Double celebrations for Hucknall leisure centre team

Not only has the Everyone Active team scooped a coveted national award, it has also achieved the top banding score for customer service – putting the facilities in an elite set of centres nationally.

The team received the Healthy Communities Award at the prestigious ukactive Awards.

The accolade acknowledged the organisation leading and delivering a physical activity focused programme that is targeted at the wider community to encourage increased activity and participation.

Everyone Active manages three leisure centres in the district, including Hucknall, in partnership with Ashfield District Council.

Lorenzo Clark, Everyone Active contracts manager, said: “We are absolutely delighted.

"This award was achieved through the hard work and dedication of the whole team, and we’re all very proud of what has been accomplished in the Ashfield community.”

Hucknall – and Lammas Leisure Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, which is also run by Everyone Active – then got the news they were being graded as ‘excellent’ following Quest Prime Assessments.

Quest is a continuous improvement tool for leisure facilities and sports development teams and is managed by Right Directions in partnership with Leisure-net Solutions, on behalf of Sport England.

In securing an ‘excellent’ banding score, the centres earned a spot in the top five per cent of centres that have undertaken the prime assessment module.

The venues, popular with the public due to their swimming pools and state-of-the-art gym facilities, scored highly in many areas within the mystery visit and formal assessment elements.

These included Covid-related protocols and management, cleanliness, customer and community engagement, swimming lessons, staff professionalism, effective HR practices, social media delivery, environmental management and their successful phased reopening after lockdown.

Simon Fearn, Everyone Active’s regional contract manager, said: “We are delighted with the outcome and believe it is nothing more than the centres and their teams deserve.”

“The centres are evolving and improving despite the impact of the pandemic, and since reopening post-lockdown we’ve received a fantastic response from our members.

“We’re pleased to see so many new and returning members at our sites, with activities such as swimming lessons and fitness sessions performing to near pre-pandemic levels.”

Development work at Lammas and Hucknall forms part of an overall £20million investment into new and existing sites across the district by the council and Everyone Active.

Simon continued: “The Quest scheme is very customer focused and high-end facilities alone will not result in an ‘excellent’ banding being secured.

“This is only achieved through a strong team of staff consistently delivering high standards of customer service to the local community.”

Coun Rachel Madden (Ash Ind), cabinet member for leisure, health and wellbeing, added: “It is fantastic that Lammas and Hucknall Leisure Centres have achieved top scores.

“We have some of the best leisure centres in the area and with major improvements under way at Lammas and Hucknall, facilities for residents have never been better.

“Congratulations to all the staff at Everyone Active for achieving these top scores.”