Little Hulton & Walkden Neighbourhood Quarter 3 October - December 2014 salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk
Salford Community Leisure (SCL) is responsible for the provision and management of sport, leisure and cultural services in the city. SCL manage a wide variety of facilities across the 8 neighbourhood areas within the city, including sport and leisure facilities, community centres, libraries (plus 2 books@home libraries), museums and community use high schools. SCL s vision is Everyone Active and all SCL employees work towards achieving this vision. Welcome to the 3rd quarterly report for 2014 for the Little Hulton & Walkden neighbourhood area Within the Little Hulton & Walkden neighbourhood area, Salford Community Leisure (SCL) provides the following sport, leisure and cultural facilities and officers: Paul Bland Sport and Leisure Manager Carol Prettyman Lowth - Neighbourhood Library Manager Chris Carson - Neighbourhood Library Manager Danielle Morecroft - Assistant Sport and Leisure Manager Amy Morris - Sport and Leisure Officer Louise Sword - Active Lifestyles Development Officer Phil Carey - Community Librarian Sara Mountford - Community Children s Librarian Worsley Leisure Centre Guild Hall Community Centre Little Hulton Library Walkden Library (Gateway) Walkden High School The aim of this quarterly report is to highlight the work that has taken place during October, November and December within the Little Hulton & Walkden neighbourhood area and demonstrate how Salford Community Leisure is performing. Neighbourhood Sport and Leisure Manager: Paul Bland e. paul.bland@scll.co.uk Neighbourhood Library Manager: Chris Carson e. chris.carson@scll.co.uk Carol Prettyman-Lowth e. carol.prettyman-lowth@scll.co.uk salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk
Introduction Quarter 3 (October December 2014) has been a very successful quarter, some key highlights include: Swimming lessons at Worsley Leisure Centre are currently running at 87% capacity Birthday parties remain very popular at Worsley Leisure Centre. Party food can now be purchased at Worsley Leisure Centre to compete the birthday party offering. Memberships at Worsley Leisure Centre are 25% higher than the same period as last year. Fitness classes remain very popular at Worsley Leisure Centre with classes averaging 50% capacity. New outdoor Boot camp classes have started at Worsley Leisure Centre. The coffee shop at Worsley Leisure Centre remains very popular with customers. A new fast track kiosk for members is currently on trial at Worsley Leisure Centre. Successful half term sport and leisure holiday programme at Walkden High Doorstep sport club set up at Bridgewater Youth Centre in partnership with IYSS Friends of Parrfold Park group set up Walkden Library hosted a series of local history talks in October and November.
Worsley Leisure Centre General update Customer feedback remains positive at Worsley Leisure Centre with the helpfulness of staff becoming a common theme from the customers. The fitness classes remain very positive with Legs Bums & Tums, Aeromix and Circuit training the most popular classes. A new floodlit outdoor area has been introduced at the front of the centre for the boot camp sessions and the feedback has been very positive from customers. Birthday parties remain very popular at the centre and customers can now take advantage of the party food option when making a booking. The coffee shop remains a very popular area for customers to relax after their workout; this area has brought a very good social environment to the centre, which is proving a real asset. The introduction of the TRP system has seen staff interacting more with members and customers and it is hoped that this will lead to increased usage of the centre and customers remaining members for increased lengths of time. Retail sales continue to grow; feedback on the quality of the items and the prices continues to be positive. The Peppa Pig branded swimming items have proved very popular at the centre with the younger customers and suppliers Zoggs have had to send additional stock on several occasions to cope with the demand. The Learn to Swim programme at the centre continues to grow with over 1,400 places now available. Work is ongoing to increase this further in the New Year to 1,600 available places. The current programme is running at 87% capacity. A new fast track kiosk is currently on trial at the centre, this will allow members to swipe in at the centre without the need to wait for the receptionist to become available. It is anticipated that this will cut the waiting times at the reception and allow members to access facilities quicker. Early feedback from customers has been positive. Overall attendances Overall attendances at Worsley Leisure Centre have seen a 10% increase on the same period as last year. Fitness suite The fitness suite remains popular with members and the quality of the equipment and the knowledge of the staff continue to receive positive customer feedback. The TRP system is also proving a valuable way of gaining feedback from the customers. General swimming General swimming attendances have seen a 2% increase on the same period as last year. Class programme The class programme remains steady with classes averaging 50% capacity. The Powerhouse class has started to pick up a number of new users and is proving very popular as it is the only class that actually takes place in the fitness suite. Legs Bums & Tums along with Aeromix and Circuit Training remain the most popular classes at the centre
Guild Hall Community Centre General update City West held a consultation day on the 6 th October at the centre. This was to discuss demolishing the old building of local gardens and re-building a brand new structure, which will take approximately 20 months. Several people have been to look at the artist impressions displayed for the community at Guild Hall. Staff have received an email from City West who reported that it was a very successful event with a lot of feedback from local residents. Kerris held a swishing party (clothes swapping) on 21 st October. This is her first event at Guild Hall. Playtime Playgroup finished on the 24 th October for half term and the children and staff dressed up for Halloween. The children s costumes included witches, vampires and pumpkins. They had prizes for best girl and best boy costume on the day, judged by the Community Centre Supervisor. On 31 st October the Holiday Club children came dressed in Halloween costumes. The day consisted of face painting, bobbing for apples and ended with a Halloween DVD. SCL Dance held a Halloween Disco. The hall was beautifully decorated. The teachers were dressed up as well as all the children that attended. There were three birthday parties during November. The first one had a disco and games. The second party saw everybody turn up in fancy dress even parents and grandparents. The third party held a disco with entertainment from Mickey Mouse and Spongebob Squarepants. All parties were well attended and everybody enjoyed themselves; hopefully word of mouth will lead to further bookings in 2015. On 17 th December, Women s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) extended their time to hold their Christmas meal with bingo and dominoes for the over 60 s luncheon club. Since this has been funded by another source the meals have improved immensely and the people who attend thoroughly enjoy them. Playtime/Playgroup had their Christmas carol concert in December for all the parents to come and enjoy with drinks and mince pies afterwards. The attendance was very good; 40 parents and 8 children. They also held a Christmas Party on the 19th; Father Christmas came to see all the children. SCL Dance had a festive concert/show for the children to showcase their talent and hard work from 2014 in front of their parents/guardians. Again there was a very good attendance, 40 parents and 10 children. Over 50 s keep fit held a Macmillan coffee morning with raffle prizes, tea, coffee and cakes to buy. There was a fantastic turn out with lots of cakes and raffle prizes. Everyone enjoyed themselves and 211 was raised for Macmillan. Pulmonary Rehab sessions run by SCL have received funding for a further three years. Walkden Christian Group will not be renewing their Thursday evening at Guild Hall due to moving to a larger room at Walkden Gateway. Aikido will not be renewing their session in 2015 due to lack of interest. Worsley Horticultural Society booked their annual meeting on 25 th November Always clean and tidy, inside and out
Attendances Attendances decreased by 4% this quarter due to the loss of the Walkden Christian Group on Thursday nights. Community Sport and Leisure The sport and leisure October half term holiday programme was held at Walkden High School where a large range of multisports, art & crafts, and dance workshops were delivered. The sessions ran from 10am 4pm for 1 per child per day. Throughout the week various themed Halloween activities were delivered including spooky clay modelling, face paint and glitter tattoos, as well as a fancy dress day on the 31 st October. Over the 5 day programme, 155 young people took part, resulting in 760 attendances. Through Street Games funding a door step sports club has been established at Bridgewater Youth Centre, in partnership with IYSS and Lancashire Cricket Club. The club is aimed at young people aged 16 years and over. This is an opportunity to provide a sporting offer to young people that is designed to grow their motivation and ability to adopt a sporting habit for life. Libraries Little Hulton Library General update Weekly story-rhymetime sessions held during school term-time continued to be very popular. The community room was used by a variety of groups and individuals, including the local ward councillor, Connexions, Work Club and the local Neighbourhood Team. The library gained 103 new members. Over 3,800 books were issued. On average each month 360 people used computers. Over 2,900 sessions took place on computers. Walkden Library General update Walkden Library gained 332 new members. Over 15,000 books were issued. Over 9,000 PC sessions took place. The short story reading group continued to meet fortnightly on Tuesday evenings. Stories were selected from the Oxford Book of Irish short Stories. Established reading groups met monthly as usual. Local history talks held were: The story of Worsley Green; Walkden yard; and Remembering Fred-the life of Fred Dibnah, with attendances totalling 117. Holiday activities took place during October half-term for children with arts and crafts for older children and stories and songs for younger ones.
Community Facilities Walkden High School Community use at Walkden High continues to be successful and busy. The winter booking period commenced in September, with over 80 applications received. The team managed to provide the majority of applicants with their requested time, any others were offered an alternative slot or venue. Programme There are over 60 bookings at Walkden High School making use of the 3G pitch, dance studio, multi-use hall and sports hall. The bookings include football teams, badminton sessions, cricket clubs, boot camp and a back to netball group. New Bookings In addition to the winter bookings, there have been over 20 one off bookings taken for events such as tournaments, badminton pay and play and additional training slots for cricket and football. Attendances There were 6,800 attendances recorded in quarter 3, a reflection on how busy the facility was even during the festive period.
Inclusive Activities Salford Community Leisure s services and activities are influenced by the demographic profile of local communities. SCL strive to provide inclusive services and activities to enable everyone to be active in their chosen leisure pursuit. A wide range of customers attended the local history talks at Walkden during October and November. Free computer classes for beginners help customer s access information and use ICT for their own benefit, regardless of age, race or income. Short story groups are led by an experienced reading group leader who is helping participants to access, approach with confidence and enjoy a wide range of literature and styles of writing.
Forthcoming Events / Activities in Quarter 4-2014-15 New body tone class to start at Worsley Leisure Centre. New spinning bikes and additional classes to be introduced into the class programme at Worsley Leisure Centre in January 2015 Swimming lesson programme to be increased to accommodate 1,600 swimmers. Half term holiday programme to run at Walkden High during February half term New membership sales advisor Duncan Schofield will be starting at Worsley Leisure Centre in January 2015. Two monthly reading groups will continue to meet at Walkden Library. Short story group meetings will continue through January to March. Story-rhymetime and half-term activities will be organised for children. Thriller writer Michael Knaggs will talk about his books and writing at Walkden Library on Saturday 14th March at 11.00am.