Trafford Leisure - December 2021 Staff Newsletter

Employee Voice - Birthday Lunch We are bringing back the birthday lunch with Jo Cherrett, Chief Executive.

As you may already know, over lunch Jo is listening to the answers of three simple questions: What do you like about Trafford Leisure?

What do you not like about Trafford Leisure?

If you could change one thing in Trafford Leisure – what would it be?

move more everyday

Is your birthday in January?

Look out for your invite starting January 2022

From Jo Cherrett

Below are a few ways how Employee Voice Reps have helped change and influence Trafford Leisure Strategy and plans...

Don’t Like –

Changes Tomorrow

Just stand on reception with the egg timer whirling round for 30 mins

Cover up of Tattoos “It’s part of me and doesn’t make me unprofessional”

IT gets switched off Friday night and doesn’t come back on until Monday – makes you look stupid

An App for people to book through

Phones constantly ringing, you either have to ignore a customer in front of you or leave the phone ringing

Join online - It takes 12 mins for someone to join online, pen and paper is quicker Remove compulsory retirement

4 different systems to use to complete a fitness membership Trying to get a car park space so I can work at Sale, so many people just park in the car park and walk to the town centre/shopping Not had a pay rise for 8 years

Uniform – Hot pants not flattering could we have tracksuit bottoms?

Staff get to use GM Active facilities – staff discount Till variances swim enrolment – horrific.

Pay up front for the year

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

PRIZES TO BE WON A BIG thank you to everyone for your hard work and commitment during 2021!

As a thank you we are giving away 12 prizes!

Winner will be announced on a video which will be live each day, 12pm, from the 13th-24th December.

To watch you will receive an email, or simply login to Human Force where you will see a notification.

View what prizes there are to be won further on in the newsletter!

Merry Christmas Everyone and have A Happy New Year!

1 2 DAYS --- of --

-

Christmas

ALL STAFF INCLUDED!

BUILDING POSITIVE FUTURES A FEW WORDS FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Jo Cherrett Dear All I am really pleased to see our first staff interest newsletter back in publication since the start of the pandemic. We are still a little way off having the staff resource to be able to produce this monthly, with a smaller SLT, Support and operations team in the centres. But with an increase in employee voice reps also coming back in the new year, with your help we can make sure that the newsletter is produced and published more frequently as we go into 2022.

I hope that for most of you, you have had the chance to read the communication update that came out at the beginning of November and more recent last week where I shared the news on the next stage of the refurbishment plans for Altrincham, Sale and Stretford. Yes! To taking another step forward with Altrincham and plans for all of the centre’s being progressed. Just in case you missed these updates, I have asked Heather our Marketing and Content Manager to re-circulate – we know that lives are busy!

November 2021, I got to attend a couple of sporting events for the first time since November 2019. Firstly, I got to attend and represent Trafford Leisure at the live Women’s European Championships 2022 Final Draw at Victoria Warehouse which is being held in England next Summer. England reached the semi-finals in 2017 and are now coached by Sarina Wiegan, who guided the Netherlands to glory in that tournament. It was great to see just how much the profile of women’s football is increasing, and it’s no surprise that girl’s football is the fastest growing sport in the UK but to see and meet some of the talent, past and present in men and women’s football was great.

The opening game is at Old Trafford next Summer, a great opportunity for Trafford Leisure to look at how we encourage more girls into sport and activity. I also got to meet and have my photo taken with a footballer I loved to watch a few years back – Luis Figo and when I showed my football mad son – I got the thumbs up!

Manchester Sports Awards was the other event I attended, this is because we are going into a new partnership with Manchester Active next year, working as partners together on how we can work and support more closely the local care organisations across Manchester and Trafford: twitter.com/i/status/1469256196955770881 This was also a great event, a number of the athletes and stars from Manchester that competed in the Summer Olympics were there. Just how important and great were the Olympics this year at a time the country needed a lift! I spent the evening sat next to Kelly Hodgkinson who some of you may remember from the summer. She is a local Manchester athlete specialising in the 800 metres. At just 19, she won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Honestly, just listening to the dedication, training and sacrifices she made to do what she does – I couldn’t help but be inspired!

As mentioned in the newsletter, I am looking forward to re-launching our strategy in May 2022, and for the first time you will see that we are committed to specific sustainability goals. With the help of Biora (our new support offices tenants) bioragroup.com and soon to be recruited sustainability champions in Trafford Leisure (next year) we will be producing our Sustainability Strategy and plan by the end of March 2022.

So, as we finish off this year, I can’t let you take some much-needed time off, to enjoy some good food and quality time with family and friends without saying thank you to each and every one of you. It gives me immense pride in saying to every single one of you just how great you have been this year; you have kept the activities and facilities open and running whilst the business has continued to change at pace with truly unprecedented challenges. From extreme weather, ageing buildings, track and trace, isolations, illness, personal challenges and tragedies at home, home schooling, emergency evac centre’s – I could go on and on. The attitude and true grittiness of each and everyone of you, is why our local community of Trafford has been able to move just a little bit more during these crazy times to spend time away from the madness by doing something they enjoy and is positively impacting on their physical and mental wellbeing.

Thank you and a very Merry Christmas x

Since 2018 the Finance Team have been using an old unsupported version of Sage (the accounting system that we use...

3 years later we have successfully upgraded to a new version on the 18th November 2021. A huge change for all the team who have been working on this since the summer time ensuring that Go Live ran as smoothly as possible and touch wood has been running smoothly since.

Whilst this has had little impact operationally, we have also added in the ability to raise electronic Purchase Orders. This is currently being trialled at Sale and Altrincham (thank you Lisa and Gill!) We will see how the next few weeks go with these teams and then Finance will be in touch with each site in the New Year to roll this out.

BUILDING POSITIVE FUTURES A FEW WORDS FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Jo Cherrett Dear All I am really pleased to see our first staff interest newsletter back in publication since the start of the pandemic. We are still a little way off having the staff resource to be able to produce this monthly, with a smaller SLT, Support and operations team in the centres. But with an increase in employee voice reps also coming back in the new year, with your help we can make sure that the newsletter is produced and published more frequently as we go into 2022.

I hope that for most of you, you have had the chance to read the communication update that came out at the beginning of November and more recent last week where I shared the news on the next stage of the refurbishment plans for Altrincham, Sale and Stretford. Yes! To taking another step forward with Altrincham and plans for all of the centre’s being progressed. Just in case you missed these updates, I have asked Heather our Marketing and Content Manager to re-circulate – we know that lives are busy!

November 2021, I got to attend a couple of sporting events for the first time since November 2019. Firstly, I got to attend and represent Trafford Leisure at the live Women’s European Championships 2022 Final Draw at Victoria Warehouse which is being held in England next Summer. England reached the semi-finals in 2017 and are now coached by Sarina Wiegan, who guided the Netherlands to glory in that tournament. It was great to see just how much the profile of women’s football is increasing, and it’s no surprise that girl’s football is the fastest growing sport in the UK but to see and meet some of the talent, past and present in men and women’s football was great.

The opening game is at Old Trafford next Summer, a great opportunity for Trafford Leisure to look at how we encourage more girls into sport and activity. I also got to meet and have my photo taken with a footballer I loved to watch a few years back – Luis Figo and when I showed my football mad son – I got the thumbs up!

Manchester Sports Awards was the other event I attended, this is because we are going into a new partnership with Manchester Active next year, working as partners together on how we can work and support more closely the local care organisations across Manchester and Trafford: twitter.com/i/status/1469256196955770881 This was also a great event, a number of the athletes and stars from Manchester that competed in the Summer Olympics were there. Just how important and great were the Olympics this year at a time the country needed a lift! I spent the evening sat next to Kelly Hodgkinson who some of you may remember from the summer. She is a local Manchester athlete specialising in the 800 metres. At just 19, she won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Honestly, just listening to the dedication, training and sacrifices she made to do what she does – I couldn’t help but be inspired!

As mentioned in the newsletter, I am looking forward to re-launching our strategy in May 2022, and for the first time you will see that we are committed to specific sustainability goals. With the help of Biora (our new support offices tenants) bioragroup.com and soon to be recruited sustainability champions in Trafford Leisure (next year) we will be producing our Sustainability Strategy and plan by the end of March 2022.

So, as we finish off this year, I can’t let you take some much-needed time off, to enjoy some good food and quality time with family and friends without saying thank you to each and every one of you. It gives me immense pride in saying to every single one of you just how great you have been this year; you have kept the activities and facilities open and running whilst the business has continued to change at pace with truly unprecedented challenges. From extreme weather, ageing buildings, track and trace, isolations, illness, personal challenges and tragedies at home, home schooling, emergency evac centre’s – I could go on and on. The attitude and true grittiness of each and everyone of you, is why our local community of Trafford has been able to move just a little bit more during these crazy times to spend time away from the madness by doing something they enjoy and is positively impacting on their physical and mental wellbeing.

Thank you and a very Merry Christmas x

Since 2018 the Finance Team have been using an old unsupported version of Sage (the accounting system that we use...

3 years later we have successfully upgraded to a new version on the 18th November 2021. A huge change for all the team who have been working on this since the summer time ensuring that Go Live ran as smoothly as possible and touch wood has been running smoothly since.

Whilst this has had little impact operationally, we have also added in the ability to raise electronic Purchase Orders. This is currently being trialled at Sale and Altrincham (thank you Lisa and Gill!) We will see how the next few weeks go with these teams and then Finance will be in touch with each site in the New Year to roll this out.

Have you ever wanted to exercise with your friends, do you want your friends to benefit from your work with Trafford Leisure??

A BIG Thank you to our online class instructors who have been keeping everyone moving during 2020 & 2021

We have started to look at our benefits packages and are considering how we reward and recognise you more with the family pass we currently offer.

Previously this pass was available for direct family members only on a pay and play basis. Although we are now extending this to family and friends and we’re even giving the option of a direct debit pass, with our people being eligible for between 2 to 5 staff passes.

At the minute we’re working through the process on how you can apply and trialling this so do keep a look out and start thinking of who you may want to give a pass too as we are aiming to get this up and running January.

Staff Survey 2021

With your help, we have grown our Trafford Leisure Facebook following by 2,500 since we started our online classes!

Along with restarting the Employee Voice Birthday Lunch and recruiting for new Employee Voice Reps we also want to get feedback from you directly. It’s incredibly important to us that you have a voice directly and we want to start capturing feedback from everyone in our business so we can help to shape and form our People Strategy. Please do look out for the link in the coming weeks and do take the 3-5 mins to complete it as the information it gives us as your employer is invaluable.

Please see below what prizes are up for grabs in our 12 days of Christmas prize draw!

-

JVC LT Fire TV Edition 50” Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Amazon Alexa Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, Anti Hair Wrap Beats Solo3 Wireless on-Ear Headphones Apple W1 Headphone Chip, Class 1 Bluetooth, 40 hours of Listening time Classic Ultimate M&S Christmas Hamper Spa Day with up to 55 Minute Treatment and Afternoon Tea for Two One4all Gift Voucher, thousands of choices with the UK’s most extensive Multi Retail Gift Card Fitbit Versa 3 Health and Fitness Smart watch with GPS, 24/7 Heart Rate, Voice Assistant and up to 6+ days battery Echo Show 5, 2nd Generation 2021 release, smart display with Alexa and 2 MP camera Charcoal and case Fire HD 8 Tablet, 8” HD display, 32 GB Black with Ads Wine makers Premium Edit (white wine mixed case) Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote (include TV controls) Beauty Advent Calendar 2021

1 2 DAY

--- of

S --

Christmas

-

Name: DAVID HOWLETT Position: Assistant Manager Location: Altrincham Leisure Centre I started with the company back in 2010 working as a Casual Sports Coach in Schools for Sport Trafford.

In 2011 I got the job as Senior Leisure Attendant at GHC. Later, I became a Duty Manager at GHC and at various sites across the company. During my time at GHC i was also helping to set up and manage Flixton House which the company acquired around that time, running weddings and functions etc. In 2013 I won employee of the year for Commitment and Endeavour.

With that experience I then got the role as Assistant Manager at Altrincham Golf Course in 2014 which was great, but unfortunately after just 9 months, a big opportunity came up for me to move to Australia and I took it. I was young and just felt the need to get out and travel the world. I spent over 4 years working and travelling around Australia and Asia.

In 2019, I came back to Sale Leisure Centre as an SLA. Due to working in construction while travelling, I was excited to get back into the leisure industry. After 3 months I was moved into the Duty Manager position. It was great to be back! With the travelling out of my system I could really concentrate on working hard and making a difference at Trafford Leisure.

In October 2021 I made my next step of my journey with Trafford Leisure at Altrincham Leisure Centre.

Working as Assistant Manager.

2022 is all about training for our people!

We want everyone to feel confident and knowledgeable with the new software and systems in place”

Anyone who uses a digital device for any of their day-to-day work will have noticed that we have been going through a huge digital transformation, bringing Trafford Leisure bang up to date in the digital world.

This digital transformation will ensure that, going forward we are in a position to use the latest technological offerings from the partners we work with and will be able to provide improved services for both our staff and our customers. The digital transformation is being managed by our head of Assets and IT, Kevin Henderson working with our strategic IT service providers including PURE Technology, Raspberry Beret, Gladstone, Future Fit, & Human Force, to name a few, along with many other system suppliers.

The first part of this digital transformation started at the beginning of lockdown. We installed our own private, fibre optic lines, running from the exchange core, directly into our premises, in so doing, facilitating the very latest, fastest, and most secure connection possible. Actually, we installed a second line too, just for back-up. We installed new internal data wiring at and extra Wi-Fi points in every facility. We also replaced all the old analogue desk phones with ‘VoIP’ (internet) phones.

The second part of the digital transformation has included the migration of our creaking email system onto the Microsoft Office 365 (M365) platform, which is cloud based. This ensures greater security for all our information. It also offers new applications such as Teams for easier meetings and Share point which allows multiple users to access documents and update them at the same time. Being on M365 also means that the latest versions of all Microsoft Office applications will be available instantly.

To enable us to migrate to M365 all our computers to be upgraded to operate on the Windows 10 system. That meant that many of our old PCs, Laptops, tablets and mobiles had to be replaced with new, which has been a significant investment for us. There was a combination of old and new Outlook office applications across the estate. All hardware devices have been updated to new Outlook. In future, using M365, upgrades will happen automatically. Having upgraded every device to W10, and upgraded Outlook, which allowed us to upgrade to M365, all this in turn allowed us to turn off an aging physical server that had operated since 2008!

All the above paved the way for a long overdue upgrade to our finance software, SAGE, which included commissioning a new, dedicated, virtual server. The new SAGE platform supports the latest accounting software from Datel & EiB. On the face of it, is seems like a simple transition, but this involved a huge amount of work. Sally first started to look at this 3 years ago.

In recent months Sara has led this project with support and testing from Sophie, Christine and Joshua in the accounts team.

A new application called ‘DRIVVE’ has been installed and facilitates our printing software ‘Papercut’ to allow digital scanning and storage of our Personnel files. Over the summer Caroline, Julie and the admin teams from all the sites, worked hard sorting through all existing paper personnel files, removing out of date information, scanning relevant information and securely destroying anything no longer required. This means that personal information is now securely stored, centrally, with very restricted access, through the HR department.

Sustainability in all its forms is an evolving key strategy in all areas of our Trafford Leisure business. Reducing files of personnel paper is just one small step. Digital transformations in the future will continue to see us invest with the latest innovations allowing us to continually put our customers at the heart of everything we do.

Do you want to be involved in shaping and influencing matters that effect you or your colleagues in the workplace?

What is an Employee Voice Rep? Employee Voice Representatives ensure all our people have a voice in the organisation and that the CEO and SLT are advised, informed, and influenced by the Employee Voice Reps. We want to continue to build on giving you a Voice in the workplace and ensure effective two-way communication.

Can I apply to be a voice rep? + Must be an existing contracted employee or a casual or coaching worker who has worked with Trafford Leisure for over 12 months + Must work in the area in which they are nominating themselves for + Must not have resigned or be working notice (this is an enduring role which will last a minimum of 2 years) Apply today!

Send an email to Julie.kippax@traffordleisure.co.uk by the 12th January 2022 including: + Area Representing (see list) + Contact Phone Number (that you are happy to share with our people to aid communication) + The name of at least 2 colleagues in your area that are supporting your nomination + Emails from your supporting colleagues confirming they are supporting your nomination.

Areas Representing: (Altrincham, Sale, Stretford, Partington Leisure Centre, Move Urmston, The Grammar, Carrington, Support Office, Group Exercise Instructors, Swimming & The Golf )

Our aim is to have the new Employee Voice Representatives in place January so we can start afresh in 2022 with improved communication and engagement!

“

PURPOSE

MOVE MORE EVERYDAY

VISION

Urmston Leisure Centre reopened its doors early in 2020 following a major £7 million investment.

MAKE TRAFFORD THE MOST ACTIVE PLACE IN ENGLAND! Our Strategic Aims

”

The former 1980’s leisure centre has been transformed into a vibrant, modern complex fit for Urmston and wider Trafford community, and is changing its name to reflect its modern facilities, relaunching with the inspiring brand name, Move Urmston.

Move Urmston’s facilities include a glass façade with seven metre clip and climb wall, a large fitness suite with the latest cardio and strength equipment, a functional training zone, modern changing village, three fitness and wellbeing studios, a 25-metre L-shaped swimming pool, a five-court sports hall, brand new café with seating for over 100 people, open throughout the day to members and non-members, two party rooms, a sensory room and a wellbeing assessment suite to help members benefit most from their physical activities.

Please have a look at the refurbished Move Urmston which can be found on our Move Website – link my.matterport.com/show/?m=qtUWJcED3mi.

“A framework with training for all will be developed to bring our new values to life”

Roadshows to re-launch our strategy will be from May 2022!

What we have done at Move is what we plan to do with Sale, Altrincham and Stretford! More news to follow in the New Year with the developments.

“

PURPOSE

MOVE MORE EVERYDAY

VISION

Urmston Leisure Centre reopened its doors early in 2020 following a major £7 million investment.

MAKE TRAFFORD THE MOST ACTIVE PLACE IN ENGLAND! Our Strategic Aims

”

The former 1980’s leisure centre has been transformed into a vibrant, modern complex fit for Urmston and wider Trafford community, and is changing its name to reflect its modern facilities, relaunching with the inspiring brand name, Move Urmston.

Move Urmston’s facilities include a glass façade with seven metre clip and climb wall, a large fitness suite with the latest cardio and strength equipment, a functional training zone, modern changing village, three fitness and wellbeing studios, a 25-metre L-shaped swimming pool, a five-court sports hall, brand new café with seating for over 100 people, open throughout the day to members and non-members, two party rooms, a sensory room and a wellbeing assessment suite to help members benefit most from their physical activities.

Please have a look at the refurbished Move Urmston which can be found on our Move Website – link my.matterport.com/show/?m=qtUWJcED3mi.

“A framework with training for all will be developed to bring our new values to life”

Roadshows to re-launch our strategy will be from May 2022!

What we have done at Move is what we plan to do with Sale, Altrincham and Stretford! More news to follow in the New Year with the developments.

Have you ever wanted to exercise with your friends, do you want your friends to benefit from your work with Trafford Leisure??

A BIG Thank you to our online class instructors who have been keeping everyone moving during 2020 & 2021

We have started to look at our benefits packages and are considering how we reward and recognise you more with the family pass we currently offer.

Previously this pass was available for direct family members only on a pay and play basis. Although we are now extending this to family and friends and we’re even giving the option of a direct debit pass, with our people being eligible for between 2 to 5 staff passes.

At the minute we’re working through the process on how you can apply and trialling this so do keep a look out and start thinking of who you may want to give a pass too as we are aiming to get this up and running January.

Staff Survey 2021

With your help, we have grown our Trafford Leisure Facebook following by 2,500 since we started our online classes!

Along with restarting the Employee Voice Birthday Lunch and recruiting for new Employee Voice Reps we also want to get feedback from you directly. It’s incredibly important to us that you have a voice directly and we want to start capturing feedback from everyone in our business so we can help to shape and form our People Strategy. Please do look out for the link in the coming weeks and do take the 3-5 mins to complete it as the information it gives us as your employer is invaluable.

Please see below what prizes are up for grabs in our 12 days of Christmas prize draw!

-

JVC LT Fire TV Edition 50” Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Amazon Alexa Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner, Anti Hair Wrap Beats Solo3 Wireless on-Ear Headphones Apple W1 Headphone Chip, Class 1 Bluetooth, 40 hours of Listening time Classic Ultimate M&S Christmas Hamper Spa Day with up to 55 Minute Treatment and Afternoon Tea for Two One4all Gift Voucher, thousands of choices with the UK’s most extensive Multi Retail Gift Card Fitbit Versa 3 Health and Fitness Smart watch with GPS, 24/7 Heart Rate, Voice Assistant and up to 6+ days battery Echo Show 5, 2nd Generation 2021 release, smart display with Alexa and 2 MP camera Charcoal and case Fire HD 8 Tablet, 8” HD display, 32 GB Black with Ads Wine makers Premium Edit (white wine mixed case) Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote (include TV controls) Beauty Advent Calendar 2021

1 2 DAY

--- of

S --

Christmas

-

Name: DAVID HOWLETT Position: Assistant Manager Location: Altrincham Leisure Centre I started with the company back in 2010 working as a Casual Sports Coach in Schools for Sport Trafford.

In 2011 I got the job as Senior Leisure Attendant at GHC. Later, I became a Duty Manager at GHC and at various sites across the company. During my time at GHC i was also helping to set up and manage Flixton House which the company acquired around that time, running weddings and functions etc. In 2013 I won employee of the year for Commitment and Endeavour.

With that experience I then got the role as Assistant Manager at Altrincham Golf Course in 2014 which was great, but unfortunately after just 9 months, a big opportunity came up for me to move to Australia and I took it. I was young and just felt the need to get out and travel the world. I spent over 4 years working and travelling around Australia and Asia.

In 2019, I came back to Sale Leisure Centre as an SLA. Due to working in construction while travelling, I was excited to get back into the leisure industry. After 3 months I was moved into the Duty Manager position. It was great to be back! With the travelling out of my system I could really concentrate on working hard and making a difference at Trafford Leisure.

In October 2021 I made my next step of my journey with Trafford Leisure at Altrincham Leisure Centre.

Working as Assistant Manager.

Altrincham Golf Course celebrated Black History Month

As we re-opened our doors earlier in the year, we wanted to make sure that we ensured the focus of Health and Safety was in place across the organisation and after just 3 months of trading in the previous year, and ageing facilities we appointed Health and Safety Specialist Right Directions to carry out full Health and Safety Audits across 6 of our largest facilities. Overall, our audit school was 71% and when the CEO met with the Auditor for feedback, she was very pleased to hear that we had achieved a higher than average first audit score, with a good culture of H&S in place.

The Action Plan So we have set ourselves some targets for next year. 100% for Statutory compliance and legal best practice. 80% pass mark We have 42 actions allocated with Lead from across the business for each of the audit points identified and this forms part of the Health and Safety Corporate Objectives for 21/22.

With audits it helps us to continually identify areas we can improve.

Example of some of the actions: • Age of Buildings, rolling programme of electrical works (20% each year) may no longer be sufficient.

• Fire Alarm Panel required for the Golf Course / driving range.

• Risk Assessment required for maintenance yard area of the golf course.

• Location of meter’s / plant to be reviewed at the golf course • Staff Wellbeing and workstations to be reviewed – COVID Implications and Hybrid working For more information on the plan in place, speak directly to your Health and Safety Champion at site.

Jon Francis Head of Business

“We are not out of it yet, but we should take the time to reflect to date” After 35 years in leisure I thought I had seen it all, then came a global pandemic and we were all back to the drawing board. We have learnt so much over this period of time mostly how resilient our staff are and how we are able to adapt to change. We have had numerous meetings with UK Active and our colleagues across Greater Manchester learning and sharing between us has been a most rewarding experience.

I am truly amazed at how in such a short period of time we have been able to become a cashless business, how we have been able to maintain a service at all never mind to extent we have and this is down to the amazing work carried out by each and everyone both directly at site and those working from home ensuring we all get paid and comply with all our financial and legal requirements.

I could write a book on everything you have all done and I know there will be lots of other updates within the newsletter, but what I really want to say is thank you, I am so pleased to be a part of Team Trafford Leisure, I may not have another 35 years left, but no matter what comes our way I am confident together we will face the challenge and come out stronger.

To celebrate Black History Month, Altrincham Golf Course partnered with the Parr 3 Group, who work to increase participation of ethnic minority groups in golf, to host special golf taster sessions in bid to make the game more inclusive and accessible to all.

The free sessions were hosted by James West, son of legendary golfer, Roland West (better known as Roly), who was the first black golf professional in Britain, Danny Miller, Altrincham Golf Course’s 2022 Captain, and PGA Coach, Matt Mew. Sessions were held at Trafford Leisure’s Altrincham Golf Course’s Driving Range. The sessions, were complimentary and available to everyone.

James’s Dad, Roland West, loved Altrincham Golf Course. He was born in La Brea, Trinidad in 1931 and moved to the UK as a child.

Growing up, Roly was a talented cricketer. However, he grew tired of the cricket matches being cancelled due to the typical British weather and a friend suggested he take up golf. When he started playing his first handicap was ten, then six, and then four. Under the guidance and encouragement of legendary golf professional, Hugh Lewis, who later went on to become the first professional at the Belfry, Roly quickly gained his Cheshire status, was invited to play in all the amateur tournaments and made history by winning his County colours in just 12 months. In 1971, he went on to win all his tournaments and beat the world famous Mr Lu of Ryder Cup and British Open fame in a tournament at The Mere Golf Club.

Murray says: “Roly’s legacy lives on through his talented son, James West, who has worked at Altrincham Golf Course and Driving Range since 2007. Many members and customers will know James for his friendly smile and greeting when they enter the course shop. James is a gifted scratch golfer in his own right, winning countless tournaments at the club both as a team member and an individual, and was a long serving Cheshire County player maintaining a plus two handicap.

Murray concludes: “The wonderful thing about golf is that it is suitable for everyone, whatever your age, ability, gender or background. We are keen to support Black History Month, which runs throughout October in the UK. It is a way to celebrate and recognise the contribution and achievements of those with African or Caribbean heritage, and is an opportunity to learn more about the effects of culture and how to challenge negative stereotypes.”

Fun was had by everyone and we may have some new golfers.

Thanks to Matthew Mew and James West for leading these sessions

Altrincham Golf Course celebrated Black History Month

As we re-opened our doors earlier in the year, we wanted to make sure that we ensured the focus of Health and Safety was in place across the organisation and after just 3 months of trading in the previous year, and ageing facilities we appointed Health and Safety Specialist Right Directions to carry out full Health and Safety Audits across 6 of our largest facilities. Overall, our audit school was 71% and when the CEO met with the Auditor for feedback, she was very pleased to hear that we had achieved a higher than average first audit score, with a good culture of H&S in place.

The Action Plan So we have set ourselves some targets for next year. 100% for Statutory compliance and legal best practice. 80% pass mark We have 42 actions allocated with Lead from across the business for each of the audit points identified and this forms part of the Health and Safety Corporate Objectives for 21/22.

With audits it helps us to continually identify areas we can improve.

Example of some of the actions: • Age of Buildings, rolling programme of electrical works (20% each year) may no longer be sufficient.

• Fire Alarm Panel required for the Golf Course / driving range.

• Risk Assessment required for maintenance yard area of the golf course.

• Location of meter’s / plant to be reviewed at the golf course • Staff Wellbeing and workstations to be reviewed – COVID Implications and Hybrid working For more information on the plan in place, speak directly to your Health and Safety Champion at site.

Jon Francis Head of Business

“We are not out of it yet, but we should take the time to reflect to date” After 35 years in leisure I thought I had seen it all, then came a global pandemic and we were all back to the drawing board. We have learnt so much over this period of time mostly how resilient our staff are and how we are able to adapt to change. We have had numerous meetings with UK Active and our colleagues across Greater Manchester learning and sharing between us has been a most rewarding experience.

I am truly amazed at how in such a short period of time we have been able to become a cashless business, how we have been able to maintain a service at all never mind to extent we have and this is down to the amazing work carried out by each and everyone both directly at site and those working from home ensuring we all get paid and comply with all our financial and legal requirements.

I could write a book on everything you have all done and I know there will be lots of other updates within the newsletter, but what I really want to say is thank you, I am so pleased to be a part of Team Trafford Leisure, I may not have another 35 years left, but no matter what comes our way I am confident together we will face the challenge and come out stronger.

To celebrate Black History Month, Altrincham Golf Course partnered with the Parr 3 Group, who work to increase participation of ethnic minority groups in golf, to host special golf taster sessions in bid to make the game more inclusive and accessible to all.

The free sessions were hosted by James West, son of legendary golfer, Roland West (better known as Roly), who was the first black golf professional in Britain, Danny Miller, Altrincham Golf Course’s 2022 Captain, and PGA Coach, Matt Mew. Sessions were held at Trafford Leisure’s Altrincham Golf Course’s Driving Range. The sessions, were complimentary and available to everyone.

James’s Dad, Roland West, loved Altrincham Golf Course. He was born in La Brea, Trinidad in 1931 and moved to the UK as a child.

Growing up, Roly was a talented cricketer. However, he grew tired of the cricket matches being cancelled due to the typical British weather and a friend suggested he take up golf. When he started playing his first handicap was ten, then six, and then four. Under the guidance and encouragement of legendary golf professional, Hugh Lewis, who later went on to become the first professional at the Belfry, Roly quickly gained his Cheshire status, was invited to play in all the amateur tournaments and made history by winning his County colours in just 12 months. In 1971, he went on to win all his tournaments and beat the world famous Mr Lu of Ryder Cup and British Open fame in a tournament at The Mere Golf Club.

Murray says: “Roly’s legacy lives on through his talented son, James West, who has worked at Altrincham Golf Course and Driving Range since 2007. Many members and customers will know James for his friendly smile and greeting when they enter the course shop. James is a gifted scratch golfer in his own right, winning countless tournaments at the club both as a team member and an individual, and was a long serving Cheshire County player maintaining a plus two handicap.

Murray concludes: “The wonderful thing about golf is that it is suitable for everyone, whatever your age, ability, gender or background. We are keen to support Black History Month, which runs throughout October in the UK. It is a way to celebrate and recognise the contribution and achievements of those with African or Caribbean heritage, and is an opportunity to learn more about the effects of culture and how to challenge negative stereotypes.”

Fun was had by everyone and we may have some new golfers.

Thanks to Matthew Mew and James West for leading these sessions

2022 is all about training for our people!

We want everyone to feel confident and knowledgeable with the new software and systems in place”

Anyone who uses a digital device for any of their day-to-day work will have noticed that we have been going through a huge digital transformation, bringing Trafford Leisure bang up to date in the digital world.

This digital transformation will ensure that, going forward we are in a position to use the latest technological offerings from the partners we work with and will be able to provide improved services for both our staff and our customers. The digital transformation is being managed by our head of Assets and IT, Kevin Henderson working with our strategic IT service providers including PURE Technology, Raspberry Beret, Gladstone, Future Fit, & Human Force, to name a few, along with many other system suppliers.

The first part of this digital transformation started at the beginning of lockdown. We installed our own private, fibre optic lines, running from the exchange core, directly into our premises, in so doing, facilitating the very latest, fastest, and most secure connection possible. Actually, we installed a second line too, just for back-up. We installed new internal data wiring at and extra Wi-Fi points in every facility. We also replaced all the old analogue desk phones with ‘VoIP’ (internet) phones.

The second part of the digital transformation has included the migration of our creaking email system onto the Microsoft Office 365 (M365) platform, which is cloud based. This ensures greater security for all our information. It also offers new applications such as Teams for easier meetings and Share point which allows multiple users to access documents and update them at the same time. Being on M365 also means that the latest versions of all Microsoft Office applications will be available instantly.

To enable us to migrate to M365 all our computers to be upgraded to operate on the Windows 10 system. That meant that many of our old PCs, Laptops, tablets and mobiles had to be replaced with new, which has been a significant investment for us. There was a combination of old and new Outlook office applications across the estate. All hardware devices have been updated to new Outlook. In future, using M365, upgrades will happen automatically. Having upgraded every device to W10, and upgraded Outlook, which allowed us to upgrade to M365, all this in turn allowed us to turn off an aging physical server that had operated since 2008!

All the above paved the way for a long overdue upgrade to our finance software, SAGE, which included commissioning a new, dedicated, virtual server. The new SAGE platform supports the latest accounting software from Datel & EiB. On the face of it, is seems like a simple transition, but this involved a huge amount of work. Sally first started to look at this 3 years ago.

In recent months Sara has led this project with support and testing from Sophie, Christine and Joshua in the accounts team.

A new application called ‘DRIVVE’ has been installed and facilitates our printing software ‘Papercut’ to allow digital scanning and storage of our Personnel files. Over the summer Caroline, Julie and the admin teams from all the sites, worked hard sorting through all existing paper personnel files, removing out of date information, scanning relevant information and securely destroying anything no longer required. This means that personal information is now securely stored, centrally, with very restricted access, through the HR department.

Sustainability in all its forms is an evolving key strategy in all areas of our Trafford Leisure business. Reducing files of personnel paper is just one small step. Digital transformations in the future will continue to see us invest with the latest innovations allowing us to continually put our customers at the heart of everything we do.

Do you want to be involved in shaping and influencing matters that effect you or your colleagues in the workplace?

What is an Employee Voice Rep? Employee Voice Representatives ensure all our people have a voice in the organisation and that the CEO and SLT are advised, informed, and influenced by the Employee Voice Reps. We want to continue to build on giving you a Voice in the workplace and ensure effective two-way communication.

Can I apply to be a voice rep? + Must be an existing contracted employee or a casual or coaching worker who has worked with Trafford Leisure for over 12 months + Must work in the area in which they are nominating themselves for + Must not have resigned or be working notice (this is an enduring role which will last a minimum of 2 years) Apply today!

Send an email to Julie.kippax@traffordleisure.co.uk by the 12th January 2022 including: + Area Representing (see list) + Contact Phone Number (that you are happy to share with our people to aid communication) + The name of at least 2 colleagues in your area that are supporting your nomination + Emails from your supporting colleagues confirming they are supporting your nomination.

Areas Representing: (Altrincham, Sale, Stretford, Partington Leisure Centre, Move Urmston, The Grammar, Carrington, Support Office, Group Exercise Instructors, Swimming & The Golf )

Our aim is to have the new Employee Voice Representatives in place January so we can start afresh in 2022 with improved communication and engagement!

Employee Voice - Birthday Lunch We are bringing back the birthday lunch with Jo Cherrett, Chief Executive.

As you may already know, over lunch Jo is listening to the answers of three simple questions: What do you like about Trafford Leisure?

What do you not like about Trafford Leisure?

If you could change one thing in Trafford Leisure – what would it be?

move more everyday

Is your birthday in January?

Look out for your invite starting January 2022

From Jo Cherrett

Below are a few ways how Employee Voice Reps have helped change and influence Trafford Leisure Strategy and plans...

Don’t Like –

Changes Tomorrow

Just stand on reception with the egg timer whirling round for 30 mins

Cover up of Tattoos “It’s part of me and doesn’t make me unprofessional”

IT gets switched off Friday night and doesn’t come back on until Monday – makes you look stupid

An App for people to book through

Phones constantly ringing, you either have to ignore a customer in front of you or leave the phone ringing

Join online - It takes 12 mins for someone to join online, pen and paper is quicker Remove compulsory retirement

4 different systems to use to complete a fitness membership Trying to get a car park space so I can work at Sale, so many people just park in the car park and walk to the town centre/shopping Not had a pay rise for 8 years

Uniform – Hot pants not flattering could we have tracksuit bottoms?

Staff get to use GM Active facilities – staff discount Till variances swim enrolment – horrific.

Pay up front for the year

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

PRIZES TO BE WON A BIG thank you to everyone for your hard work and commitment during 2021!

As a thank you we are giving away 12 prizes!

Winner will be announced on a video which will be live each day, 12pm, from the 13th-24th December.

To watch you will receive an email, or simply login to Human Force where you will see a notification.

View what prizes there are to be won further on in the newsletter!

Merry Christmas Everyone and have A Happy New Year!

1 2 DAYS --- of --

-

Christmas

ALL STAFF INCLUDED!