TL Newsletter september

Kevin’s Quiz...

ISSUE 23 : September 2017 Making your time with Trafford Leisure that little bit more interesting

Q1 – What amount is spent on utilities per year? Answer is £818,570 Q2 – What amount has been spent on franking letters since 2004? Answer is £340,000

Congratulations to Danny Norris and Tessa Griffiths on the birth of Fleur Ava Norris

Active Lives News

born 2.40am

Active Lives is a newsletter full of

(15/09/17)

positive member stories and information

weighing 6lb

on what’s been happening in and

12 oz.

Trafford Leisure

STAFF AWARDS Recognising our people

around your local leisure centres. This

2017

newsletter went out to all of the West locality members and to people in the area. Active Lives, in the future, will be spread across all the localities. This newsletter was wrapped around the Messenger giving us great publicity and also gave residents knowledge of the closing of George H Carnall. Also this month we have done a middle spread for the South and Central

Homecare Providers (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/altrincham-job-fair-2017-tickets35504864004?aff=es2) and we would like to invite our current part time staff to attend and find out more about the opportunities available. This work would support unconventional working patterns and could offer a few additional hours’ work on a morning, lunch or evening, either during the week or at weekends.

Localities, promoting 8 amazing offers and great stories from members. If you want to see Active Lives the link

Saturday 2nd December 2017

Altrincham Jobs Fair - Friday 29th October from 11:00 – 2:00

Quote Of The Month

is as shown >> https://issuu.com/ traffordleisure/docs/active_lives_digi

Positive Impact On The Lives Of Others

This is an individual who has truly impacted on the lives of people in Trafford, who has made their mark in an incredibly positive way and has gone above and beyond what was expected.

Most Committed Individual

This individual has a very strong work ethic and cares about the team’s performance, getting the work done and getting it done well. They want to see the team succeed. This individual is the first to “fill in the gap” and step up to get the work done, taking on tasks that may not be in their job profile or comfort zone, quite simply, they are utterly and completely reliable.

Team Excellence Award

This award promotes the spirit of teamwork within departments, project groups and between businesses. This team has demonstrated outstanding performances and results. This team could have delivered exceptional customer service, cost savings, time savings, and creative ideas, maintaining high safety records, combining talents of traditionally separate departments of business areas, and actively demonstrating by example a willingness to encourage teamwork in the workplace.

Rising Star

This award recognises the achievements of an individual, who has joined Trafford Leisure within the past two years, who goes beyond what might be expected and who strives to exceed in all that they do. This award looks for an individual who has shown an exceptional level of initiative, skill and commitment in their role and who has made a positive impact within their business or team.

The Stewart Heap Employee Of The Year (2+ years with Trafford Leisure)

This is awarded to an exceptional team member who time and time again goes the extra mile. This individual is committed, passionate and has great communication skills. They are always reliable and always handle their assigned responsibilities. They reach out to their team members and offer their time and help freely - often before it is being sought. They are the role model for their colleagues and are a shining example of the Trafford Leisure values in everything they do. What would you like to see in your Newsletter? This is your newsletter and we want your ideas! This could be anything from events, to competitions, to customer feedback, to a quote or tweet of the month. Let me know by email: heather.gaulton@traffordleisure.co.uk

Please post your vote within the nomination box in your staff room or fill out the online survey via Workplace Nominate any person who you think deserves to win any of the above awards who is permanent, casual, coach or volunteer member of the Trafford team.

Entries must be received before 1st November 2017 INSIDE: >> EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH >> FIRST CLASS MOMENT >> ERAS+ >> FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT FOR STAFF >> WHO IS IN THE SUPPORT TEAM

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BUILDING POSITIVE FUTURES

Employee Of The Month

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR

Congratulations to Jordan Wagster employee of the month for The West. Jordan is a receptionist at PSV,

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

and he is a qualified personal trainer so has been helping out in the West doing overtime in the Zest Gyms.

Jo Cherrett

towards their membership target by selling plenty of memberships and he has even received a customer

Jordan has shown a great attitude and passion for the fitness industry. Jordan has been helping PSV comment card to say how helpful and wonderful he was when dealing with a customer. Well Done!

I took some annual leave at the beginning of the month, settling my little man into school. The first day of work for me was the 12th, since then

Congratulations to Colin Osborne, employee of the month for The

there doesn’t seem to be a great deal to update you on this month…..

South. Colin has been nominated by his colleagues for his positive attitude to his role, helping team mates during busy times and

Just, an extra £4million investment going into Urmston Leisure Centre. Trafford Council launched a consultation for a masterplan for Stretford

helping the customers delivering first class service. Well Done!

and Old Trafford which will include exciting plans for a new university in Trafford. The Council has joined forces with the Class of ’92 former Manchester United teammates Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville plus Lancaster University, Microsoft,

Congratulations to Sam McCall, employee of

Bruntwood and Trafford College to create a unique university offer.

the month for The Central. Sam has worked hard throughout the summer picking up lots of LA

The proposed main campus is the current Kellogg’s headquarters site on Talbot Road, which has been acquired by the Council. Student

shifts and Swim Well hours. Sam is a well-liked

accommodation is proposed to be located in Stretford Town Centre. The Kellogg’s site will be developed by a new partnership between the

and popular member of our staff.

Council and Bruntwood and could also include a new hotel and apartments.

Well Done!

As part of the Council’s £24million commitment to improve leisure facilities, there is a proposal for a new leisure centre at the campus site, replacing the existing facility on Chester Road, plus greatly improved leisure facilities at Turn Moss. If you haven’t seen the full story please

Congratulations to Tania Poznanovic, employee of the month for The North.

read further from the council website link.

Like all the reception staff Tania does an excellent job, always pleasant and happy to help. Tania has been a great support to Stephen Darroch with the

Our first Active Lives was printed and circulated as a wrap in the Messenger, if you haven’t had the chance to read it please use the link in the

Learn 2 swimming programme and has acted as our main point of contact in

newsletter and you can read it fully. We will be producing an Active Lives for all areas over the next 12 months.

August whilst Stephen enjoyed a well deserved 2 week holiday. Well Done!

The date has also been set for our Staff Awards, Saturday 2nd December 2017. I hope that you will all be able to join me for a night of achievements, celebrations and the odd surprise or two! All of the valuable feedback taken from our Employee Voice Staff Reps last year has been fed into the planning and detail for this year. Nominations open on the 30th September 2017 and further details will follow shortly on the format of the evening and how to get your ticket! This year I am also choosing a member of staff that truly has impacted on someone’s life in Trafford and will feed these nominations into the Trafford Council Awards Ceremony on the 20th October 2017. Finally, I have had a great meeting with the Chill Factore and we have agreed some new staff benefits for all staff. Look out for further details in next month’s edition of Interest.

Cherie Staff Profile Roles & Responsibilities: My role as a lifeguard and leisure attendant is to supervise and ensure the safety of the swimmers in the pool. When I’m not on pool, I help set up equipment, classes, cleaning and helping customers in any way I can.

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Tang

FI

T S R

gym member came rushing into Partington Sports Village to ask the reception staff for help, an elderly gentleman

had collapsed on Chapel Lane and the emergency operator had guided them to the Sports Village as they have a defibrillator and would be able to assist

straight away. Lia Guite (Leisure Attendant) grabbed the centre’s defibrillator and went to assist the collapsed man.

Adam Howarth (Accounts Assistant), who was working out in the gym, offered his assistance with no finished his shift, also went to help, with Sue Balmer (Duty Manager) providing support from the centre.

Urmston Leisure Centre

Best place I’ve been abroad: Either LA or Aiya Napa where I worked for the season this summer.

11th September 2017, a former

hesitation (anything to get out of running on the treadmill!) Jordan Wagster (Receptionist), who had just

Leisure Assistant

Favourite Food: Indian and Italian!

CL

S S A

On Sunday

Lia & Jordan

When Lia arrived on scene the man was unconscious on the floor and his dog was laid on his chest protecting him, Lia tried to remove the dog, but he wasn’t leaving his master! At that point Adam ran up and scooped the dog up and Lia was able to start First Aid – dog free! Thankfully the casualty came round and started waving his arms in a semiconscious state and soon after the emergency response arrived and took over.

Hobbies & interests: I enjoy going to the gym, swimming, eating, socialising with friends. I also love to travel and explore new places

Dream Job: No idea, but something that allows me to be creative!

Favourite Films: Rom-coms or thrillers.

3 Words to describe me: Beautiful, funny, modest.

The man, who suffered from a heart condition, thankfully recovered and was grateful to the support he received from the team at Partington Sports Village and the Ambulance Service. 7

ERAS+ best practice event On Wednesday 15th September, Emma Thomas went along to the National ERAS+ best practise event, which was hosted at the Nowgen Centre at Manchester Royal Infirmary. ERAS is the project that Trafford Leisure has been working on involving cancer patients who are undergoing major surgery. Enhanced (E) recovery (R) after (A) surgery (S) is a programme that has been trialled in Greater Manchester for the past 2 years and is now recognised as UK best practice. Trafford together with Stockport, Tameside and Manchester has been selected to pilot the physical activity part of the patient pathway and discussions with Wythenshawe hospital have been underway since May this year. At the event on 15th there were over 100 people from all over the Country including consultants, anaesthetists and specialist cancer nurses. Emma presented alongside colleagues from GM Active and Active Tameside and despite a few nerves….the presentation was received well. We also had the opportunity to show a short video of a patient called Patricia, who has come through the ERAS+ pathway with Trafford Leisure following her surgery for kidney cancer. The video is on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYm6lr44HQ

From Tracks to Poles On the 8th, 9th & 10th Partington Sports Village hosted the Autumn Model Railway expoEM 2017. The event took over the main spaces of the sport centre where model train enthusiasts showed off their trains and fantastic settings. Amongst the many attractions on show over the weekend there was an old vintage London Bus which provided Amy Shaw, one of our swimming teachers, to display her hidden talents as a pole fitness enthusiast! Amy joined Trafford leisure 3 months ago as a lifeguard and swimming teacher, on top of her day job in a school as a TA. And as you guessed it she is also a pole dancer. Amy says “I've been doing pole fitness and pole dancing for about 4 years now and since my first lesson I became addicted to it. I train most days at clubs or at the gym and my very

Since the start of this year my role within Trafford Leisure has been that of Efficiency Manager. Some of you will have known me in my previous role of the General Manager for the West Locality. Prior to this, I was a Duty Manager at both Urmston and Stretford. Here is a little of ‘Knowing Me-Knowing You’ my original working background was in engineering! This knowledge, when combined with the experiences of General Manager helps very much in my new role.

Kevin Henderson Efficiency Manager

Marsland House E- Kevin.Henderson@traffordleisure.co.uk

The role of Efficiency Manager involves many things. The early priority was simple: review our utility costs! You may be interested to know that they represent the third biggest expenditure line to our company. How much do we spend? Well, have a guess - the answer is on the back page. ‘Smart’ meters may be familiar to you at home. It’s no different in our leisure world, except the bills are much bigger! At ALC, Fran & Dale were convinced that they had a hole in their pool, as their water bills were around £20,000 – per month! ALC therefore was the first to have a water meter. It allowed me to prove that the bills were wrong & ultimately we got our money back. Water meters are now installed at STR, ULC and SAL. Going forwards, I will work with the Energy Champions to identify more efficient processes to save us money. Each of the localities now has an ‘Energy Champion’. Kate Buckley in the South, Luke Woolstencroft in the West, Michaela Brookes in Central and Jonathan Case from the North. We are looking for someone to champion this at the Golf, so please contact me direct if you are interested. Electricity bills never seem to go down, do they? In the past couple of months, I have been working on our contracted prices. Luckily just a week before British Gas announced an increase of around 12%, I had confirmed for all sites an increase fixed at 3.5%. Gas prices have also been re-negotiated. I’m delighted to confirm that I have just agreed a deal, fixed for 3 years, reducing our current gas costs by over 20%, which equates to over £60K per year. Getting a good deal is only half the story. Getting all our facilities to use energy more efficiently is the next step. For this I work closely with all the General Managers, Assistant Managers and Energy Champions. If you see me in your centre and you have an idea, please do come and say “hello”. Also, your Energy Champions now want to hear from all of you about anything that can make our business more efficient, any idea is welcome; perhaps how or where we buy something from, maybe how we use a particular product, or an idea to get an improved service from a supplier. Whatever happened to that idea of a paperless office? Well we all still have lots of paper copies for one thing and another. As part of the Support Team, I have recently reviewed how many suppliers are used by you all. I couldn’t believe the answer that Christine Callaghan gave me – 3000! If we could reduce this to a smaller set of preferred suppliers then we could reduce our administration and save a few trees on the way. Reducing our suppliers is an area I will be working on over the coming months. This has already led to one very startling cost, the cost of franking! Since Trafford Leisure started, (TCLT+TLCIC), can you guess how much we have spent on franking to all our suppliers and customers? (Back page again for this answer!)

supportive husband has even helped me turn our front room into a pole room so I can get some extra practise in! Fitness has always been a big part of my life, I have always loved lifting weights and dancing, so pole-fit was perfect for me as it let me combine the two. It's an all-over body work out suitable for all shapes, sizes and abilities and confidence levels. When I started pole fit I was very shy but it's helped grow my confidence, as you can see I'll happily swing around anything pole-like in front of an audience these days, even on vintage buses at work! I now pole dance at an advanced level, have danced all over Manchester and I have taught a few classes; I love helping people to learn new things and achieve their goals whether I'm teaching pole-fit, swimming lessons, or a class in school. This year I'm hoping to compete in a few pole-fitness competitions and in the future, I would love to own my own pole-fitness club.”

Football Tournament for All Staff We have a date for your diary. Tuesday 17th October 5-7pm at Stretford

6 aside (at le ast 1 female )

Sports Village (Talbot). It will be 6 aside mixed (you MUST have a female player on the pitch) on the 4G all weather pitch. If you are interested and wish your centre to take part please contact andy.hilton@traffordleisure.co.uk to be included sooner the better as we only have limited spaces for teams.

Look forward to hearing from you! 6

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Who is IN THE SUPPORT TEAM AT MARSLAND HOUSE

My role as finance director is very varied and I love the fact that it is different every day.

SARAH BLATCH Finance Director

The overarching objective of my role however is to make sure that we report the financial position on a regular basis and that we understand both our cashflow and financial forecast. It is my responsibility to provide this information and to explain fluctuations against budget and last year to our key stakeholders which include Senior Team, The Board of Directors and Trafford Council.

With the investment of in excess of £24m into our leisure centres I spend a lot of time modelling the new businesses and looking at the financial impact of the proposed new activities. Although introducing new and exciting activities for our customers is fantastic it is also important that they deliver a return on investment.

As the Marketing & Sales Director of Trafford Leisure I direct the marketing strategy, advertising and sales of Trafford Leisure’s activities and products.

Lesley Aitken

Sales & Marketing Director

I’ve been in Trafford now for seven and a half years and started life as the Swim Well Brand Development Manager. Over the years I have looked after various bits of the business – swimming, coaching programme, Active Living and Learning and Development.

EMMA THOMAS

Head of Development

JOSH BROWN

Financial Planning Analyst

I’ve just undertaken a new role as the Financial Planning Analyst (formerly Business Development Manager) which involves having a head for numbers and data. I assist the Senior Team in providing data for current and future projects, analysing trends, and making sure ideas are assessed thoroughly and strategically.

CHRISTINE CALLAGHAN Accounts Assistant Purchase Ledger

Each of the sites has its own income and expenditure which is summarised each month for review by the Senior Team. Sally and I share the sites between us and compare the results with what was forecast.

CAROLINE SLAUGHTER Financial & Management Accountant

I have been working on the payroll transition project which, in September, is still very much

in a transition phase but we expect it to be settling down to “business-as-usual” very soon….. Please bear with us.

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Issuing of Cash Vouchers, Dealing with the Post, and many other jobs, the list is too long to mention. If in doubt give me a shout and I can point you into the right direction.

Trafford Sports Awards

The marketing and sales data I review regularly such as Google analytics and Gym Sales, enable me to be strategic and through the management of data I can aid the conversion of leads to sales. I enjoy the fact that the marketing landscape is always changing and ‘innovation’ is a key element of my role, which means I’m always looking at new ways to generate sales via the marketing and promotion of Trafford Leisure.

I am responsible for promoting Trafford Leisure through content and stories. My role is to engage existing customers, potential customers and employees of Trafford Leisure.

HEATHER GAULTON Content Marketing Manager

Every month I produce the staff newsletter and members newsletter which hopefully you should all read. I manage the main ‘Trafford Leisure’ social media channels as well as overlooking the site specific ones, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. On these channels I respond to customer comments and messages and develop discussions, and also create and come up with ideas for social posts to engage members and potential customers. To create good content I have developed a

Trafford Leisure Blog. I write blogs linking with promotions or events we have on in the month. I take pictures of any events that are taking place and develop and create videos to promote Trafford Leisure where business is needed. I look after the PR, which recently you may have seen two pieces in the messenger! For you guys last year I took on the role to look after staff awards! I am now working with Jo to make this year’s event even better!

I am based at Marsland House but most of you will see me once a week at a wet leisure centre. My main role is all things lifeguard related, this includes organising and delivering the weekly lifeguard training. I also deliver the lifeguard course at Partington Sports Village, this includes booking venues, registering the course with RLSS, organising assessors and booking customers in. This then feeds into the sites and also gives them opportunity to employ new lifeguards.

My role now sees me looking after the Learning and

My role is to pay all the supplier invoices – i.e. Shorrock Trichem, Brakes, Instructor Invoices etc. Input one off Sales Invoices (people who book the halls or pools) onto the system.

FIONA BUCKLEY

Learning & Development Officer

The RLSS will also audit us on a yearly basis on our course retakes and ongoing training and I am pleased to say we scored excellent in all areas.

Yvonne Burke receiving the award for “Volunteer of the Year” with the Boundary House Volunteers Athletes, coaches, volunteers, schools, sports clubs and unsung heroes, who dedicate their time to sport and physical activity in Trafford, were chosen as worthy champions by a panel of judges following a round of public nominations. The winners included a team of dedicated volunteers from the ‘Walk Trafford’ project who bagged the prestigious Volunteer of the Year Award. Volunteers Ann Von Essen, Barbara Riley, Jim Mullen, John Stretton and Anne Shepard from Boundary House Medical Centre in Sale Moor were nominated for their hard work organising urban health walks from the surgery, engaging hundreds of people over the last few months. The five enthusiastic Boundary House volunteers lead a walk every Tuesday starting from the surgery at 1.30pm exploring the local area and enabling them to not only keep active but make new friends and get to know the local area better. Dr Yvonne Burke from Boundary House Medical Centre said “The physical health, mental health and social benefits of walking are really clear. We wanted our community to have the opportunity of joining a local easy access walking group and for it to become one of the options open to improve health”.

My other responsibilities include coordinating the lifeguard renewals and supporting sites with ongoing lifeguard training. I deliver baby savers twice a month at Urmston Leisure Centre, this class is for carers of babies covering CPR and choking. This class is well received in the community with new parents and grandparents, with people travelling from the other side of Manchester. I receive lovely feedback and make parents feel more confident that they would know what do in an emergency. I look after the Trafford Training Facebook Twitter and Instagram pages to help promote the courses that Trafford Training run, and to share what we do for the community with the training we run and what an amazing job our lifeguards do.

The role of Efficiency Manager involves many things. The early priority was simple: review our utility costs! You may be interested to know that they represent the third biggest expenditure line to our company.

KEVIN HENDERSON

Effiency Manager

I allocate Direct Debit income to each site, and update the overall memberships figures. ANNETTE HIRST Additionally I run Ad hoc reports as and when Business Support Officer sites require, for Memberships, Income and usage. I also help maintain the Gladstone products such as Plus 2, Join@home & Connect.

Management accountant based at Marsland House, supporting the monthly and annual accounting and working on projects.

Acquisition Marketing Manager

Development team, taking the lead on all Health initiatives in the Borough (and wider in Greater Manchester) and I am also the lead for the Customer Experience with Trafford Leisure. This is a really exciting and varied role that I enjoy a lot.

I am currently working on developing a new KSI dashboard that will allow the management team to see a snapshot of the entire business at a glance, it’s been a long time in the making but we are nearly there.

Day to Day duties vary from; supporting sites and members with queries, processing cancellations and amendments for Memberships, sending to collect the DD payments for Zest, Swim Well & Gymnastics Trafford, and chasing any returned DD payments.

CHRIS JOHNSON

I am passionate about my responsibilities which include successfully promoting and managing the brand, directing the marketing and sales team, working

with supportive marketing agencies & managing the relationships, overseeing budgets for marketing and promotions, generating and inspiring new ideas for customer acquisitions and experiences, as well as supporting the Senior Team.

On a day to day basis I am managing the transition of payroll from in house into the shared service team at Trafford Council and I am constantly looking at ways to automate and speed up some of our manual processes. I also look after a great team at Marsland House who most of you already know or will get to know as we plan to get out and about more in the next few months.

Numbers, I know numbers. Two plus three, five plus seven, six minus one, these are all questions I can answer!!

?

My role is an exciting one, it enables me to be creative on a day to day basis e.g. Membership campaigns for Fitness & Swimming Lessons. I’m responsible for creating new leads via print and digital channels.

My role is varied and I don’t have a typical day. I could be delivering corporate training, which includes Corporate Induction, First Class Programme, Profiling Others and Profiling Me. I create, update and produce the PROfiles as they evolve to meet the needs of the business. I am also responsible for any recruitment advertising, working with partners and stakeholders to find the most effective place to recruit. I can often be found at job fairs, networking with other businesses and the local community.

Day to day I spend the majority of my time on Sage and Excel spreadsheets, along with fielding email and telephone queries. My role involves looking after a selection of individual sites, and looking at consolidated accounts (i.e. The company as a whole).

SALLY DARKE

Management Accountant

Accounts are broken into 4 parts – ‘Income’ and ‘Expenditure’, which

in turn make up the ‘Profit & Loss Account’ and ‘Forecasts’, all of which I produce in a Management Pack each month. My not so week-to-week tasks include the completion our VAT return each quarter. I am involved in a lot of Year End procedures, working with our Auditors who test the accuracy of our accounts. I have recently been leading the project to move Sales invoices (block bookings) onto Plus2, so that income can be collated more easily. Debts can be seen directly at site without the need to wait for a response from the Finance Team and generally streamlining the process as a whole.

ANDREA CARR

Learning & Development Manager

I joined Trafford Leisure six months ago covering the role of Jo’s PA whilst Kate was on maternity leave.

ALISON PARR Working with the Senior Team to identify training needs and sourcing the most effective way to achieve this. I also source

Now I’ve handed back to Kate I will be continuing to work part time at Trafford Leisure on a temporary basis supporting on projects linked to the centre developments which I’m really looking forward to.

Project Support

and book training courses for all our staff from First aid, Pool Plant, Health and safety, Safeguarding, Food Hygiene, through to aqua aerobics. Our apprenticeship programme is something I am particularly proud of and working with our partner Trafford College I recruit, place and monitor our apprentices. Lastly, Trafford Training, did you know we have a commercial training business? So when you go on First Aid Training you will see lots of people there that don’t work for Trafford Leisure. The idea being that not only can we generate income we can keep the massive costs of training our staff to a minimum. I work closely with many of the schools and businesses in Trafford to meet their training needs, lots of administration with this one. (Thanks to everyone that carries mannequins out to my car when I am struggling). I have probably missed things off like everyone, there is always the unexpected or the one offs!

Getting a good deal is only half the story. Getting all our facilities to use energy more efficiently is the next step. For this I work closely with all the General Managers, Assistant Managers and Energy Champions. For more information on my role please see page 3.

My role is PA to Jo Cherrett, I am really enjoying the role as the work is varied and every day is different.

KATE WELLOCK

My role is to support Jo and help organise her busy schedule in a dynamic environment. I look after her diary, arrange meetings and appointments and liaise with members of the TL team and external clients. I also look after her communications - her inbox is challenging! I take minutes at a variety of both internal and external meetings and also look after general admin duties.

Jo’s Personal Assistant

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