Interest Staff Newsletter - March 2024

CHIEF EXECUTIVE JO CHERRETT

Was it only 8 weeks ago we had our staff awards??? Another brilliant night, judging wasn’t made any easier again this year with a high level of nominations, making a brilliant short list for each category. Well done to all of our winners and I hope you all enjoy looking at the photos from the night – capturing some of the highlights and moves….

Pay Award 2024 - I am hoping that you have all received your pay review letter from me last week, and I am very pleased that we have been able to provide all 300 of our staff with a 4% pay award. Some of our roles will see increases up to 11%, ensuring that we continue to be a Real Living Wage employer. We know that the investment into all of our indoor facilities is key to providing inspiring, fit for purpose and sustainable facilities for staff and customers now and in the future, but you, our people are what makes us truly stand out from our competitors and helps us deliver on our strategy and to help our customers want to move more every day. We are continually looking at how we can improve the employee experience and benefits package for all, more to follow next month on a possible staff football tournament and basketball competition if we have enough interest!! We hope that with the increased contractual annual leave in 2024 and this new pay award we can demonstrate our commitment to you as a member of the Trafford Leisure team in this exciting year where we look to re-open move Altrincham.

Investments - Talking of move Altrincham, I was on site for the first time since the beginning of the new year last week. Lots of good progress to be seen, the steel work was going in for the new extension whilst I was there, and also the hydro pool for the new Spa had just been delivered. We don’t have a fixed date yet for when we would re-open, but when asked directly, we are advising to all that it will be the back end of the year. The planning application has now gone in for move Partington, so over the coming weeks we will be able to finalise a day for closing and when construction will begin. Priority is looking at the displacement of existing programmes and what our continued delivery by our staff in situ may look like with Partington close, continuing the good work of Mark and the team with the Physical Activity referral. The two 3G pitches and pavilion will remain open during the construction phase. I will have some external visuals to share on move Partington within the next couple of weeks, so please look out for these! With resource and non-negotiable timelines for both move Altrincham and move Partington, progress for Stretford and considering Sale has been paused for this last quarter of the year. Stretford will be picked up again after Easter and we are also considering what further investment is needed in Sale for the short term to ensure the building remains functional.

Pricing 2024 - A comprehensive price review has taken place and shaped the price increases that will be introduced on the 1st May for leisure centres and the old Trafford Sports Barn. Pricing for Altrincham golf and the Grammar has also been reviewed and as and when agreed will be advised by your managers and in turn customers informed. Pricing information can be found on the P Drive, in a file called Fees and Charges. A full staff brief will be shared shortly and popped into the P drive file, along with all price changes ahead of communicating directly with membership customers who are impacted. It is important that any feedback or questions by customers are captured and fed back through the engage platform so that anything not considered or not already answered in our FAQ is considered and answered for our customers consistently.

Strategic Direction - At the Trafford Leisure Board in February, the first part of a new contract (referred to as an operating agreement) between Trafford Council and Trafford Leisure has been agreed. In simple terms, the council have set out what the standards and expectations are for running leisure on their behalf and what decisions the council wish to make and what is Trafford Leisure’s responsibility. This is aligned to the investment plans and some changes in our operations/reporting will be needed as we transition to the new contractual arrangement over the coming 12 months. We have a new strategy! This means we have a new Vision, Strategic Outcomes and Values with our purpose of “move more everyday” staying firmly in place. Some of your leadership colleagues and employee voice reps have helped shape this with the Trafford Leisure Board and dates will be coming out for all – to attend a Strategy launch in May and June.

Grant Funding - Trafford Council with support from Trafford Leisure has received a government grant to help our swimming pools with running costs and to help improve energy efficiency. The grant of £62,700 was awarded to the Council by Sport England as part of Phase II (Capital) of the Government’s Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF) and will be invested into the pool at move Urmston. The detail of what this means will be shared by Craig and the team soon. A total of 264 local authorities have received a share of the funding, (we did submit a bid for all of our centre’s) of which £20m has been provided by Sport England via the National Lottery and just over £40m has been provided by the government.

Final word - After an incredible 9 years’ service by our chair Andy Worthington, we are currently recruiting for a new chairperson as Andy’s term comes to an end in September. If anyone knows of anyone local who may be interested, the Job Advert can be found using this link – https://traffordleisure.co.uk/jobs/chair-of-board-job-role/ We are slowly getting all of your EEDI forms completed and returned, and I am very much looking forward to reviewing this data and to be more informed about you our people. The collecting of data is a necessary step to help us further improve the experience for all staff within Trafford, celebrating what we do well and helping us to learn and grow to become a much richer, more diverse and inclusive workforce that represents all of our Trafford Community. Here's hoping for the weather starting to break soon, I think we all could do with some sustained blue skies and sunshine. This time of year is never easy, people shaking off a cold or bug, motivation can dwindle. We can hopefully soon look forward to being outside and moving more – c’mon sunshine, give us all a helping hand...

Daniel Burton

Customer at the Heart Award

“I would like to nominate Dan for this award because his positivity echoes across Urmston. He helps everyone he sees, exceeds staff and customer expectations and does it with a massive smile on his face. Sometimes you can feel a bit down, upset and Dan helps turn a sad face into a massive happy one. He brings joy into move Urmston – what more could you want from a Duty Manager. When Dan speaks to a customer, they always look at Dan fascinated and intrigued with what he is saying he understands what the customer needs and smashes it out the park. The customer experience he delivers, with ease and charisma is what helps set us apart from competition.”

Finance Team

Innovation Award

“This team is still relatively new, and notwithstanding the day job of financial management of the company this team has led and delivered the insourcing of over 12,000 direct debit memberships. Taking back the responsibility and function for direct debit has created true benefit across the organisation. Customer complaints removed overnight, improved our reputation, our staff wellbeing improved, improved debt recovery, cost savings and control of our data. The finance team have also created dashboards, debt recovery reports – true transformation.”

Our Winners Sale Swimwell Team

Solution Superstar

“They said it wasn’t possible. Two combined swim well programmes under one roof, over 4000 children and 36 schools and the swim teacher team (combined alt and sale) have achieved above expectation. Solutions and creativity daily to make it work, they have made compromises to ensure we can accommodate both programs and at a time when we are still building back a full swim teacher team. Any problem, issue or challenge they faced have been taken in their stride and the team have willingly contributed to finding solutions.”

Morgan Gardner

Rising Star

“Morgan is a hardworking, polite and conscientious member of the team. Morgan never fails to go above and beyond. He has transformed how we produce our quarterly newsletter making them digitally easy and exciting to read. He owned National Fitness Day “Your Health is for life”, he made sure everything was in place that we needed, oh and walked too! He works against tight deadlines and always produces work to the highest standard. Juggling various tasks and delivering them with a smile. Morgan shines during his most creative moments and there have been plenty of them. He is well thought of by his team and at sites. I am proud to work with Morgan and think he will reach the stars!”

Kimani Worrell

First Class Customer Experience Award

“Kimani is truly amazing, the most well-mannered, friendly, helpful member of staff. Kimani knows my name, such a simple thing but Kimani knows mine and it seems every customer’s name. He greets me with a smiley good morning and encourages, supports and makes me feel I can achieve anything. I genuinely look forward to walking through the doors of move Urmston and being met by Kimani. He is always happy and smiling to everyone. He really deserves to win!”

Hannah Reardon

Mark Pearson Manager of the Year

“Hannah has been in post for only 1 year. Within this year she’s managed to keep the programme stable despite various rough patches with numerous teachers leaving and had to go through the recruitment process many times. Hannah began her Swimwell manager role in January 2023 and had to continue to teach what were her lessons until we found permanent cover. Hannah is really approachable and is always on hand to help out the team. she takes responsibility for the Swimwell programme and has worked above and beyond her hours and has done it all quietly. A manager that leads by example, is positive, passionate and in Hannah we trust.”

Stuart Heap Employee of the Year

“Mark has not only been a role model to his colleagues and team members at Partington, but he has managed to embed himself in the community of Partington, and he is inspiring, supporting and for many of the local young people providing a role model. He is thought highly of by local and health partners and relationships formed with councillors, church leaders and local businesses are very strong and genuine. Community health and wellbeing is embraced and understood by Mark, his passion to get his local community moving is sincere and this was demonstrated by the sheer number of local people who joined him for “Your Health is for Life” . Mark is leading by example in tackling inactivity, prepared to turn his hand to anything - Well done Mark!”

WE ARE EN ROUTE TO MILESTONE 7

Milestone 6 is available to watch on Youtube, as we sat down with Jon, Project Manager, to get all the updates from over the last year on site, important milestones that have been hit & what exciting moments are yet to come. To

WHAT’S NEW?

@ Stretford Sports Village

BEAT THE STREETS

A new initiative has come to life in Trafford, called Beat the Streets, and our people at Stretford Sports Village have been getting stuck in. There are checkpoints across Stretford and Old Trafford that you can check in with a card token, promoting getting your steps in through daily walks. Check out the website below and get involved!

https://beatthestreet.me/trafford/

MOVING LUNCHES

In efforts to live up to our purpose as a business, the team at Stretford have been moving more everyday by incorporating moving lunches into their breaks! We love to see it, team Stretford.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH JANUARY &

Steph Sykes

Stretford Gym Team

RACHEL BRINDLEY RAFFLE WINNER

For this year’s adidas Manchester Marathon, Trafford Leisure are running in two relay teams to raise money for the really worthy cause of Cancer Research UK. The race is taking place on Sunday 14th April, beginning in the city centre and making it’s way throughout Trafford before finishing back in Deansgate.

We wish the best of luck to all of our runners. Please, if you are able to spare any amount for a donation, the team would be extremely grateful as we try to push towards our target!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/trafford-leisure-for-cancer-research-uk

MEN’S TEAM WOMEN’S TEAM

Adam Spence

Andy Mooney

Morgan Gardner

Wayne Wardle

Sammy Toner

Hayley Wilkinson

Jayne Shelmerdine

Victoria Cordingly

£ £ £ ££ £ £ £ £ ££ £ £ £ £ £ £ ££ FINANCE UPDATE MARCH 2024

FINANCIAL DASHBOARD

Take a look at an insightful update from the Finance Team for March, including the financial results from last month, new starters and upcoming events. March is our financial year end and so it is full steam ahead for Emma and her team on all things finance!

February followed the same trend as previous months in the year, with income exceeding budget in all of our sites. This is mainly driven by fitness membership sales and the Swimwell program, but has also been heavily influenced by business wide improved credit control. Thank you to each and every one of you that have helped to pull in the income from our late paying block bookers.

We are forecasting to finish ahead of our budgeted deficit by a whopping £1M, due to increased sales accompanied by cost savings across the board.

WINNERS

January staff awards saw the Finance team taking home the innovation award trophy for their work throughout the year on driving efficiencies in our reporting, financial control and the successful project that saw direct debits being bought back in house, resulting in happier customers and improved credit control.

£ £ £ ££ £ £ £ ££ £ £ £ £ ££ £ £ £ ££ £ TEAM SPOTLIGHT

NEW ADDITION

Continuing the good news on January, there was a new recruit to the Finance Team, as we welcomed Shaun Batson as our new Finance Manager on the 31st of January. Shaun will be taking on the day to day management of the finance team and has already started to get to know the teams out at sites and looking for ways to support them with their monthly accounts. Please extend him a warm welcome as he makes the rounds and offer him a work space and a bru! Here’s a bit about Sean:

“I have two boys aged 13 and 4 which most my spare time feels like it is taken up with there interests. I am an Aston Villa fan and I used to have a season ticket until I had kids. The biggest sporting achievement is swimming two miles in Loch Lomand, even at the end of August the water was still freezing. The time has gone very quickly from when I started at the end of January. Already I am learning how to reconcile the web income to reduce the under and overs each month. I have met some great people out on the sites as well, all of which have been very friendly and helpful.”

WHAT’S ON?

• April and May will be dedicated to the year end procedures including our annual audit to ensure of financials are given a clean bill of health.

• The upcoming opening of move Altrincham will keep the team busy as we start to build out budgets and refresh business plans to support the grand opening and the secure the expected outcomes for the first 5 years.

• Behind the scenes, work is being performed on an updated operating agreement to support the opening of move Altrincham, updating our Strategy and reviewing our company governance so 2024 is certainly keeping us on our toes.

Trafford National

A Day at the Races

WHAT’S NEW?

@ Support Office & The Customer Hub

HORSEY AFFAIRS

Our Senior Leadership team were called into action once more prior to our January Staff Awards evening for the annual filiming of the SLT video. With the theme of ‘A Day at the Races’, it was only right that we got them suited & hoofed in the correct attire. As our noble stallions and mare’s prepared themselves for the Trafford National, we took to the golf course to capture another iconic Trafford Leisure awards video. A big thanks to all SLT members for being great sports, and special mention to Kevin Henderson for being our rooster!

EXPLORING PARTNERSHIPS

Jon Francis and Jo Cherrett got their boots on and their brollies out to take a trip to the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, located in Millington, Cheshire, to explore the potential benefits of a partnership between our business’. Have a look at the work they do using the link below!

https://caft.co.uk

ALL THE BEST, LEONIE! THANK YOU,

Leonie Welford, CEO Support, has sadly left us and is taking up a new adventure in the police force. We wish you all the best in this new, exciting chapter, Leonie!

We also said a very hard goodbye to Alison Dowson, who retired in March. We thank her for all her efforts across the incredible 35 years service she has given to Trafford Leisure, and wish her all the best in her retirement!

WHAT’S NEW?

@ Sale Leisure Centre

WELCOME TOUR

Nathan Flanagan, Duty Manager, showed our new Finance Manager Shaun around the centre and the pool plant room at Sale. A big thanks to Nathan for making Sean feel so welcome and for sharing his knowledge!

METRO SUCCESS

In another display of resilience & skill, Trafford Metro Masters swimmers ventured to the Winter Swimming World Championships at the beginning of March in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. Competing in water measuring just 0.6 degrees, Trafford Masters coaches Bob & Jo Bolton showcased their prowess in the cold waters, with Jo winning silver in the 450m freestyle and securing 4th place in both 100m breaststroke & 100m freestyle events. Bob achieved commendable 5th & 6th place finishes in his events too. Massive congratulations, team Metro!

BIRTHDAY BOY RAFFLE WINNER

DEBBIE RHODES

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

MATTHEW GREENSMITH

WHAT’S NEW?

@ Partington Sports Village

JAMES AWARD NOMINEE BECCA AWARD NOMINEE

NEW 5G PITCH FINISHED

Congratulations to James and Becca for their award nominations, their efforts haven’t gone un-noticed at Partington. Well done and keep it up, guys!

A huge moment for Partington Sports Village, as the brand new 5G astro-turf pitch was unveiled in front of a local community crowd along with members of Trafford Council and our very own Mark Pearson, Carly Haselwood, Jon Francis & Stephen Darroch. Members of the Finance team, were treated to a tour of the plant room at Partington, showcasing the pool technology we’ve not only implemented here but across our centres.

POOL PLANT ROOM TOUR

WHAT’S NEW?

@ move urmston

DUTY CALLS

It was maintenance time on the Clip and Climb wall at move Urmston, as Ella was sent into the rafters to give it a fresh lick of paint. Stella job, Ella!

A brand new podium for Swimwell lessons to celebrate their achievements!

SITE UPDATES

RACE DAY

Lacing up for the Trafford 10K was move Urmston’s very own Gill Adams and Daniel Burton; fantastic to see our people getting involved in local opportunities of physical activity, and moving more everyday!

As part of a new approach to bring our move brand to life physically, you’ll be seeing more messages like this across the centre.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

DECEMBER

Gill Adams

Jake Pender

Adam Spence

HEALTH &

WELLBEING

A Brief Introduction to Physical Activity Referral at Trafford Leisure

Trafford Leisure has successfully relaunched the Physical Activity Referral Scheme (PAR) and at the end of March we will have established baseline data to drive forward new ideas and solutions contributing to improving health outcomes for all. The 12-week PAR programme is designed to support people who are either inactive or used to be active and are at risk, or living with, chronic health conditions, to become more active and improve their quality of life.

People are referred into the programme via a GP, health professional, social prescriber or local trusted organisation. The cost of the programme is £30 and after an initial consultation, PAR members can access our specialist Move More group classes and supervised gym group sessions, as well as our general timetable for gym, swim and fitness classes.

Our fully qualified and experienced referral instructors provide a personal programme tailored to an individual’s specific requirements, incorporating gentle and targeted progression that will give confidence to those who want to take their first steps towards becoming more active or understand how to be more active with their long-term health condition.

We promote engagement and adherence to physical activity by supporting individuals with their capability, opportunity and motivation, empowering them to change their own attitudes and behaviours towards movement as part of active living. Our centre-based fitness teams continue to assist individuals to become more independent in improving their own mental, social, and physical well-being through use of the Trafford Leisure facilities as well as signposting to local community sessions.

THE FIRST PAR HUDDLE

The PAR team were invited to the inaugural PAR Huddle at the support office on 12 February. This was a great opportunity for instructors, usually working in different localities, to get together to learn more about health and wellbeing in Trafford Leisure’s Strategy for 2024 – 2030, as well as review the PAR model as well as share their feedback about life as an exercise referral instructor.

NOTICE BOARD

Here we would like to shine a light on all our new staff, those who are sadly leaving us, and those who have moved up in the business - an opportunity for us all to welcome, say goodbye and congratulate!

NEW STARTERS WHERE POSITION

Caitlin Sharkey

Matthew Greensmith

Ryan Shelmerdine

Shaun Batson

Sally Purslow

Frances Woodford

Victor Ionescu

Declan Sammon

Oscar Woodward

Ruby Clay

Matthew Abernethy

David Ajetunmobi

Andrew Flitcroft

Kate Holden

Pedro Ferreira

Lucy Seddon

Alex Lee Hoyle

Beatrice Derrick

Aaron Hambright

Abbie Lee Hoyle

Jake Percival

Stewart Brown

Ben Kinnear

Joe Hadfield

Oliver McDermott

LEAVERS

James Asher

Sarah Cronin

Keshika McCabe

Ummar Nazib

Benjamin Wilson

Sam McCall

Harry Cook

Zak Pearson

Peter Yates

Jessica Edge

Angus Chan

Annie Platt

Francis Warden

Callum Derbyshire

Gaynor Mowe

Shona Ellis

Craig Penman

Emma Darlington

Alison Dowson

Kieran Rodgers

Sarah Gee

Marnie Mannion

Miras Eskander

Manon Le Coq

Leonie Welford

Elliot Savage

Laura Lewindon

SAL SAL GRA HEQ STR STR STR GRA ALG STR HEQ STR GRA SAL BOS BOS STR STR STR STR BAR BOS STR ALG ALG

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Apprentice

Senior Fitness Instructor

Finance Manager

Swimming Level 1

Swimming Level 1

Swimming Level 1

Leisure Assistant Dry

Driving Range Assistant

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

IT Manager

Swimming Teacher level 2

Senior Fitness Instructor

Swimming Level 1

Football Dev Coordinator

Football Dev Coordinator

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Swimming Level 1

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Leisure Assistant Dry Football Dev Coordinator

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Driving Range Assistant

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Senior Leisure Assistant

Health & Fitness Instructor

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Health & Fitness Instructor

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

Golf Attendant

Driving Range Assistant

Driving Range Assistant

Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

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Lifeguard & Leisure Assistant

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