n 2021
: Autum Issue 7
THE EA DIFFERENCE
E R E H W Y R E EV
Hear from our management team on why Everyone Active stands out from the crowd
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PARTNERSHIPS IN FOCUS Theresa Hodgkinson, CEO of Ashfield District Council, talks about the council’s long-standing partnership with Everyone Active
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EVERYONE IS FAMILY Take a look at our successful campaign to engage more families in activity
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INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION YOUR SOURCE FOR THE LATEST NEWS FROM EVERYONE ACTIVE
As we enter the final months of 2021, this latest edition will look at the changing landscape and opportunities ahead for the industry and public leisure sector. We’ll also have our regular features from events at centres across the country and interviews with our Sporting Champions who inspired the nation at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics.
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A WORD FROM OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM We speak to colleagues from our management team to discuss five key topics, from operational advancements to the valuable expertise we provide to our local authority partners. Ben Beevers Group Development Director Jacqui Tillman Head of Sport and Aquatics Tim Waller Group Health and Safety Manager Erin Flower Group Marketing Manager George Lampshire Regional Health, Safety and Quality Manager
Digital advancements have been crucial to Everyone Active and the running of our operations. Digital systems can provide simple processes for supporting colleagues, customers and partners.
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COLLEAGUES AND BUSINESS STRUCTURE “Our training is brought together by our group managers and regional managers, who are experts in this sector.”
OUR BRAND AND INCLUSIVITY “In terms of our brand and messaging we want to be inclusive.”
With over 10,000 colleagues across the business, our team discuss the Everyone Active business structure and expertise with-in each department.
We believe that opportunities should be open to all and is committed to providing services which embrace inclusivity, diversity and promote equality of opportunity.
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OUR CUSTOMERS AND ACTIVITY OFFERING “We’ve got in excess of 145,000 children having a swimming lesson every week… but every child needs to be treated as a complete individual.” With over a million customers through our doors each week, we are passionate about supporting an active and healthy lifestyle for all ages.
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DIGITAL INNOVATION “The digital development allows customers to understand how they’re progressing.”
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PARTNERSHIPS AND NGBS “Our relationships help us shape the way the industry develops and how we can support it.” With over 200 leisure facilities across the country, we work closely with a range of partners and national governing bodies to deliver our sports development and activity programmes.
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A NATION INSPIRED BY THE SUMMER OF SPORTS How our centres have helped local athletes and inspired the next generation of Sporting Champions! OUR SPORTING CHAMPIONS’ SUCCESS IN TOKYO What a summer it was! The whole nation was inspired by athletes from all over the globe who took part in the Olympics and Paralympics. Here at Everyone Active, we were just as gripped by the events, as we got behind our Sporting Champions taking part in several events in Tokyo.
What is Sporting Champions? The Sporting Champions scheme, now in its fifth year, provides funding and mentoring to athletes up and down the country. It has helped more than 1,000 local athletes to achieve their sporting potential by providing them with free access to Everyone Active’s centres. The scheme offers support and advice to athletes though mentoring sessions led by influential sports stars and experts, including our ambassador and former world champion hurdler, Colin Jackson.
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WHAT OUR SPORTING CHAMPIONS ACHIEVED
Reece Dunn EA centre: Plymouth Life Centre athlete Paralympics GB’s most decorated a silver of the Games, with three golds, and bronze medal. 100m butterfly S14: Silver 100m backstroke S14: Bronze 200m freestyle S14: Gold d 200m individual medley SM14: Gol : Gold 4x100m mixed freestyle relay S14
How has the Sporting Champions scheme supported your career? EA Sporting champions scheme has helped me by allowing me access to gyms in my local area when I needed them and especially over the last year. This allowed me to be flexible around my training times to provide the best schedule I can leading up to the games in Tokyo. What has the experience been like since returning from Tokyo? Since being back home, it’s been really exciting. I’ve had great opportunities, including been invited to many awards and sporting events. There have been challenges, and the media focus has been new learning for me, but I’m just enjoying every moment that I can. What impact has Tokyo 2020 had on your sport and how excited are you for the next few years? I’m very excited for the next few years; I’m currently looking at the commonwealth games as my next challenge, which is next year in Birmingham. So a home games is always exciting. Then after that I’ll look to start planning for the Paris 2024 games!
Hannah Cockroft
Max amazingly retained his Olympic title with victory in the men’s pommel horse at Tokyo 2020. The accomplishment was his third gold medal on sport’s greatest stage.
Everyone Active centre: Wythenshawe Forum
Everyone Active centre: Basildon Sporting Village
T34 100m: Gold T34 800m: Gold
Chelsie Giles
Men’s Pommel Horse: Gold
Daryll Neita
Chelsie took home the first medal for Team GB, she became an Olympic medallist on the mat winning bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Daryll was part of the successful GB women’s relay team. The foursome retained their Olympic bronze medal from Rio, by securing the bronze in Tokyo against tough competition.
Everyone Active centre: Hatton Swimming Pool
Everyone Active centre: Langley Leisure Centre
Women’s Judo -52kg: Gold
Declan Brooks
Women’s 4x100m Relay: Bronze
Richard Kilty
Portsmouth-born Declan Brooks was part of the inspirational GB BMX team. In a nail-biting final, he managed to scoop a superb bronze medal in the BMX park freestyle.
Part of the men’s sprint relay team, Richard celebrated alongside the relay team in Tokyo. The Stockton born sprinter helped the team to secure the men’s 4x100m silver medal.
Everyone Active centre: Fareham Leisure Centre
Everyone Active centre: Middlesbrough Sports Village
Men’s Freestyle Park: Bronze
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Max Whitlock
Hannah clinched double Paralympic gold at the Games, clocking a new world record of 16.39s over 100m in the process. In the 800m, she set a Paralympic record of 1:48.99, finishing more than 10 seconds clear of her rivals.
Men’s 4x100m Relay: Silver
CLIMBING HIGH AFTER TOKYO! With a surge in interest across the UK, climbing was one of the big success stories of the Tokyo Olympics, featuring at its first ever games.
DID YOU KNOW? Everyone Active operates more roped climbing facilities than any other company in the UK.
As the sport goes from strength to strength in this country, we spoke to our Regional Climbing Manager, Jez Tapping. He talks us through what the future holds for climbing facilites and why now might be the time to expand upwards… What are the different types of climbing facilities that Everyone Active offers? Everyone Active currently operates 24 climbing facilities nationwide. These include national competition centres like Westway Climbing, through to brand new auto belay parks like Winchester Sport and Leisure Park and everything in between. Indoor climbing has been a periphery sport for around 25 years. However, in the last 10 years, we’ve seen many more leisure providers including climbing within its facility offering. The last five years has seen a meteoric rise in standalone bouldering centres and companies. However, as leisure/sports centres tend to be larger buildings, they provide ample opportunity to house rope climbing facilities. Everyone Active operates more roped climbing facilities than any other company in the UK. This is all well and good for your pre-established climbers but what about the younger demographic? This is where auto belay parks come in (also known as Clip’n’Climb). These facilities are the ultimate playground and introduces people to the fun at a height environment with a very simple and fool proof safety mechanism, so that instructors can concentrate on encouraging and motivating.
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Are there any exciting developments taking place at Everyone Active centres? We have just opened Winchester auto belay park and by the end of the year we will have Fareham’s 20 element park, as well as Amersham’s newest joint facility open. Joint facilities are the things of legends in the climbing industry with a facility that has the pull, attraction and recruitment power of an auto belay park but the retention rates of a standard indoor climbing facility. These really are the commercial power houses that help create climbing communities.
What is special about the community of climbers? Climbing is an incredibly inclusive sport. The activity is totally adaptable to different ability groups and commonly you will find the world’s greatest climbers climbing next to your newcomers. Add this to a collaborative culture that has been cooked into climbing and bouldering. You can go down to any climbing gym and you will be able to spark up a conversation with most climbers. Many of whom are happy to offer you tips (or “beta”) to help you get to the top!
Has there been any major changes since reopening facilities this year? As with every industry, it has been challenging getting people back in through the doors with confidence. But thankfully, with a few small adjustments and some great teams running our facilities, we have got back up to speed incredibly well.
What has the impact been since climbing featured at the Olympics? What we have seen is a large number of “dormant” climbers coming back into facilities. Those that had climbing already in their sphere have been re-enthused back into it. Looking ahead, with climbing at the Olympics in Paris 2024, it will be a little closer to home and hopefully with a strong British representation. This will provide more media coverage and we are hopeful 2024 will bring a boom for the sport.
It’s an exciting time for climbing! What are you looking forward to over the years to come? The industry is seeing a boom in investment with facilities in London tripling over the last 5 years. But as yet, they are all bouldering facilities and so the next big excitement will be when new rope facilities start popping up. Hopefully the result of maturing bouldering companies or the next big entrant into the market. With speed also being included in the Olympic disciplines and only five UK based facilities for this, I am sure this will be a verging facet of new facilities opening soon.
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OPEN DAYS ARE BACK!
A day to meet local celebrity guests, get a first glimpse at a new centre and get involved in lots of fun activities. We’re delighted to have hosted open days across the country in September and October. Welcoming local communities to our new and refurbished state-of-the-art centres.
Local community celebrate open day at new Whitehill and Bordon Leisure Centre At Whitehill and Bordon Leisure Centre, our colleagues welcomed the local community to the official open day in September. The £10 million sports centre has already proved to be extremely popular with the local community, welcoming thousands of customers through its doors since its opening. The centre features a six lane 25m swimming pool, teaching pool, 80-station gym and two large fitness studios including a dedicated spin studio.
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OUR OPEN DAYS
Everyone Active, who manages the centre in partnership with East Hampshire District Council hosted the free open day for the local community with a jam-packed day of activity. Visitors were welcomed by former Olympic athlete and Everyone Active brand ambassador, Colin Jackson. The Welshman led the way by taking part in gym challenges throughout the day. Chris West, Contract Manager at Everyone Active commented: “The opening of the new Whitehill and Bordon Leisure Centre has proved to be a massive success. The centre plays a pivotal part in helping the community to improve their health and wellbeing.” Councillor Richard Millard, Leader of East Hampshire District Council, said: “It is the council’s ambition to transform Whitehill & Bordon from a garrison to a green, healthy and connected town. “EHDC and our partners Everyone Active have pulled out all the stops to open this centre, despite the turmoil of the pandemic, and I could not be more delighted to see it brim full and bustling with families.”
South Oxhey Leisure Centre marks one year on from refurbishment with community day To mark the one-year anniversary of its impressive extension and brand-new facilities, South Oxhey Leisure Centre, managed in partnership with Three Rivers District Council, hosted an open day for the local community to enjoy. The fun filled open day was a huge success with over 500 people attending. Nearly 100 of those took part in one of the free exercise classes on offer, and almost 250 visitors enjoyed a free swim in the brand new 25 metre pool. The centre’s upgrade included new group exercise studios, a brand new group cycling studio and a new multipurpose room which is used to serve more of the community for a multitude of activities. John Sewell, Everyone Active’s area contract manager, said: “The weekend was a great success and we’re thrilled to have had such a fantastic turn out. We’ve already had many new members sign up.” Cllr Chris Lloyd, the council’s Lead Member for Leisure, added: “I was delighted to visit the open day after attending South Oxhey Parkrun. It was great to see people enjoying themselves. It was good to see new members sign up to the excellent facilities. I would like to thank all the Everyone Active staff who made the visitors welcome.”
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Olympic BMX star Brooks saddles up for Fareham relaunch Olympic bronze medallist, Declan Brooks, who grew up in Portchester unveiled the refurbished centre alongside the Mayor of Fareham, Councillor Pamela Bryant on Saturday 16 October. The leisure centre, run in partnership with Fareham Borough Council, has served the local community for more than four decades. The £6.33M investment, funded by the Council, offers a state-of-the-art facility with a ‘Top Rock’ climbing wall for children and adults, soft play area for younger children and an indoor splash pad which is suitable for those with accessible needs. The local community joined in the fun alongside Olympic athlete, Declan Brooks, and Guinness World Record holder, Steve Gray. Contract Manager, Ryan Grant, commented ahead of the event: “The centre will play a pivotal part in helping the community to improve its health and wellbeing, as well as learning vital life skills with our award winning ‘Learn to Swim programme.” Executive Member for Leisure and Community at Fareham Borough Council, Cllr Sue Walker said: “I am delighted to see Fareham Leisure Centre benefit from this injection of investment. “It has been a focal point in the community for 40 years and with this refurbishment it is set to continue to be a social hub for many years to come.”
At the Fareham event, we caught up with our local Sporting Champion Declan Brooks to find out what he’s been up to since Tokyo. What has your experience been like since returning from Tokyo? It’s been amazing. Everyone in Portsmouth has been so welcoming since I arrived back home and I’m forever thankful for that. We’ve been given some amazing opportunities since being home too. What impact has it had on your sport and how excited are you for the next few years? BMX has been put on the mainstream screens which is huge for the sport. Since coming home, everyone really enjoyed watching the BMX as it’s something a little different to the norm. Hopefully we can continue to keep it current and exciting and who knows where the sport will go from here! How has the Sporting Champions scheme helped you? I’m a big fan of the Sporting Champions Scheme. I came across it at the beginning of 2020 coming into the Olympics. Sporting Champions gave me the opportunity to train at high level facilities which helped me bring back a bronze medal at the games.
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PARTNERSHIPS IN FOCUS Ashfield District Council
We worked closely with our partner Ashfield District Council and key local authority news publications. We were given the platform to discuss our relationship with the council and also talk about the transformation programme in Ashfield. Here is an extract from the LocalGov.co.uk interview with Ashfield District Council’s chief executive officer, Theresa Hodgkinson: Working with Everyone Active, alongside health colleagues and the voluntary sector, the council established the Ashfield Health and Wellbeing Partnership; Be Healthy, Be Happy to implement the strategy. It soon established that the existing six leisure centres could be rationalised down to three; Hucknall, Lammas and a new multi-million state-of-the-art leisure centre in Kirkby. However, rather than close the other facilities down, they were successfully re-purposed by the community to avoid a loss of service. Following a national procurement exercise, Everyone Active was awarded the new contract, which will run for ten years and save the council an impressive £630,000 per year. Theresa said: ‘Everyone Active had a really strong bid in relation to investing capital into our existing leisure facilities, but more importantly investing into our health and wellbeing programme as well. They have an excellent reputation and we have worked with them for over 20 years. We’ve had over a million more visits to our leisure centres per annum just because of their professional expertise, marketing and promotions. The way they corporately manage their facilities is a real bonus.’
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Theresa also praised Everyone Active’s procurement arm as it has helped the council to implement some of its capital projects and ensure the right facilities are in place to benefit the community. The council along with Everyone Active are making investments by building a new swimming facility at Hucknall and a new gym at Lammas. ‘When the new facility opens in Kirkby next year and the additional swimming pool is built at Hucknall leisure centre, we will have three fit -for-purpose leisure facilities that are going to get more people more active,’ she said. ‘Coming out of the pandemic now - particularly with the investments we are making into having these three excellent leisure facilities - it’s put us in a really good position for the next ten years. Theresa also explained how the new contract would deliver other outcomes for local communities: ‘Aside from Everyone Active being national award-winning, they also support the council’s vision for community wellbeing. For example, they have introduced free swimming for our under 17s and do a lot of outreach work with schools to ensure hard to reach groups are supported. ‘That’s what the new contract does with Everyone Active - it gives us the community health and wellbeing programme and that was really important to us at the council.’ You can read the full interview here: https://www.localgov.co.uk/Putting-health-andwellbeing-at-the-heart-of-Ashfield/53191
EVERYONE IS FAMILY
Our campaign to support families and get them active in summer This summer, we wanted to help reconnect families with the benefits of physical activity. We showcased our wide range of facilities in centre and online, and supported people of all ages to get active. Our aim was to help families by providing fun-filled and flexible activity plans to use for free throughout the month of August. We created four separate week-long activity plans to suit all your family needs. Each week families could decide which activities would most suit them and download their own weekly activity plan! Our activity plans include indoor and outdoor sports, exercise for all the family and simple recipes from celebrity chef Jonny Marsh.
1,667 Total families taking part in our family activity weeks
Relaxation Week: for new parents or those who want easy-going activities and a time to relax during the week. Our activities will range from yoga for the adults to soft play at our centres for younger children Energetic Week: everyone looking to up their fitness levels or challenge their children, this is the perfect opportunity to try out fitness classes at our centres or through Everyone on Demand Summer of Sports Week: for those inspired by this summer’s sporting events, you can try out a range of the best sports at our centres or recreate sporting moments from the comfort of your home Adventurous Week: this week is suited to the adrenaline junkies, looking to take on new exercise challenges. Whether it’s up high on a climbing wall or on taking on a high intensity virtual cycling class
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EVERYONE IS FAMILY SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS We also hosted social media influencers at our centres across the country, with 12 influencers taking part in a range of week-long activities and sharing the events with their followers.
177,903
82,003
Total social followers of Inflencers
Total social reach of the posts and stories
TESTIMONIALS We have enjoyed working with Everyone Active on this great campaign for families. Each centre we visited was so helpful and friendly. The activities available were also a great wide range that cater for all ages. We always used Everyone Active centres for our active activities such as badminton and swimming and will continue to do so now that all activities have resumed. We have enjoyed creating a healthier step in our lives. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.
CELEBRITY CHEF AND NUTRITION AMBASSADOR JONNY MARSH
Our Little Life Adventures Clara and I have had a really good week following along with the Everyone is Family activity plan, she has loved our swimming sessions and her confidence in the water has improved with each visit to the pool! She was also waking up very excited each morning to ask what we would be doing that day! Alex and Clara
Why is it important for families to eat healthily and also enjoy the cooking experience? Eating healthily is enormously important and I want to help families with easy recipes to encourage children and adults to live a healthy lifestyle. I believe with good cooking techniques and a little extra thought; you can produce super-healthy food that doesn’t require any real effort or time but brings so much flavour and can feed the whole family. I’ve loved working with Everyone Active and inspiring families to have fun in the kitchen!
WATCH THE RECIPE
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EVERYONE ACTIVE NEWS NATIONAL FITNESS DAY To celebrate National Fitness Day 2021 in September, we got the nation active at our centres. We hosted over 100 free exercise classes, in-centre challenges and free personal training (PT) taster sessions. The theme for this year’s campaign was ‘Fitness Unites Us’, with communities across the country uniting to recognise our common interest in fitness and the social and mental power of being active. In East Staffordshire, at Uttoxeter Leisure Centre and Meadowside Leisure Centre we helped the local community get involved with free virtual group exercise classes, including body pump, body combat and many more. Contract manager, Simon Morgan, said: “We’re delighted to get behind National Fitness Day at our Uttoxeter and Meadowside sites. It’s a fantastic opportunity for people to try out a new activity or class for free and to celebrate the benefits of being active. This initiative has been supported by Everyone Active for several years and we’re really pleased to see it continue to grow. “This year is a chance to celebrate leisure activity in all forms and we’re excited to welcome the local community to get active at our centres.” Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, which coordinates the campaign, said: “National Fitness Day has become the most active day of the year, powered by our incredible physical activity sector, helping millions to create habits that last a lifetime.”
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NEW CENTRE WITH BRENTWOOD BOROUGH COUNCIL Following a successful period of support with Brentwood Borough Council through improvements at The Brentwood Centre, we’re delighted to be welcomed into the district’s community and officially begin our partnership with the council.
about engaging people from all backgrounds and ages in exercise. “The centre will provide new programmes to support the mental and physical wellbeing of people in Brentwood. As part of this, we’ll be offering the award-winning Sport for Confidence scheme and working closely with the NHS to deliver a wide-range of health programmes to the local community.”
Brentwood Borough Council has invested £110,000 in the refurbishment of the Brentwood Centre gym with a new and refreshed look including new equipment. It’s an exciting time for the area, and we look forward to welcoming many new and returning faces at the centre.
Chair of Community and Health Committee, Cllr Cliff Poppy: “I am delighted that Everyone Active will be taking over the smooth running of the Brentwood Centre. The company has an excellent reputation and considerable expertise around the country for creating exciting and enticing leisure centres.
Duncan Cogger, Regional Contract Manager, said “We are in a fantastic position to support the council’s vision of delivering high quality leisure facilities, and we are passionate
The Brentwood Centre is vital to the wellbeing and health of the borough and I would like to thank all the residents and members for their continued support.”
EVERYONE ACTIVE NEWS MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING AND MARATHON CHAMPIONS
We were delighted to be supporting our charity partner Macmillan Cancer Support as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on September 24. A brilliant event and a chance for people across the country to enjoy a slice of cake for a good cause! On the coffee morning, we hosted loads of great events at our centres across the country, with colleagues and customers getting involved to raise money. This was followed by several Everyone Active colleagues taking part in the London Marathon on October 3, challenging themselves to the 26-mile challenge and be cheered on along the way by the fantastic Macmillan cheer teams. Our partnership with Macmillan started in April 2019, and we’re delighted to have raised over £88,000 to date, with even more to be added from our coffee morning events. All the money raised is vital to help support those with cancer and help them live life as fully as they can. How the money raised will be spent? As an example, for every £71 raised, this could help run Macmillan’s Online Community forum for over 3 hours. Typically, that would give nearly 198 people affected by cancer both emotional and practical support.
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FREE LUNCHES AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE CHILDREN IN BARKING AND DAGENHAM Leisure centres in Barking and Dagenham celebrated the success of their Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme which ran across the summer holidays. Becontree Heath Leisure Centre, Abbey Leisure Centre and Jim Peters Stadium, managed in partnership with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, launched the initiative for the first time this year. The free to attend holiday camps provided a fun range of activities and free lunches for children aged 4-16 with the aim of keeping them engaged in physical exercise outside of school.
As a result, 500 children took part in the scheme and the Everyone Active team provided over 2,500 free lunches. Hasan Romel, Everyone Active contract manager, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for us to reach as many children on free school meals as possible and provide them with a fun packed healthy summer! Our coaches were fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed teaching the children new life skills and helping them develop and learn. “We would like to say a big thank you to all the clubs for their support in running the HAF programme and helping make it a big success!”
If you have any questions about this newsletter or would like to offer any ideas about how we can improve it, please email: newsletter@everyoneactive.com