SOCIAL ACCOUNTS
For the year ended 31 December 2012
Jesmond Community Leisure
St George’s Terrace
Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 2DL
Registered Charity no: 1010563
Company no: 2645699
Tel: 0191 281 2482
Email: jesmondpool@btconnect.com
Website: www.jesmondcommunityleisure.co.uk
1
Jesmond Community Leisure
Social Account 2012
Contents
Introduction, Acknowledgements and Background Information
Page
number
3
Governance
Our Mission, Values and Objectives
4
6
Objective 1: to meet the swimming and leisure related needs of all
groups in the local and wider community
Objective 2: to secure the long-term future of the project by
maintaining its financial viability
Objective 3: to ensure we retain local support, through a strong
sense of community interaction
Objective 4: to maintain and develop the building, at least in line with
lease requirements
Objective 5: to provide a working environment that values and
develops all of it’s people to ensure business success, whilst being
inclusive and participative
Objective 6: to operate the building and activities, following current
industry and best practice guidelines
Objective 7: to reduce our environmental impact
6
11
13
14
15
21
21
How we addressed the issues from the 2010 Social Account
23
Objectives for the 2014 Social Account
24
Appendix 1. Strategy Day Flip chart notes.
2
Jesmond Community Leisure
December 2012
Social Account for the two years ended 31
Introduction
Social accounting is important to Jesmond Community Leisure, enabling us to
document our value to the local community, while suggesting improvements to
our operations, and providing a model which other similar projects can follow.
Our Social Accounts for the two years ending 31 December 2010 are available in
full on our website www.jesmondcommunityleisure.co.uk, along with earlier
documents.
The bulk of this document is structured around the Company’s Mission, Values
and Objectives, as established in our earlier Social Accounts. Each section of the
report documents evidence assembled over the last two years, showing how we
are seeking to achieve the relevant Objective.
Social Accounting has been embedded in our processes for some years. Most
recently we have decided to prepare a separate set of accounts every two years.
This document can be read as a separate report in its own right, but nonetheless,
in order to avoid each document becoming too lengthy, we have focussed
particularly on the new evidence assembled over the two years since our last
social accounts were prepared, and for the most part we have not repeated in this
document evidence or discussions reported on previously.
Acknowledgements
Jesmond Community Leisure is very grateful for the help and advice received
during the preparation of these accounts, including the team involved in the
process of preparing the accounts and all those who provided feedback and
comments.
Background Information
Jesmond Community Leisure provides swimming and related activities, a fitness
suite and a multi-purpose sports activity room/community room.
The company was formed as a limited company and charity in September 1991,
following the closure of Jesmond Pool by the City Council in March 1991, as part
of budget savings. The immediate aim of the company was to lease the building
from the City Council, and re-open it as a public facility. With massive support
3
from the local community, and a substantial fundraising effort, this was achieved
when the pool re-opened on 11 April 1992.
In 2002/3 the building was substantially refurbished and extended in a £1.5m part
lottery funded scheme, which provided a new gym in the basement, a new first
floor activity room, full disabled access and other improvements.
Since re-opening as a community enterprise, Jesmond Community Leisure has
sought excellence in every way. The project was the first leisure project in the
area to gain Investors in People status, and was a runner up in the national
Social Enterprise Awards in 2003. It has frequently advised other community
projects and swimming pools from all over the country, and was particularly
delighted to be able to assist residents of Fenham, Newcastle to re-open their
pool in 2005.
Social accounting is important to Jesmond Community Leisure and we use the
social audit network framework (www.socialauditnetwork.org.uk).
Social
accounting enables us to document our value to the local community, whilst
suggesting improvements to operations and providing an exemplary model which
other similar projects can follow.
There is no particular person designated as being responsible for social
accounting. The Trustees, Members, Staff and Volunteers are all involved and
fully committed to demonstrating the project’s value to the local community
through social accounting. This is the responsibility of everyone but the following
are particularly closely involved in drawing up and discussing the documentation:
the Chief Executive (CEO), Finance Director, Company Secretary, Bookkeeper,
monthly Trustees’ meetings, all management sub groups and those attending
regular staff meetings.
Governance
The overall strategic management of the company and charity is in the hands of
the Board, which normally meets monthly, in public. The voluntary directors of the
company are also the trustees of the charity. All the trustees are local residents
and/or users of the pool, whilst some have been recruited for their special skills
(such as the Finance Director or some members of the group responsible for
overseeing the care of the building). The rules of the company are set out in its
memorandum and articles, which define the way in which the Board approves the
appointment of new trustees. The memorandum and articles also define a wider
group of members of the company, who, whilst not formal trustee/directors, are
invited to Annual Meetings, and take other roles on the various specialist groups
which advise the Board. Several members attend the public trustees’ meetings
4
regularly, but they do not have the voting rights of full Board members. Several
former trustees retain their involvement with the company by remaining members.
(Membership of the company is entirely voluntary, and does not confer any
special rights regarding the usage of the pool or its other facilities.) The CEO is
responsible for the day-to-day management of the project, within the strategic
parameters set by the Board, and attends Board meetings to report regularly on
the progress of the operations of the Company.
Through our biennial strategic planning meetings (involving Staff, Volunteers,
Trustees and Members of the company) we set our overall direction of travel and
prioritise the projects that the whole organisation is to implement. These are then
included in our day-to-day operations through the CE, staff and volunteers, with
the Trustees being involved at regular intervals (either through monthly meetings
or day to day contact with the CE, staff and volunteers). All involved in the
organisation are able to give their suggestions to develop these through day-today activities, discussions with users, Staff and Trustees.
As a community enterprise, our whole “raison d’etre” is to meet community
needs, yet to meet these objectives we must also operate as a successful trading
company. Survival as a viable company is essential for us to be able to continue
to meet community needs, besides providing a significant number of local jobs,
maintaining a proud record of training staff and volunteers for employment
elsewhere in the leisure industry, and providing expert advice to numerous other
pools and community projects.
One of the main reasons that we have been successful as a company is our
commitment to training and developing our staff. We have been an Investor in
People since 1996, and were the first public leisure facility in the North to achieve
this status. Our ability to retain staff and develop them to a high level has been
instrumental in our ability to ‘buck’ the trend in public leisure, by operating at a
surplus each year, instead of requiring a huge public subsidy. We were also the
first public pool to actively operate with volunteers, who contribute a great deal to
the running of the pool. It is important to note that their contribution is over and
above the necessary levels of staff needed to run the facility. This was done for
several reasons:
 To give people a chance to qualify and train as lifeguards, and develop
skills they could use anywhere;
 To actively allow users to be involved in the general operation of the
company;
 To give people the opportunity to help a local charity, thus giving them
industry experience, and career benefits;
 To encourage the community to get involved with the company.
5
Our Mission
Supporting our community through the provision of swimming and other leisure
related activities.
Our Values
 Belief in the power of sport and leisure related activities to benefit all
members of our community, regardless of their state of health or disability,
and
 Belief in the ability of local communities to meet local needs.
Performance against objectives
1. To meet the swimming and leisure related needs of all groups in the
local and wider community.
 Constantly review the programme and take into consideration
customer feedback and community concerns;
 Network with other similar projects across the country, learn from
them and assist them whenever we can.
In our last Social Account, we stated that the community’s knowledge of our
facilities was primarily of our swimming, and that there was limited awareness of
our dry activities and the fitness suite.
We have continued to try to reach more people through our own advertising, our
use of Splash (our own newsletter), and our website. Our communications group
are tasked with ‘spreading the word’ and much of their work over this period has
been on increasing awareness of us. Our website has been improved
significantly, and we are now looking to improve this even further, to allow
customers to book directly on line, and even to do this through remote devices.
We hope this work will be achieved in time for our next account.
Over the last 2 years, the usage of the fitness suite has grown steadily to the
point where at times we were full. The majority of our users during term times are
students, but we have seen an increase in older people using the room also. To
accommodate this increase in demand, we decided after much debate, to extend
the building further, adding a new fitness suite, which would offer complimentary
training to what we already did. Construction was between April and September
2012, and the total cost was around £300,000, which was paid for primarily from
6
reserves. We fortunately received a grant of £50,000 from the Sita Trust, which
was used to buy the equipment. There is still a little bit of work remaining in
providing extra bike parking, and skirting off the lower part of the extension. We
hope to do this work in 2013.
Our programme of activities remains strong, with the firm favourites carrying on,
and new activities regularly tried.
New activities offered included: Boxercise, Zumba and Zumba toning, Belly
Dancing, Abs blast, Tai Chi, Kettlebell workout, and table tennis.
We also increased our 50+ fitness classes, to 5 days a week, but changed the
age category to 60+, as we felt this more appropriate to our customers. The 50+
‘genre’ was initially from Sport England some 20 years ago, and we felt the
general increase in health and longevity, warranted this figure to rise to 60+ at
least.
Jesmond Joggers, our running club, have increased their membership year on
year, and currently have 37 female and 39 male registered athletes, with an
average age of 33. They are joined each session by numerous other runners,
who are not registered with British Athletics, but who want a group to train with.
This year the club achieved promotion in their harrier league, and are steadily
becoming a known force in the harrier world.
The swimming programme remains virtually unchanged, although we did bring
the Wednesday Dolphin session forward 30 minutes, to accommodate the
younger children.
The late evening Chill Out sessions proved very popular, so we added a few
more, due to popular demand. Conversely, the ladies Aquafit class on a Thursday
had diminished over the period, and we stopped this class late in 2012.
Activity
Subscribers
Fitness Suite
Dry Activities
Swimming
2009
37,919
45,229
21,838
107,054
2010
39,469
46,134
21,436
102,773
2011
40119
46878
15023
98217
2012
45079
43738
12915
100909
In addition:




We have held the local Swimathon event in each year.
We have held several school swimming galas.
We organise the Jesmond Fenham aquathlon.
Our running club ‘Jesmond Joggers’ compete in all local running and cross
country events, and the national championships.
7
 We have continued our work on Social Accounting, and have given
presentations in England and Scotland on our work at Jesmond.
Our impact on other similar bodies throughout the UK remains good, and we
continue to offer advice and support to many organisations on operational
management, and are now also advising on Social Accounting and reporting. We
hosted visits by other social enterprises, and gave presentations nationally to
several bodies, regarding our successes here at Jesmond.
We advised:
Aykley Heads support group – Durham;
Coseley Swimming Pool – Dudley;
Coxhoe Community Centre – Durham
Castle Vale Community Centre – Birmingham
Glenholme Leisure Centre – Crook
We gave presentations for:
Sporta – Social impact for Leisure Trusts;
Newcastle University on Social Awareness
North East Business forum to a Romanian business delegation, on social
accounting.
Social Enterprise South East Scotland on Social Accounting and Jesmond
Community Leisure.
Our relationship with customers is very good, and when things do not go as
expected, we are normally told there and then, so we can attend to it. We also
keep a comments book on the reception desk, and leave all comments for people
to see. We get a mixed bag, but it is always interesting to see the variety of
opinions people have, and it also demonstrates the variety of needs and opinions
that we need to respond to. It makes for good reading at times, and where
practicable, we respond to comments directly in the book, and incorporate
requests in the facility or programme.
2011
We had a total of 37 written comments, 10 positive, 11 negative and 16
suggestions, and a few unreadable.
8
2012
We had a total of 27 written comments, 6 positive, 7 negative,14 suggestions, a
few unreadable!
The positive comments were mainly about the staff and programme, the negative
comments were mainly about the gym temperature, programme and users, the
suggestions were all quite positive and contained wishes, opinions or ideas about
enhancing the service.
Some examples - warts and all:
“Can you stop girls hogging X trainers. I left after waiting 45 mins for one to be
cleared. It’s selfish! “
Concerning Zumba – “Absolutely fantastic night, want to do it again”, “brilliant, fun
and groovey – more please”
“Booked intensive lessons and Rebeccas approach and energy really shines.
Would definitely bring daughter back”
“Could we possibly have the air con on higher in the gym, especially during busy
hours as it can get unbearably hot”
“Side garden a poor advert for the pool, a litter pick is overdue”
From a student placement - “ 2 ans après mon stage ici, je reviens a Newcastle
pour vous voir parce que je ne vous ai pas oublie. Merci pour votre gentillesse et
pour ces 2 mois passes avec vous”
“I think the staff are absolutely fab”
“It’s a pity Aquafit won’t be continuing. I’ve attended for 15 years”
“Please replace shower curtains”
“Fantastic service by Scott. I have health problems, so delighted with the
welcome”
Concerning the gym - “TV’s still not working”, “There have been no TV’s in the
gym since July. As a result I am leaving”
13 letters were sent in of which 10 were complementary, and 3 were complaints.
9
The complaints were about the winter planters around the pool, being used as
litter boxes, part of a grant being used to renew the sauna, and a problem with a
direct debit.
The complementary letters were mainly about the staff and service, and some
were quite in depth.
“I called into the pool on Saturday morning with the completed registration form,
and luckily a lesson had become available, so I began with Olivia at 12.00 on
Sunday. In half an hour I learnt more than in 13 weeks at the other school. Olivia
certainly knows her swimming, is patient and very supportive – in fact I’ve been
greatly impressed with the efficiency and friendliness of all the staff at Jesmond”
“I wanted to say thank you for enabling me to swim again! I suffer from migraines
triggered by some types of modern lighting, which has meant that I have been
unable to swim in all the other pools I have visited in the region as the lighting in
them has changed and tends to be left on all day. Swimming has always been
important to me, and I have missed going regularly. Now, having discovered
Jesmond Pool and being able to swim in it during the day when it is lit only by
natural sunlight, I feel I have come to life again.”
10
2. To secure the long-term future of the project, by maintaining its
financial viability.
Employ rigorous financial controls and management systems;
Operate in a way that meets Charity Commission and Company
regulatory requirements;
Use regular budgetary controls, cash flow and pricing reviews;
Take reputable legal and financial advice;
Have a Trustee working group for financial matters.
We continue to employ rigorous financial controls and management systems
through operational control systems and reporting monthly to the finance subgroup and the Trustees.
Our financial management remains a strong point, and we follow best practice,
and use the advice of our accountants, Ryecroft Glenton. We report through
monthly management accounts and annually through our financial accounts
which are audited to International Financial Accounting Reporting Standards and
report to SORP and Charity Commission requirements. The Trustees report
within our statutory financial reports follows the format of proving our charitable
purpose using the framework of our mission and objectives. The Trustees report
includes much of the information gathered through the preparation of our social
accounts.
The finance sub-group meet to consider the monthly and cumulative
management accounts which are compared to budget expectations. The
discussions at the meetings inform decisions on the possibilities of price changes,
staff payments, changes to subscriber income and the management of cash
investments.
During 2012, David O’Rorke left the organisation, so we had to replace his role as
main accounts administrator. After some consideration, we decided to cover the
role from within the organisation, and the accounting function is looked after
primarily by Julie (with some help from Glenn) and is overseen by Margaret Terry,
who is an independent advisor, who was suggested by our accountants. Due to
this extra input, our controls and methods have changed greatly, and our
information to Trustees is more timely and accurate.
11
The economic conditions during this accounting period have been difficult and we
have managed funds carefully to minimise risk to our investments and closely
managed our cash reserves. During the period we changed our systems to
provide for credit card payments, which have resulted in improved ease of
payments for our customers and fewer banking transactions. We continue to
bank with the Cooperative Bank as an ethical banking group aligns to our
community values.
Whilst investment income has reduced during the period, we have still managed
to maintain income levels, and control expenditure, although we showed an
operational loss in 2012, which was primarily down to the economic downturn,
and unplanned for rises in energy costs. We also did not review prices in
2011/12, which was another contributing factor to our loss. We were not able to
improve staff remuneration greatly, but no jobs were lost, and we continue to
have the same amount of people working for us. We have also successfully bid
for grants funding from the local ward sub committees in Jesmond and the
surrounding areas. This money will go to pay for new bike racks at the pool, and
we were also very lucky to secure £50,000 from the Sita Trust to pay for the
equipment in the new fitness extension.
The decision to build the extension came from a long period of debate, and the
decision was based upon a robust business plan to justify the outlay of funds.
Quite a significant part of our reserves were committed to this project, but as
investment income was so low at the time, and we felt we needed to expand our
provision to the community. The project went ahead and the board were happy
with the final cost, even though it was higher than budgeted, due to problems in
breaking through the brickwork on the side of the pool. Another contributing factor
to deciding to go ahead with this project, was that we would remain open for
business during the construction period, thus enabling customers to carry on
normal activities. This did work to some degree, but we know some people
stayed away, due to noise levels and further parking restrictions.
We are happy with the public’s opinion of the extension, and to date the usage of
the area is pretty much as we expected. Through anecdotal evidence, we are
aware that the extension has been noticed, and many people have joined us due
to this. Our next account will be able to give more accurate opinions on the
success of the project, as we only had a few weeks of operation within this
particular accounting period.
12
3. To ensure that we retain local support, through a strong sense of
community interaction.
 Be open and accountable in operating the project on behalf of local
people, through communication with our community;
 Keep local people aware of the operation and updated on the progress of
the project, and attend community events;
 Encourage the public to attend Trustee meetings;
 Provide a programme that reflects customer demand;
 Have a Trustee working group for communication matters.
We have expanded our communications with our community, through direct and
indirect means.
Our presence at community events remains a priority, and we were at every
relevant occasion. We also support Jesmond Community Festival by offering our
facilities at no cost, and through direct funding.
The Splash newsletter continues successfully under the direct control of our
Communications Group. Students from the Northern Counties College are now
delivering this in the community for us. We have developed our website and
social media vehicles, to ensure we remain current, and our Facebook page now
has over 200 likes. We also now have a Twitter account, but that has not been as
successful as the Facebook site. Many of our customers who are aged under 40
tend to use the pool website as their main source of information, and usage of the
website has grown considerably. Many of our customers who are aged under 40
tend to use the pool website as their main source of information, and the usage of
the website has grown considerably. For example, 2,982 people visited our
website during January 2010, whereas this figure had increased to 3,881 people
in January 2013.
We support many local charities and organisations in fund raising, and have
contributed over £1,544 of charitable donations, through direct and indirect
fundraising.
Organisations we have supported include:
St Oswalds Hospice
Alzheimers Society
Brandling Village Pre School
Marie Curie Cancer appeal
St Georges Parish church
Daft as a Brush Cancer patient care
Jesmond Community Festival
13
Midsummer Medics Ball
South Gosforth First School
Tiny Lives Special Care babies
North Jesmond Pre School
Northern Squash Club
Comic Relief
Parkinsons UK
Friends of West Jesmond Primary School
National Blind Childrens Society
Newcastle University water sports club
Percy Hedley Foundation
Help for Heroes
Backworth Miners Welfare
Jesmond Dolphins
Tim and Scott raised over £600 for St Oswald’s, by running the Great North Run,
and Wendy raised over £600 for the Northumberland Air Ambulance and the
Chris Lucas Trust by doing the Seahouses to Tynemouth bike ride.
We have entered the St Hilda’s Church Christmas Tree competitions over the
past 3 years, and this year we were a winner, thanks to the efforts of Terri, whose
‘Tea Surgeon’ was just the medicine!
Terri also organised a Halloween discos at the pool, and the efforts made by the
children in costumes was remarkable.
Our website contains a section with all of our annual accounts, social accounts
and annual reports, available for anyone to read or download.
We have not had any members of the public attend our board meetings, which
we take as a positive sign, as if something was drastically wrong, we’re sure
people would attend!
4. To maintain and develop the building, at least in line with lease
requirements.
 Enhance and develop the building as funds allow;
 Have a Trustee working group for building matters.
14
The major development over the period was our side of the building extension,
which holds a new fitness suite and a massage/holistic treatment suite. The cost
of this extension was over £300,000, and apart from our major upgrade in 2003,
has been our largest outlay.
We now have another fitness suite, which is glass sided to offer better light and
allows people passing the pool, to see what is inside. The equipment in the room
has been bought and designed to complement the existing equipment in the
downstairs gym, by offering a functional area, and the resistance equipment is
hydraulic, and works in both directions, thus lending itself better towards lighter
load training, and greater repetition work, to suit women and older people.
At the far end of the pool, we now also have the JALA massage and holistic
treatment area, which now offers a full range of treatments, 7 days a week and all
day availability. The room is well equipped and tastefully decorated, and usage is
steadily increasing. Subscribers can also receive discounts on treatments.
The Trustee led Building Development Group have overseen many other building
improvements over this period, and in many cases the work has been done by
ourselves with Mike Miller leading the way, doing shower repairs, and general
plumbing works himself. David Rushworth and Mike have saved us significant
costs by attending to these works themselves, and using contacts and experience
to source goods and materials. We are still suffering annoying leaks in the
building, due to poor workmanship from our 2003 upgrade, where the changing
room flooring was not ‘tanked’ before applying the new flooring. A promised
upgrade of the staff room cannot begin until this leakage problem from the above
floor is resolved.
In the accounting period, over £20,000 per year was spent on maintenance of the
building, and we are far exceeding our lease requirements, but we are happy to
do this, as we want the building to be available for community use for many years
to come.
5. To provide a working environment that values and develops all of its
people, to ensure business success, whilst being inclusive and
participative.
 Recruit, train and retain motivated, highly qualified, flexible and
empowered staff;
 Encourage full staff participation in the running and success of the
company;
 Enhance the skills of staff by providing excellent training opportunities;
15
 Offer high quality training and support to all operational volunteers,
enabling them to gain paid employment at Jesmond Pool or elsewhere;
 Make full use of volunteers as Trustees/Directors and members of the
company;
 Have a Trustee working group for human resource matters.
Our development of our own staff to meet business needs remains high, and we
have an inordinately high percentage of qualified leisure staff, in both
management and occupational requirements. Our ethos is to develop our own
trainers, thus reducing costs, and offering development opportunities to our staff.
Our recognised status as an approved IQL (Institute of Qualified Lifeguards)
training centre was again obtained. This allows us to train our own lifeguards, and
offer training courses for new lifeguards. Our own lifeguard training is a weekly
occurrence, and each year we develop around 50 new lifeguards, many of whom
are local teenagers and students.
We held our Strategy Day at the British Legion club in Jesmond in Spring 2012,
and as usual all Trustees and staff were invited. This is a fine example of how we
involve our staff in the direction of the company, and value their input. We also
invited a representative from City Leisure Services, to broaden our outlook and
keep us up to date with City wide developments.
We led the day ourselves, and focussed discussions on 5 topic areas.
The areas of discussion were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The new building extension
Library and outreach work
Fundraising
Review of subscription scheme
New main objective
The day went extremely well, and we summarised our flip chart notes and
thoughts on the day into an overall summary, which is in Appendix 1.
Volunteers are required to keep up their fitness and skills, by attending training
sessions conducted by our own developed trainers. We offer up to 3 hours each
16
week to ensure everyone’s skills are up to scratch, and keep accurate records, as
these are needed before they can re-qualify, which must happen every 2 years.
We provide references to volunteers who leave the area, for work in other leisure
centres, and to our knowledge, all have been successful in obtaining work.
Once someone has obtained their lifeguarding award with us, or are volunteers,
we ensure they have their training records kept up to date, to help them in the
future.
We are the only facility that we are aware of which offers direct work experience
opportunities to new lifeguards, before they have paid work. This gives a great
advantage over others, and satisfies the requirement to have at least 20 hours
training in an approved training centre. Usually people applying for work in leisure
centres might have the qualification, but not the experience. Our system here at
Jesmond benefits more than just us, and the IQL were unaware of this. We have
suggested that they take our lead into consideration, as this will help many others
nationally.
Training and Development of staff
In order to accommodate the staff shift working pattern, volunteer availability, and
other commitments, staff training sessions are held both during the week and at
weekends. All lifeguarding staff have a training requirement as part of their terms
and conditions. They must attend sessions on a regular basis, and keep
themselves up to date with new developments and techniques, and maintain their
personal fitness levels.
In-house training is carried out by the duty managers, who are nationally
recognised Trainer Assessors. They are qualified to train, and examine
lifeguards, in all aspects of their roles. As well as training our own staff, the duty
managers regularly carry out assessments at other leisure sites around the area.
Lifeguards cannot be examined by the people who train them, so there is a
reciprocal arrangement with other Trainer Assessors throughout the region.
We also have our own first aid trainers, who train all staff areas that may be
required of them, in the same manner as pool lifeguards.
Who was trained
In 2011 and 2012, we trained the following:

87 people, of which
17



















38 were volunteers,
49 were lifeguards,
4 Dolphin coaches
25 swimming teachers
4 people were on work experience, and
7 people were doing Duke of Edinburgh awards.
2 people took a volunteer management course.
1 person qualified in Boxercise and Kickboxercise
2 persons re qualified as a First aid Trainer
2 people trained as running coaches
1 person trained in conditioning for running coaches
2 people trained in supervisory Management
1 person did an NVQ L3 in management
1 person did an NVQ L4 in Equality and Diversity
2 people attended 2 CPD events in swimming teaching
3 people attended a workshop in Powerplate training
10 people were trained in functional use of the new gym equipment
2 people received training in accounting.
7 people requalified as First Aiders.
Some people received more than 1 type of training.
What training we did
As the majority of our staff are lifeguards, training is primarily based on the skills
and fitness required of the job. All staff must train regularly, and water work and
CPR must be monthly.
In the accounting period we offered 312 hours of regular staff training and 120
hours for either new or requalified lifeguards. We qualified 100 new lifeguards
and there were 20 renewals.
We also provided Heartstart training for local schools and colleges, but due to
cutbacks the Newcastle Education Business Partnership were only able to send
us 20 people, where in the past this has been over 100.
As well as the above training, we also covered the following:




First Aid;
Fire Safety;
Gym inductions;
Customer Care;
18




Plant Operations;
Power Plate training;
Internal systems training;
Induction of new staff.
Volunteer Use
Jesmond Swimming Project is a volunteer-led organisation, who recognises the
benefits of offering volunteer opportunities.
We are the only pool in the area which develop lifeguards through our volunteer
programme.
We offer courses on pool lifeguarding, (National Pool Lifeguard Qualification)
several times across the year. This stringent 30 hour course puts potential
lifeguards through all of the skills and competencies required nationally of
lifeguards. Many of the participants are young, and hope to use the qualification
to enhance their employment potential, both whilst they are still in full-time
education, and afterwards.
In most centres who offer the same courses, candidates are left to their own
devices to do what they can with the award, once they finish the course. This is
not satisfactory for them, as to keep the qualification valid they must attend
regular certified training sessions at an approved training centre, and have at
least 20 certified hours before their qualification needs retaking, which is every 2
years. Their opportunities to work as a lifeguard are also limited, as volunteering
is not the norm in local authority operated pools, and their only hope is to obtain
paid employment.
Jesmond Community Leisure is different, as once people are qualified through
us, we allow them to join the main staff for training sessions, and we offer the
chance to volunteer as a lifeguard at the pool. This is essential on-the-job
learning, which can only be carried out in the work forum. This way we get the
chance to develop the lifeguards in the way we operate at Jesmond, and they
keep their qualification valid, as we update their CPD training logs after each
session they train with us. Those that do volunteer work for us also have the
added benefit of proving to potential employers that they do have relevant
occupational experience, and we provide testimonies to that effect.
In 2011 and 2012 we had 2194 hours worked by volunteers on the operational
side of the business. This does not include the hours worked by our volunteer
19
board of Trustees on the community management side. Each month sees at least
6 meetings of various board members, covering sub groups for:






Finance and Fundraising;
Communications;
Personnel;
Strategic planning (“Looking Ahead”);
Building Development
Full board.
Based on an average attendance of only 8 Trustees, over the 2 year period we
will have had around 2,000 hours given by volunteers.
This shows a total of over 4,100 hours given voluntarily in 2011 and 2012.
Young people on placements with us have come from local schools, Northumbria
University and Nantes University.
We have recruited no new permanent staff over these past 2 years, and the
majority of our new lifeguards have been with us as volunteers first, so we know
them, and what their strengths are.
Our board of Trustees continues to lead us in a very effective, professional
manner, and involve the staff at every opportunity. The Trustees operate through
a series of sub groups, reporting to the full board each month. Trustees can
choose which sub group to be on, to make the most of their skills. This gives the
staff great support, and many of the Trustees are extremely active in their work
for us, as well as having their own busy careers.
One of the sub groups specifically looks at people issues, and has the task of
constantly reviewing the terms and conditions of staff, and looking at offering the
best place of work as possible. Our minimal staff turnover and enviable sickness
record (5 days in 2011, and 12 days total in 2012), would indicate that this works!.
The 12 days last year were our worst for quite some time, but the horrible
weather took its toll on some of us.
We had our Chief Executive trained to ILM Level 4 in Equality and Diversity to
ensure we maintain legality in people management, and follow best practise.
20
6. To operate the building and activities, following current industry and
best practice guidelines.
 Ensure operational managers are industry qualified, and keep Trustees
updated with industry trends;
 Regularly train all staff in operational matters, following industry best
practice guidelines.
The general advice to operational leisure centres offering swimming is to have at
least 1 manager, who is professionally trained and qualified. We have 3 such
managers, who meet this criterion, who have all also undertaken more
commercial training, not normally available to those in the public sector.
Our professional body is now CIMSPA, the Chartered Institute for the
Management of Sports and Physical Activity.
Phil and Tim are qualified members, and Glenn is a Fellow. Glenn is in the
process of becoming a chartered Fellow, which will happen in 2013.
Glenn is also the interim chair of the North East region of CIMSPA.
As swimming pools have specific technical requirements, we also need at least 1
person with a specific technical qualification. Well, we have 4, and intend to train
all main operational staff to the required standard.
All public leisure centres are required to follow the operational safety advice of
the Health and Safety Executive, and produce emergency and normal operating
procedures, which cover all aspects of their operations. Our regular weekly
training sessions refer to this documentation, to ensure that all of our systems
conform, and our managers who attend regional and national professional
events, are kept up to date with any adjustments. All of our systems are subject
to interrogation as part of our Approved training centre status.
Our high proportion of qualified leisure managers, ensures we remain at the
cutting edge of developments and industry trends. We attend all necessary
events locally and nationally to maintain currency, and make our presence felt.
Our systems in operational management, staff training, building upkeep, activity
provision and health and safety, remain good, and we endeavour to attain
whatever awards and recognitions we feel appropriate.
7. To reduce our environmental impact.
 Operate the building in an energy efficient manner;
 Identify and reduce our carbon footprint;
21
 Provide facilities to encourage users to walk, cycle or use nearby public
transport to reach the pool;
 Actively recycle products used within the pool by staff and customers;
 To keep our chemical impact as low as possible by using new
technologies.
We have not renewed our EEP and EEC accreditation during the accounting
period. Our use of energy continues to be either reduced, or held, but our costs
increase due to external factors.
The Solar panel installation continues to help our costs, and the power saved is
displayed live in reception on a panel.
Our costs are mitigated to some degree by the City Council allowing us access to
the North East Central Purchasing prices, which through volume, are better than
we can get alone. Our consumption of energy remains as low as we can get it,
without major investment in our equipment.
Although we do provide a bike park, and many of our users arrive on foot, we do
still have a high proportion of users who travel by cars. This causes a problem for
them, particularly in the late afternoon and early evening, when children’s lessons
are in progress. It is perfectly understandable for parents with several young
children, to need their cars, and the current parking restrictions exacerbates the
situation.
As part of the new side extension, we planned for another bike parking area, at
the front of the building, directly adjacent to the main entry. We ran out of funds to
do this work at the same time as the extension, but will complete this work in
2013.
The fact that we sterilise our pool water with ultra violet, means that we do not
need the amount of chemicals available in the water, which other pools do. This
has many advantages in that we use fewer chemicals, the water is fresher, costs
are less, and most importantly of all, our system has the ability to neutralise the
worst of ‘pool bugs’, that only ultra violet, or ozone will kill.
So we are very happy with our use of chemicals, and will continue to adapt and
change, as resources and developments allow.
22
How we addressed the issues from the 2010 Social Account
 Review our status as a company and our ability to work in other areas;
 Try to offer more direct help to other organisations seeking to operate
facilities as social enterprises;
 Review our admissions system to allow remote bookings;
 Explore ways of providing additional activities at the centre.
1. Review our status as a company and our ability to work in other areas.
Our initial legal status, was quite prescriptive of the wording of Jesmond
and the local area, which in some ways prevented us from doing any work
out of our area. We have now applied for and been granted a change of
the wording in our articles and memo of arts, to allow us to provide
services and operate in a much wider area. We also changed the
company name to Jesmond Community Leisure, as we are no longer just
a swimming pool, and the old name did not reflect all that we did.
2. Try to offer more direct help to other organisations seeking to operate
facilities as social enterprises.
We continued over the accounting period to offer help and advice to
anyone who requested it, and all was done for free. We prepared several
business plans, and attended meetings to allow other groups to get up and
running themselves. We also gave several presentations to others on what
we do, and how we do it.
3. Review our admissions system to allow remote bookings.
We do now have the facility to take cards as payment, and have now
upgraded that to allow remote bookings over the telephone. We do hope
within the new accounting period, to have upgraded the website to allow
customers the ability to book anything online themselves.
4. Explore ways of providing additional activities at the centre.
The new extension is significant evidence of us meeting this criteria. The
extra, and different gym space has had an effect on numbers of people
using us, and the provision of the JALA studio, now offers us a unique
23
service, in that public have direct access to a full range of holistic
treatments, physiotherapy and acupuncture. There is no public facility we
are aware of that offers this service to their customers.
Objectives for our 2014 Social Account
 Upgrade our website to allow online access and bookings for all services.
 Adjust the swimming lesson service to an ongoing, progressive direct debit
system.
 Directly help another leisure provider, set up and manage their own Social
Accounting system.
 Be directly or indirectly involved with another public facility, offering a
service complemented by our skills and organisation.
24