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FLOURISHING PARTNERSHIPS P4 WELCOMING WELLBEING 2020 P5 2020 LOOKS BRIGHT P6
PIONEERING NEW PROJECTS P7 GETTING OVER-65S ACTIVE P8
FANTASTIC FUNDRAISING P10 STARS SUPPORT SPORTING CHAMPIONS P11
Your source for the latest news from Everyone Active
Issue 4: Winter 2020
ALTON SPORTS CENTRE P12
SUCCESS FOR SWIM ENGLAND PARTNERSHIP P16
EVERYONE ACTIVE NEWS P14
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC FREE BY 2025 P17 MEET THE TEAM P18
DO YOU KNOW ANY LOCAL ASPIRING ATHLETES IN NEED OF SUPPORT?
The Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme opens for applications from Monday 27th January to Friday 28th February 2020. The scheme offers up to £5,000 in funding and free access to all of Everyone Active’s leisure centres.
To apply, visit www.easportingchampions.com
A WORD FROM DUNCAN The traditional fitness mentality is undergoing a shift towards experience-based activities following a more holistic approach. For example, instead of training on a treadmill to maintain peak fitness, members are looking for fun-focused workouts that engage both social and mental aspects of wellbeing too.
As we enter a new decade and reflect on what has been a flourishing 2019 for Everyone Active, it’s vital to take stock and observe emerging key trends of the leisure industry, so that we can move into a positive 2020 for our customers. We’ve seen a season of investment into both innovative new build facilities and large-scale refurbishments, demonstrating the importance of sustainability in this area. Both new centres and building redesigns play a significant part in creating a sustainable model, thanks to the fact we can now work with progressive low-carbon building methods that help to keep environmental impact to a minimum. This has been fundamental in supporting our aim of providing the best quality leisure facilities to help local communities stay active, and in turn creates a healthy society of individuals who feel in great shape and able to live their lives to the full. Another essential observation about our customer base is that wellness, not just fitness, is high on their agenda.
We’re embracing these developments in the wellness field by ensuring we continually provide a wide range of services and features. Two fantastic examples of facilities set to raise the bar in the holistic arena are Hornchurch Sports Centre, a £25million new build site set to open in October 2020 and, and the £20million Alton Sports Centre which opened in January 2020. From a family-friendly dedicated climbing wall for the adventurous, through to a 130-station fitness suite and opulent destination spa for ultimate relaxation, facilities at Alton Sports Centre showcase how investing in activity-based wellness will help to enthuse and inspire members of all ages and backgrounds not only now but for many years to come. We’re also endeavouring to accommodate new customers through boutique studios and engaging, inclusive workouts such as FORTIS. FORTIS is a lowimpact 30 minute, trainer-led HIIT workout delivered through heartrate monitored sessions, enabling individuals of all ages and fitness
levels to train together in a group, each to their optimum level. We have successfully launched FORTIS across Westgate Leisure Centre, Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre and Marshall Street Leisure Centre & Spa this year, and plan to extend this to other facilities. This partnership forms part of Everyone Active’s efforts to diversify its offering and ensure we’re catering for local needs by partnering with suitable brands. In 2020 and beyond, we’re committed to working with local authorities to support their wider health goals through effective management and forward-thinking strategies that will help engage all members of the community. We hope that the future will see us evolve alongside our members as they continue to grow and create their own version of fitness.
Duncan Jefford Duncan Jefford Regional Director
2019: A YEAR OF INVESTMENT As we look back on an incredibly successful 2019, Everyone Active has seen a year focused on investing and upholding the quality of leisure facilities across an expanding portfolio of more than 200 sites. We’ve been launching new partnerships and bolstering existing ones, alongside overhauling sites to ensure we exceed the expectations of the community members we serve and offer them the best leisure facilities we can.
FLOURISHING PARTNERSHIPS We’re thrilled to be continuing great partnerships into 2020 and beyond. We announced a new 10-year contract with Fareham Borough Council in November, after being chosen to manage Fareham and Holly Hill Leisure Centres from October 2020. Everyone Active has operated Fareham Leisure Centre since 2005 and Holly Hill Leisure Centre since since its opening in 2016, and we’re delighted that this contract win includes plans to invest in improvements at both leisure centres. With 2020 marking 40 years since Fareham Leisure Centre first opened its doors, this timely £6million investment will be the most significant development to the centre since the sports halls were built in 1986. Fareham Leisure Centre will see a major extension and refurbishment throughout, including family activities such as a climbing zone, wet splash pad and destination soft play area.
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In addition, East Herts Council awarded a 15-year contract for its pools and gyms to Everyone Active with the potential to extend for a further five years. This includes the management of the pool, gym and outdoor facilities at Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre in Bishop’s Stortford, Hartham Leisure Centre in Hertford and Ward Freman pool in Buntingford. It also includes a five-year contract for Leventhorpe pool & gym in Sawbridgeworth and Fanshawe pool & gym in Ware. Eric Buckmaster, executive member for health and wellbeing, said: “We are looking forward to continuing to work with Everyone Active throughout the new contract. Our pools and gyms offer excellent facilities for everyone in East Herts and we are committed to seeing more people getting active to help improve their health and wellbeing.”
WELCOMING WELLBEING INTO 2020 Investment was high on our agenda in 2019, particularly in the area of wellness which is of increasing importance to local communities who are interested in looking after all aspects of their health. One of the country’s best 1920s-style day spas, Porchester Spa, received an extensive refurbishment from Everyone Active in honour of its 90th birthday, bringing the splendor of this unique venue into the modern day.
In Autumn we also unveiled a brandnew health hub focused on improving the health and wellbeing of the local community at Lammas Leisure Centre - a site we run in partnership with Ashfield District Council.
We were mindful of the building’s unique nature throughout the project, and worked closely with Historic England, Westminster Conservation Officers and Westminster Planners to safeguard and enhance its original historical attributes.
The dedicated health hub offers a community space for people to meet and socialise and aims to enrich local people’s daily lives by hosting a diverse range of groups and clubs. It also provides a timetable of activity and events aimed at those with limiting disabilities, health conditions and those who are socially isolated.
We installed new showers, ceilings, steam room benches, glazed doors, tiled walls and retiled the floors in this iconic spa - and all upgrades are in keeping with the 1920s decor. The site is also reducing its impact on the environment with new energyefficient LED lighting throughout, improved piping and a new back up steam generator.
Following our recent partnership with Somerset West and Taunton Council to manage their leisure facilities, we invested more than £1.2 million to improve the range of facilities in the area over the course of Autumn 2019. Members are now benefitting from updated facilities across Blackbrook Leisure Centre and Spa, Wellsprings
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Leisure Centre and Wellington Sports Centre thanks to new, state-of-the art smart Technogym equipment. There is an immersive new cycling studio at Blackbrook, new changing rooms at the centre in Wellington and all the leisure facilities have undergone a range of aesthetic enhancements to offer an all-round improved fitness experience. Finally, completed renovations at Enderby Leisure Centre and The Pavilion were revealed to locals toward the end of 2019, showcasing significant investment into both facilities. The new state-of-the-art spa complete with sauna, steam room, heated lounge chairs and a spa pool. The £4.9m council refurbishment across the centres included an extended gym area with refurbished changing rooms, a new state-of-theart spa (complete with sauna, steam room, heated lounge chairs and a pool), a new group cycling studio, and updates to the sports hall at Enderby Leisure Centre. At The Pavilion, the investment saw an expansion and refurbishment of the gym, a brand new group cycling studio, refurbishment of the group fitness studio, refurbishment of the changing facilities and a brand new sports hall viewing lounge.
2020 LOOKS BRIGHT We’ve been working closely with our partners to improve the health and wellbeing of local people and have an exciting line-up of facilities that will be making a new debut for 2020 - from modern refurbishments to innovative new builds. FROGMORE LEISURE CENTRE The refurbishment of Frogmore Leisure Centre is now well underway as part of a £500,000 investment. We’re working in partnership with Hart District Council to introduce a number of improvements before works are fully completed in March 2020. Some of these include a new dance/group exercise studio with virtual classes, extended gym space, extra state-of-the-art gym equipment and upgraded crèche facilities.
BERKHAMSTED LEISURE CENTRE Further north, a major refurbishment project at Berkhamsted Leisure Centre is also due to complete at the end of January 2020 in a bid to provide access to new and improved facilities for people of all ages and abilities. As part of the partnership with Dacorum Borough Council, the £600,000 upgrade, which is being jointly funded by the Council, will provide an enhanced experience for members, with brand-new gym facilities and equipment, as well as a refurbishment of the changing area.
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MARKET RASEN LEISURE CENTRE In Lincolnshire, Market Rasen customers are set to benefit from a brand-new dry leisure centre which is due to open in summer 2020. The project involves an investment of more than £6.3m from West Lindsey District Council and Everyone Active. Once complete, it will house a multi-use fitness studio, a four-court sports hall, a 40-station gym, changing facilities, a meeting room/party hosting area and an all-weather 3G pitch.
HORNCHURCH SPORTS CENTRE We’re working closely with Havering Council to create the new £30m Hornchurch Sports Centre, set to open in September 2020. As another high-quality new build, which aims to deliver excellent sports and recreational services for the whole community, the new centre will feature a 25m eight-lane swimming pool, a 20m wide diving pool with movable floor and changing facility. The new site will also have a larger fitness suite with brand new machines, providing a variety of training options from cardio to functional training.
ALTON SPORTS CENTRE The launch of the new Alton Sports Centre kickstarted a positive year for the local community in East Hampshire. Working in partnership with East Hampshire District Council, we’ve invested £20million to introduce the new flagship facility which has replaced the former Alton Sports Centre.
WHITEHILL AND BORDON LEISURE CENTRE
centre due to open in summer 2020. The new stateof-the-art facility, which we will operate on behalf of East Hampshire District Council, will replace the Mill Chase Leisure Centre and sit at the heart of the community in the new town centre. The site is being built with sustainability in mind and will feature a sixlane 25m swimming pool, teaching pool, 80-station gym and two large fitness studios - including a dedicated spin studio.
Residents of Whitehill and Bordon will be staying fit and healthy in the town’s brand new £10million leisure
2020 OFF TO A FLYING START We were delighted to announce a plethora of new business wins at the end of 2019. These will see much-needed investment into leisure facilities up and down the UK and take us past the milestone of managing 200 sites. As of 1st April 2020, Everyone Active will manage 201 sites in partnership with 62 local authorities.
From this date in April, we will officially begin a new 15-year partnership with Chiltern District Council, through which we will operate centres in Amersham, Chesham and Chalfont St Peter. This includes managing the new Chiltern Lifestyle Centre when it opens in 2021 - a new-build which will offer a range of modern facilities to the local community.
PIONEERING NEW PROJECTS Other fantastic upcoming projects for 2021 include a new £22million leisure centre in Coalville which will take around 18 months to build. Work will start this summer, completing in 2022. The facility is being created in partnership with North West Leicestershire District Council and will reflect its woodland setting in the National Forest, with impressive wooden beams swooping down over the pool area and a large glass front playing host to the reception area and café. A trim trail and natural play spaces will be featured in the grounds around the centre.
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Building work has also begun on a new multi-million-pound leisure centre in Sheringham, which is expected to be completed in summer 2021. The development will see the existing 31-year old ‘Splash’ replaced with a facility that includes a six-lane 25-metre pool, a 13-metre learner pool with an adjustable depth floor, fitness suite, community rooms, multi-purpose studios, a spin studio and a café. Finally, we’re celebrating a new partnership with Winchester City Council that means we will manage the new Winchester Sport & Leisure
Park at Bar End for an initial 15-yearperiod with an option to extend by a further five years. Cabinet Member for Sport, Leisure and Communities, Cllr Malcolm Prince, said: “2020 is an exciting year for this landmark project as construction progresses on site and we gear up for opening in early 2021. We will be working closely with Everyone Active to maximise the opportunities stemming from this project, and to design a programme of activities tailored to the needs of our residents.”
CELEBRATING GETTING OVER-65S ACTIVE Our goal of getting all generations in the community active was pivotal to our ‘Age Is Just a Number’ campaign - an essential scheme we were excited to launch in 2019. One of our core campaigns of 2019 was ‘Age Is Just a Number’, which was launched on the International Day of Older People (1 October, 2019), and aimed to celebrate all the ways in which people over the age of 65 can use our facilities. The principle behind the monthlong campaign was to help change perceptions that many fitness activities are only suitable for younger people, and prove that the services we offer can be enjoyed at any age. We discovered that engaging this demographic was vital for communities following the staggering results of a poll we commissioned as part of the campaign. After surveying more than 1,000 people across the country aged 65 and over, we found that only one in ten (9 per cent) of over-65s regularly go to the gym, and that 78 per cent of the same age group are not achieving the amount of weekly activity advised by the NHS.
IMPROVING ACCESS FOR THE OVER-65S From climbing to cake mornings, our centres offer lots of ways for older people to protect their physical and mental wellbeing by providing them with opportunities to exercise and socialise. So, one of our key methods of the campaign was to tell members’ inspirational stories through film, photos and PR activity to encourage others and spark interest.
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We also conducted research to bust myths about how older people should work out and offered free passes and ‘bring a friend’ guest passes to the over-65s throughout October 2019. The free pass element was to combat issues of affordability and people in this age bracket lacking the confidence to exercise alone.
THE IMPACT More than 1,000 activity vouchers were snapped up by people who signed up following the campaign. In response to our dedicated ‘Age is Just a Number’ website page, we received over 5,000 page views - proving that this topic struck a chord.
OUR ACTIVE OLDER MEMBERS To help get more over-65s active, we spoke to some of our older members and heard just how transformative activity can be. Whether it’s for weight loss, recovery from injury, improved mobility, fitness or an improved social life, there’s so much that activity can do for people later in life.
THE ‘GOLDEN GIRLS’ – TINSIDE LIDO There are two things you’re guaranteed to see when visiting Tinside Lido – an iconic view across Plymouth Hoe and a Golden Girl. The Golden Girls are a group of women who visit the
Lido every day and are just as much a feature as its natural saltwater pool.
JOHN HARRIS – PLYMOUTH LIFE CENTRE
82-year-old Pat credits the group with playing an essential role in keeping her healthy and active.
Major heart surgery and two knee replacements can’t keep 82-year-old John Harris away from the gym.
“I’ve met loads of people by joining the Golden Girls. There are so many of us that it means there’s always someone to chat to, and we’re always ready to welcome new people.
“I was introduced to the gym 22 years ago. At the time I didn’t like the idea, but I gradually got into it and now it’s a big part of my life.
“I genuinely think being a Golden Girl has helped me to live longer. It gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.” When Tinside closes its doors for the winter, The Golden girls continue to meet up once a month to catch-up and countdown the days until the Lido reopens.
“A lot of people my age don’t think the gym’s for them, but there are loads of older people in here. I think they find excuses not to try it, but if you give it a go you won’t regret it. After my operations I made sure that I kept going, and now I feel fitter than ever. “It’s also a great place to meet and chat to people. For the past three years I’ve organised a Christmas party for all the friends I’ve made by coming here.”
BRIAN WORRELL – HEMEL HEMPSTEAD LEISURE CENTRE From horse riding to country walks, Brian has always kept active. At 81, there’s still no stopping him attending his weekly Pilates class. “My wife and I attended Pilates initially because she went through a number of operations. The class was a great way of increasing her mobility in terms of stretching and coordination.” “I’ve always been active and didn’t want to stop, so I kept up with the classes. It helps me considerably by keeping me supple and helping me with simple tasks such as turning my head in the car. Keeping my core strong also means I now don’t suffer as much with back ache.”
OUR RESEARCH FINDINGS Top of the list of barriers to gym use for this age group are: - Not being able to afford to go (36 per cent) - Feeling like they are not fit enough to go (23 per cent), - Not having the confidence (16 per cent) - 15 per cent wouldn’t know where to start, 14 per cent say it’d be too much effort, and the same number (14 per cent) said they wouldn’t fit in - 13 per cent think gyms are for young people - 12 percent say they don’t have anyone to go with. WHAT WOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF 65 TO GO TO THE GYM? - - - -
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Classes aimed at the older generation (40 per cent) Being able to afford it (33 per cent) A class that was being run by someone of their age (21 per cent) Being able to go with a pal (13 per cent).
FANTASTIC FUNDRAISING FOR MACMILLAN SUPPORT After officially launching our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support in August 2019, we’re delighted to have already raised £50,000 for the charity. We have our sights set on raising plenty more for the cause in 2020, and here we reflect on all the great fundraising efforts from colleagues and customers so far. We’re dedicated to supporting causes which have an important meaning to both our colleagues and customers. And in 2019, we kicked off our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support with the aim of raising more than £140,000 by March 2021 and to boost awareness of the charity’s muchneeded services. We’re delighted that since our partnership begun, we have already raised a staggering £50,000! Our colleagues and customers have been hard at work fundraising in their local communities through a range of events over the course of the year. Our ‘Go Green’ Coffee Morning in August officially marked our first company-wide fundraiser and saw us trade in our Everyone Active brand colours of red, white and black in favour of Macmillan’s green.
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Our associate director, Ben Beevers, took on the challenge of cycling the height of Mount Everest, 8,848 metres, in 24 hours by completing 73 ascents of Box Hill in Surrey. And he raised more than £6,000 for Macmillan in the process. Ben’s connection with Macmillan goes beyond Everyone Active’s partnership after they supported him through a cancer diagnosis in 2014.
We’ll be hosting a Spin for Support event at Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre following the success of one we held at Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre in November. This saw crews of up to four riders get sponsored to ride for four hours, challenging their fitness levels in aid of a great cause. The turnout of 64 people helped to raise more than £500 for the charity.
Colleagues took part in the charity’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event in September, selling their finest bakes, and more recently, colleagues and customers donned their best festive get-up in aid of Macmillan. From Christmas Clubbercise sessions to mince pie sales, everyone made a fantastic effort.
Our fundraising target of £140,000 would be enough to fund two Macmillan professionals for a whole year, enabling them to provide support to more than 500 patients.
We have lots of exciting initiatives planned for 2020 to help raise even more funds for this worthwhile cause.
With more than 190 leisure and cultural facilities across the country, we have the capability to raise a phenomenal amount of money and make a real difference to those affected by cancer.
SPORTS STARS SUPPORT SPORTING CHAMPIONS
WHAT IS THE SPORTING CHAMPIONS SCHEME? Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme is a talent-development programme that currently offers more than 1,000 British athletes support to achieve success. It gives them free access to over 190 top-of-the-range leisure centres, as well as funding and development opportunities. In November, famous sporting faces and nearly 100 up-and-coming athletes headed to Lammas Leisure Centre in Ashfield for a mentoring day to help the next generation of sports stars to progress. Colin Jackson, Jade Jones-Hall as well as a leading adventurer and a celebrity chef attended the centre to lead the Sporting Champions mentoring day, designed to give athletes a chance to benefit from their experience of working and competing at the top level. Athletes were treated to a whole host of talks and sessions that provided them with advice and inspiration from those who have made it to the top. Hurdling legend Colin Jackson was on hand to pass on his pearls of wisdom from a hugely successful career both competing and presenting. Commonwealth Champion Jade Jones-Hall, who is also supported by the scheme, shared her experiences
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alongside head coach of the Paratriathlon programme at British Triathlon Jonathon Riall.
event provided them with a whole host of skills that will help guide them through their sporting careers.”
Chef Jonny Marsh, who cooks for a host of top footballers such as Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, hosted a cooking demonstration while sharing his wisdom on the best ways to fuel your body. Closing the event was an inspirational talk from Bonita Norris, who went from being a novice climber to being one of the youngest people to climb Mt Everest in only two years. She spoke passionately about how making marginal gains can lead to the greatest of achievements.
FUTURE CHAMPIONS
Scheme ambassador, Colin Jackson said: “I was delighted to host Everyone Active’s Sporting Champions mentoring day at Lammas Leisure Centre. “It was truly inspiring to speak to athletes of all ages and sports about their experiences, and I hope that the
The Sporting Champions scheme has allowed our organisation to support some the UK’s most promising sporting talent from grass roots level through to professional athletes. We aim to provide sports men and women on the programme with a solid foundation in building a profile at our centres, promoting their successes and help motivate and support them in their pursuit of being active. We will soon be welcoming more athletes to apply for the 2020 intake, another great chance to for new up-and-coming athletes to be part of something special that could catapult their careers.
FEATURED SITE: ALT Name: Alton Sports Centre Location: Alton, East Hampshire Opened: In 2020 Managed by Everyone Active since 2020 Members: More than 2,500 Facilities:
• A six-lane main pool with seating for up to 150 spectators • A learner pool with adjustable floor • A 130-station fitness suite • Group cycling studio including virtual classes • A six-court sports hall • Two multi-use studios • ‘Top Rock’ – a dedicated fun climbing wall • Two glass-backed squash courts • Two five-a-side outdoor 3G football pitches • Café with seating for up to 100 visitors • A destination spa named Chawton Park Spa • Cafe The flagship Alton Sports Centre, our brand-new building run in partnership with East Hampshire District Council, recently opened its doors for the first time in January 2020. Packed to the rafters with state-ofthe-art equipment, two swimming pools and a wide variety of activities for everyone in the local community to enjoy, this fantastic new £20million sports centre is set to be an essential activity hub for local people.
A SPECTACULAR WELCOME We were thrilled to welcome an impressive 5,000 visitors to try out the new facilities at Alton Sports Centre during the spectacular grand open day event that took place in January. Olympic silver medallist Colin Jackson and five times world champion swimmer Mark Foster joined Chairman of East Hampshire District Council, Cllr Keith Budden,
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to officially open the centre. The sporting duo set some ‘Beat the Olympian’ gym challenges, along with hosting a Total Swimming event to encourage more young people to be active in the water. A total of 108 children from local schools and clubs took part in the event, making it a great success. To celebrate the opening, we decided to offer 100 residents the opportunity to become founder members of the centre, to embed our community philosophy into this new building from the beginning. Founder status brings with it a whole host of benefits, including a lower monthly membership rate and a complimentary day at the new Chawton Park Spa.
THRILLING ACTIVITIES FOR ALL Alton Sports Centre offers a vast array of activities designed to help the local community with all
elements of their wellbeing. As part of the build of this new centre, we have installed a huge 130-station fitness suite that’s packed with all the very latest kit. Whether residents prefer an intense cardio session, pumping iron in the free weights area, or a combination of the two, our gym is designed to offer them the best gym options available. Another fantastic addition is the ‘Top Rock’ climbing wall. This superb facility combines the adventure of climbing with enormous fun. The walls are a riot of colour and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, creating a guaranteed fun environment for all the family. The six-lane main swimming pool will play host to all sorts of aquatic activities, including our award-winning adult and children’s swimming lessons. These are suited to swimmers of all ages and abilities, following the 10-stage
TON SPORTS CENTRE
Swim England Learn to Swim programme and are open to children as young as four months. Swimming lessons aside, we’re also dedicated to creating a fun pool environment for communities. As well as lessons and lane swimming sessions, the main pool will also feature inflatable sessions for children to enjoy, as well as a host of other sessions designed to suit everyone’s needs. The jewel in the Alton’s crown must be our new destination spa – Chawton Park. With all the facilities to be expected from a premium spa - such as a steam room and sauna as well as a choice of treatments - Chawton Park’s opulent surroundings make for a luxurious down time experience.
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The new sports centre has replaced the existing Alton Sports Centre, which closed its doors for the final time in January 2020. The previous site had also been managed by Everyone Active in partnership with the council since April 2017. Following the open day, Ian Cook, Regional Contract Manager at Everyone Active, said: “It was great to have such sporting legends like Colin and Mark join us to help celebrate the launch of the new centre. “This is a fantastic investment into a state-of-the-art sports centre that will serve the community for many years to come. We had some excellent feedback from the day with many local people saying how impressed they were with the
quality of the facilities and what we have to offer.” Cllr Richard Millard, EHDC Leader, said: “What a fantastic sports centre! I am so proud of what we have achieved with Everyone Active to bring this wonderful new facility to the people of Alton. “The opening day was a massive success and the centre will be too, it really is absolutely incredible.” With a diverse mix of brilliant facilities housed in a modern newbuild with dedicated colleagues and a solid partnership with the council, we’re thoroughly looking forward to many more members enjoying Alton Sports Centre.
EVERYONE ACTIVE NEWS Sugar reduction campaign
WESTMINSTER LODGE AWARD WIN The closing chapter of 2019 brought success for Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre after it won the prestigious Local Authority Gym of The Year Award at the glittering 2019 National Fitness Awards ceremony in November. The centre, which is operated by Everyone Active in partnership with St Albans District Council, celebrated receiving the accolade, which recognises facilities that excel in providing services at the heart of the community with a wide offering for all types of members. We would like to congratulate our colleagues at Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre for all of their continued efforts to make this an outstanding site for the community. Westminster Lodge took representatives from its gym, pool, spa and front of house teams to enjoy the evening with many going up on stage to receive the award. Lesley Garner, Everyone Active General Manager, said: “I could not be prouder of my team who work so hard every day to deliver the best service they can to our members and visitors. The National Fitness Awards are held in very high regard and we know this category in particular is hotly contested and highly competitive.
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“I would like to thank the St Albans City and District Council for their insight, and guidance all year round and particularly for supporting our entry for this Award in person when the judge visited. Finally, I would like to thank my entire team for their dedication, commitment and hard work.”
SUGAR REDUCTION CAMPAIGN IS SWEET SUCCESS Offering healthier food and drink options to customers at our centres is important to us. So we’re delighted to announce that our commitment to reduce sugar at our facilities has been a sweet success. In September 2017, we pledged to remove three tonnes of sugar from our food and beverage offering over the coming three years. Since then, we have been working with suppliers to make significant sugar reductions, resulting in our initial target being drastically exceeded. In just two years, we have removed more than six tonnes of sugar from our cafes and vending products. This has been achieved by replacing high-sugar products with low-sugar alternatives in all our centres, and introducing a core kids range of noadded-sugar or sugar-free products. We also introduced a ‘traffic light’ system to drive customers towards healthier options by grading prod-
ucts in line with their sugar content. Sugar Smart is a nation-wide initiative led by Sustain that aims to inspire a large-scale change in people’s eating habits and improve the nation’s health. Andy Coupé, Everyone Active’s group food and beverage manager, said: “Making our café and vending offering healthier has been a priority for us for a long time. Our involvement in the Sugar Smart campaign is all about giving people a choice and helping them to make healthier decisions. “Leisure centres play a huge part in educating people about the importance of healthy lifestyles, including the role of both physical activity and a good diet. We will continue to work closely with our suppliers and Government agencies to ensure we lead the way in sugar reduction across the industry.”
HORNCHURCH INSPIRES COLLEGE STUDENTS Local college students in Havering benefitted from an educational visit to the new Everyone Active Hornchurch Sports Centre in 2019, gleaning inspiration for their construction studies. The Havering College students visited the construction site of the new multimillion pound sports centre where they were able to look around the site
and learn about the building trade. The site is due to open in September 2020. Metnor Construction who is responsible for managing the project, delivered a presentation to the Construction and Built Environment students which included information about how a large scale project works. It is our hope that students were able to gain invaluable knowledge and insight about construction projects during the visit. Tom Fletcher, Area Contract Manager at Everyone Active, said: “It’s so important for students to get hands on with what they are studying. We hope that seeing a project like this first hand has really engaged them in the building trade and taught them a few new skills along the way. We are looking forward to inviting them all back when the centre opens next year.”
HELPING THE HOMELESS We’re committed to helping vulnerable members of the community as best we can. Supporting those facing poverty, homelessness and social exclusion was front of mind for our colleagues and customers at Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre recently when they took on the DENS sleepout challenge to help raise money for those in need.
The charity challenge took place at Hemel Hempstead School in late 2019, and Fitness Instructor Chris Kelly and her son were amongst those who took part. A total of 200 local participants stayed out through the night to experience what it’s like for those who face these tough conditions every evening. Our team received an abundance of support from members and managed to raise a great total of £1,418. DENS houses, supports and empowers vulnerable homeless people and others in crisis, to transform their lives. Their mission is to ensure individuals have access to temporary and short-term accommodation, and individuals and families have access to food and provisions. In total DENS raised £35,000 for the event, the most ever raised at an event they have hosted. Every penny raised at the sleepout will count towards DENS helping people in Dacorum who are facing homelessness, poverty and social exclusion; to support and empower them to take the next positive step in their lives.
The Havering College students visiting the construction site
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Westminster Lodge Award Win Hornchurch inspiring college students
DENS sleepout challenge
WAVE OF SUCCESS FOR SWIM ENGLAND PARTNERSHIP January 2019 marked the start of our three-year partnership with Swim England as we launched a new mission to tackle inactivity and encourage more people to engage in swimming. A year on, we highlight the successes and unveil exciting plans for 2020 At the start of the year, we launched an official collaboration with Swim England and pledged to achieve 10 million swims across our pools by December 2019. We’re thrilled to announce that we surpassed this target, achieving 13,146,261 swims and accomplishing our aim which was to ‘create a nation of swimmers’. This is an increase of more than one million public swim visits when compared to the same period in 2018 and marks a record-breaking year for Everyone Active’s swim services. The #10MillionSwims campaign was the partnership’s firstyear focus, and showcased the variety of ways that people can integrate swimming into their lives and exercise habits. We worked together with Swim England to promote all forms of water-based activity, tout swimming’s myriad of benefits and remove barriers that prevent participation. Both organisations carried out research into the beliefs held about swimming, before launching an initiative that tackled common misconceptions. Our ‘Swimformation’ campaign reached an audience of thousands online and saw increased footfall to Everyone Active’s pools. We also worked with BBC Breakfast TV presenter, Naga Munchetty, and athletics legend, Colin Jackson, to promote the importance of learning the life-saving skill at any age. Both famous faces took part in adult swim lesson at the ages of 44 and 52 respectively, helping to prove to the one in five adults in Britain who are unable to swim that it’s never too late to learn.
Jacqui Tillman, Group Manager Swim at Everyone Active, commented: “We are extremely proud to have exceeded the target set at the start of 2019, and to have worked with Swim England to support more than 1.15 million people to be active in water. “For a lot of people, their local pool is where a love of swimming begins and where they develop exercise habits that will help to keep them healthy and active throughout their lives. It’s essential that we support more people to feel these benefits and ensure they have the skills and confidence to make swimming one of their chosen leisure options.”
PLANS FOR 2020 Taking key learnings from 2019, which saw a focus on casual swimming through our successful #10MillionSwims campaign, we’re now generating momentum on the second year of this important strategic partnership. Plans for 2020 include working closely with swim clubs across the country to promote swimming pathways and encouraging people’s sustained involvement in the sport with the hope of encouraging people of all ages and abilities to swim more regularly.
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OUR PLEDGE TO BE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC FREE BY 2025 PLASTIC WASTE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES FACING THE WORLD TODAY, AND WE’RE COMMITTED TO TACKLING THE PROBLEM BY TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN IMPACT ON THE PLANET. The UK government estimates there are currently more than 150million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans, and that 100,000 sea mammals and one million birds die from eating or becoming tangled in plastic waste each year. As a result, we have pledged to become a single-use plastic free provider by 2025, and are working with our suppliers and partners to minimise the use of single-use plastics across our operations and services.
HOW ARE WE REDUCING SINGLE-USE PLASTICS? Environmentally conscious cafes and eco cups
We removed 25 per cent of singleuse plastics in our cafes over the past 12 months (November 2018 – November 2019) and are planning on making further reductions over the next five years. We are continuously driving behavioural change through awareness-raising activity to ensure more takeaway cups are recycled. We are pleased to say that all of our takeaway cups have been biodegradable since 2018. The Everyone Eco Cup has also been introduced to help with our aim of removing one million single-use plastic cups in the next two years. Free water refills are offered throughout our centres - including in our cafes - to discourage the purchase of plastic bottles.
remove their footwear before entering the swimming pool changing rooms or walking onto pool side, but are still permitted to wear flip flops, pool shoes or crocs in these areas providing they have not been worn outside. We’ve been working with swimwear provider, Zoggs, to introduce a range of reduced-plastic products including Ecolast Swimwear which is made from plastic waste, and goggles packaged in 57% less plastic. It’s important to us that our pledge is community-focused and that we’re all on board, which is why we are engaging our colleagues with this policy and encouraging them to share their ideas on how to make further single-use plastic reductions. We’ll also be raising awareness of our recycling policies through in-centre promotions and working with our partners and local councils in joint ventures and innovative projects for reducing single-use plastic waste.
Ditching disposable shoe covers We are removing all disposable shoe covers from our swimming pools, saving an estimated 4.5 million pairs every year. Customers are now asked to
What are single-use plastics? Single-use plastic is any disposable plastic item that is designed to be used only once. This includes certain plastic bags, disposable utensils, beverage containers, coffee capsules, wet wipes, razor blades, plastic drinks bottles, food wrappers, bottle tops, straws, stirrers and plastic lids.
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MEET THE TEAM our core management software, MRM Plus2, The Everyone Active App, Aqua Passport Swim School Software, DigiTickets and JoinOnline for both memberships and lessons. The team possesses a wealth of both technical and business knowledge and we utilise this daily. We’re continually analysing, developing, implementing and supporting new software solutions and business processes with a view to provide colleagues with the best toolkit to perform their roles.
as usual. The team will normally be engaged in mobilisation tasks including configuration, data migration and training.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE TEAM? We have a number of new contracts mobilising in early 2020. In addition to this, we’ll be continuing to review our business processes and develop the team’s technical skills. The Online Swim Lesson Transfer
Our central Support Hub is Our trainers provide both classroomprocess is currently in development and is expected in early 2020. This will a hive of activity and home based and remote training sessions, as well as developing online training allow customers to transfer themselves to teams who work hard to material to better educate and enable or their child to a new lesson via their keep operations running our colleagues. online profile. efficiently across our broad range of community-based WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY NAME THE TEAM’S BIGGEST LOOK LIKE FOR THE TEAM? facilities and services. Our ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE Applications Team is made Due to the variety of responsibilities, no PAST 12 MONTHS up of seven colleagues two days are the same. On the service Implementing the ITIL framework, desk we will triage the outstanding who work to provide a which focuses on aligning IT services fantastic software toolkit to service requests to categorise and with the needs of the business, has prioritise issues. We work to the our employees across the allowed us to find new efficiencies in Information Technology Infrastructure our service desk approach. Prior to country. Library (ITIL) framework, splitting We sat down with the team’s Application Support Manager, Daniel Lanchbury, to discover more about the team. WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES? Our team is made up of Application Support Analysts, Application Trainers and Application Support Managers. We’re responsible for providing first, second and third line service desk support for a number of software solutions across the business including
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service requests into Incidents (issues preventing the colleague from doing their job) and Requests (anything spanning from new user accounts to configuration of new facilities). Our trainers could be delivering a session at any one of our leisure centres or developing new training material. Other team members will be undertaking project work, whether that is part of a larger request from within the business or as the result of a process improvement that has been identified during our analysis. New contract mobilisations generate a large amount of work for the team and have become part of business
this, the accumulation of other timesensitive tasks could cause our service desk response times to suffer. Following the ITIL framework vastly reduces this risk. It has been a gradual process and there’s still a long way to go, but it’s been great to see positive results. The migration to a new finance system presented the daunting task of remapping over 100,000 products within our database over to a new income/accounts structure. There was a lot of other moving parts in the new finance project and I’m proud to say the team played a part in its success.
THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITY We’re passionate about our Everyone Active community, and always strive to create new ways to motivate and engage members of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Here we uncover what some of our community-focused initiatives are bringing to local people A HEALTH HUB DEDICATED TO COMMUNITY
matter their ability is a key part of our role in the community.
The new health hub at Lammas Leisure Centre, a site we run in partnership with Ashfield District Council, opened its doors in November 2019, and offers a community space to help improve the health and wellbeing of the Ashfield community.
We’ve supported sports teams such as the The Barton Hockey Team from East Staffordshire by providing fitness sessions for the team at Meadowside Leisure Centre. And, in terms of school engagement, one of our regional competitions asked local school children to draw a picture of themselves being active.
This is a welcome facility to Ashfield, as there is a large demand for health and wellbeing provision in the area, with more than 16 per cent of Ashfield’s population reported as having a mental health disorder.* We’re proud to offer free venue hire at the Health Hub for groups that support vulnerable residents, such as the Ashfield Autism Hub, the Ashfield and Mansfield working age dementia group and The Live Team Mental Health service.
SUPPORTING SPORTS TEAMS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS From hosting special cricket tournaments aimed at the older generation, to teaming up with a range of disability sport groups and councils to host free inclusive sports days, firing up people’s passion for sport no
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We were thrilled to award competition winner and budding artist, eight-yearold Amani Semper, from Goodyers End Primary School in Bedworth with £1,000 of sports equipment for his school, alongside a term of both swimming lessons and gymnastics lessons for him at Bedworth Leisure Centre.
BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER Tackling important issues with community-focused initiatives is always front of mind for us. That’s why we’ve introduced sessions such as our baby CPR workshop - which took place at Abbots Langley Library and was run by the Everyone Active Watford team - to teach adults in the community the vital skills they need to save an infant’s life.
Getting on board with the National Autistic Society’s campaign, ‘Autism Hour’, has also been important for our centres, so that we can help to support people with the developmental disability. Hart Leisure Centre, managed by Everyone Active in partnership with Hart District Council, created a more autism-friendly environment during a dedicated week in October, identifying specific times where the swimming pools and gym areas were quieter and are encouraging those with autism to visit. Carers and those living with dementia were given complimentary access to our gyms and public swimming sessions during a special weekend in September in support of National Dementia Carers’ Day. As well as the physical benefits of being active, exercise can offer valuable opportunities to socialise, which we’re keen to promote and make accessible to those with dementia and their carers. *Poppi and Pansi data
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