groups and sports clubs as connectors; the need for wraparound capacity building support for VCSE organisations and groups; how place-based work can create systems change; and the need for longer-term funding for place-based work.
This learning will be used to shape future investments into community based approaches, to support physical activity and movement.
Place, People, and Power:
Community‑Driven Learning from Wigan and Bury
In 2023, 10GM invested in two VCSE infrastructure organisations in Greater Manchester to test out approaches that support Sport England and GM Moving’s ambition of ‘connecting communities’ to enable active lives for all.
This report highlights learning from investments in test and learn sites in Wigan and Bury from 2023 to 2025, exploring how community-based approaches can support people to move more. The report shares Bury VCFA and Groundwork Wigan’s project journeys, identifies enablers and blockers and discusses how integrating place-based and whole system approaches drives change.
Get in touch
If you’d like to find out more about the programme, or you’d like to get involved in our work, get in touch with Kat Pursall, Strategic Lead at 10GM.
