BOROUGH OF POOLE
ROSSMORE COMMUNITY USE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
22 SEPTEMBER 2008
The Meeting commenced at 4:00 pm and concluded at 5.40 pm.
Present:
Councillor Representatives:
Councillor Wilson – Elected Member (Chairman for this meeting)
User Representative
John Long - Gymnastics and Trampolining Club
Michael Gregory - Silver Swimmers Representative
Also in Attendance
Vic Parker - Rossmore Community College (RCC)
Rosalind Hayward - Legal and Democratic Services, Borough of Poole (BoP)
Sean Gabriel – General Manager, Rossmore Leisure Centre, Sports & Leisure Management Ltd (SLM)
Members of the Public Present: 0
CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS
Members were advised that the Meeting was not quorate and noted that any decisions would need to be affirmed at the next quorate Meeting of the Rossmore Community Use Management Committee (RCUMC). Members agreed that Councillor Wilson should take the Chair.
- APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Trent, Elected Member, Councillor Mrs Lavender, Elected Member, Reverend Tim Gomm, Governing Body Representative and Anthony Rogers Borough of Poole, Leisure Services.
- MINUTES
AGREED that the Minutes of the Meetings held on 9 June 2008, having been previously circulated, be taken as read and confirmed as a correct record. These would be signed at the next quorate meeting of the Committee.
MATTERS ARISING
None
- TERMS OF REFERENCE
The terms of reference were reviewed and agreed.
- USER REPRESENTATIVE’S ITEMS
Michael Gregory reported that the shower areas had now been cleaned and Sean Gabriel advised that it was intended other outstanding work including repairs to the lockers would be completed by Christmas, prior to the change to a swipe-in system.
John Long reported that he was disappointed the turnstile system could not handle payments from other sources of income. He acknowledged that staff worked around this problem by issuing tokens but suggested a card system might be set up whereby the six or so members affected might gain access through the turnstiles. Sean Gabriel advised that this could be addressed through the junior membership access arrangements.
John Long reported his concerns over the future of the gymnastics centre, he saw it moving towards becoming a dedicated trampoline facility, this appeared to be a national trend. Sean Gabriel confirmed that fees and staffing structure issues had affected gymnastics; the emphasis had moved towards elite gymnastics. He outlined the difficulties in recruiting coaches of a suitable standard but advised the members that he continued to try to recruit and aimed to make gymnastics more inclusive.
John Long advised his decision to stand down from the committee, his involvement had been through his daughter who had now commenced a course at Southampton University; he would therefore no longer be directly involved. He had served on the Committee as a User Representative since July 2001. Councillor Wilson accepted John’s resignation and thanked him for his services to the Committee. He enquired whether John might be able to recommend a replacement. John Long advised that time commitment was a problem for many but suggested that the Parents Committee might be approached. Sean Gabriel offered to discuss the need for a new user representative with Sharon at Olga; Councillor Wilson thanked him for any help he could provide in finding a replacement user representative.
AGREED that the Rossmore Community Use Management Committee record its gratitude to John Long for his long and valuable service to the Committee.
- GOVERNING BODY/HEADTEACHER’S ITEMS
The future of Rossmore Community College as an Academy was discussed. The School ideally required its own sports hall, which could also be used for examinations; it found its reliance on the leisure centre facilities less than satisfactory. However it would be happy to continue using the swimming pool facilities. It was considered that the Academy bid strengthened the possibility of a new school being built and it was important that the leisure providers had the opportunity to make their views known. The Committee agreed that the Leisure Centre Management should be included in consultation over the future of the school
AGREED that Stuart Twiss, Head of Children’s and Young People’s Services, Strategy, Quality and Improvement, be requested to include Sean Gabriel. General Manager, Rossmore Leisure Centre, Sports and Leisure Management Ltd, in future consultation regarding Rossmore Community College.
- COUNCILLOR ITEMS
The Chairman reported that the Governing Body, at its recent Meeting, had considered field gate security; this was an issue of concern to the local community. It was important that Travellers did not gain access to the site or use it as grazing for horses. Sean Gabriel advised that a padlock and chain had been welded to the fence to avoid it being removed, keys were issued to users and the School Grounds man held a key on his set of master keys. He reported that groups often arrived hoping to use the field, the duty manager was responsible for deciding whether they were allowed access or not. They were advised of other sports field facilities in the vicinity, which they were able to use. He stressed that security was treated as a mater importance and agreed that an ‘invasion’ of the field must be avoided; it would deter the public from using the centre.
AGREED that the Report be noted.
- ROSSMORE LEISURE CENTRE MANAGER’S REPORT
Performance Monitoring:
The General Manager of Rossmore Leisure Centre, Sports & Leisure Management Ltd (SLM) advised the Committee that ‘Everyone Active Cards’ had not yet been issued to block-booking customers, however it was still intended that this would be done.
OLGA Trampolining and Fitness Centre
Results were published on the website www.olga-poole.co.uk, Claire Wright had achieved tenth place at the Olympics and Claire Leaper had achieved third place in the recent Russia v England International held in Russia. Twelve trampolinists were shortly leaving for Portugal to compete in an International contest, they were wished well.
The summer holiday activities were extremely successful with all sessions being full to at least 85%. Various additional needs sessions had been hosted during the summer in partnership with the Recreation Development scheme; these had also been very successful.
Health & Fitness
Work on the new exercise studio, provided through the ‘Planning Obligations Fund’, had been completed. Group exercise classes were being provided there to alleviate pressure on the large sports halls; additional classes such as Salsa Fit had been arranged with a more extended programme being offered in the New Year. The Studio held 25 people, it was of a similar size to that at Ashdown and larger than the Dolphin; a charge of £25 per hour was made for its use. It was intended that a music system would be installed shortly at a cost of £2k and a coating applied to the windows to ensure privacy. Air conditioning would be installed by Christmas at a further cost of around £8k and the sports halls would be redecorated. The Mayor, Councillor Mrs Lavender, would officially open the studio on Sunday 28 September and members were welcome to attend.
New Aqua Gym sessions had been added on Monday mornings; following requests via the customer forum it was also intended to add a specific GP only Aqua Gym session for 12 week block booking.
New Kid Active sessions had been added to the programme between 15.15 and 16.15, Mondays to Fridays, to compliment existing junior classes of Junior Urban and Freestyle Disco. The centre currently had in the region of 600 members; this was expected to increase to 800 members by April 2009.
Splash School
There were currently 603 pupils enrolled, the average retention rate was 90% and it was expected that Splash School Gold Standard would be achieved by the end of the week. The new ASA plan for teaching swimming would be launched at the centre on 29 September and Splash School would be renamed Everyone Active Swimming Lessons. Pupils would wear hats of differing colours dependant upon the stage they had reached. New Stage 1-3 lessons had commenced on Monday afternoons and Flip N’ Fun diving and synchro classes on Thursday would start shortly.
Children’s Activities
In partnership with the School sports Development Team, a new range of after school sporting activities had been introduced including Badminton Coaching, Kid Active Gym Sessions, Street Futsal Soccer, Cheerleading and Basketball. The climbing wall had been made good for public use, training was scheduled and it was hoped sessions would commence in November.
The childrens’ summer activity programme had been extremely successful, operating at a consistent 90% capacity. The Scheme was supported by the School Sports partnership, which funded places through a voucher scheme made available to local school children.
Everyone Active
A new website had been launched, www.everyoneactive.co.uk. A customer forum took place on 3 September, whilst only three centre users attended, some very helpful suggestions were made. Further user forums were planned and advertising was discussed, members agreed it was important to get all members involved, particularly children. An open day had been arranged for 28 September, a wide range of family activities would be on offer.
Maintenance
It was hoped that 90% of the lockers in the wet side changing rooms would be operational using the Standard Coin Deposit Scheme by the end of September; other lockers would be ready by the end of the year. The lockers in the corridors would be issued to OLGA customers on a deposit system.
The Sports halls required redecoration in the appropriate badminton blue, this would be carried out over the Christmas holidays. All doors had been made good, including those to the school outside changing rooms and toilets. They had been re-hung so that they could not be kicked open and handles had been removed New access controls had achieved a reduction in vandalism around the building; discussions were continuing with the school regarding the day to day operations including cleaning and repairs.
AGREED that the Report be noted
8. UPDATE ON LEISURE CENTRES PARTNERSHIP
Sean Gabriel reported that all Leisure Services referrals would be managed by the Centre from next year, this should give the GP referral scheme impetus. The proposed Government Scheme to provide free swimming for those over sixty years of age was causing some concern. Sean Gabriel advised that the Dolphin Pool would be more affected than Rossmore; he suggested that the funding should be passed to the leisure provider to provide dedicated free sessions.
With regard to the responsibility for vandalism costs, clarification had not yet been received from the Borough of Poole’s Legal Services.
AGREED that the Report be noted.
9. URGENT BUSINESS
No items were raised.
10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
AGREED that the date of the next Meeting be held on Monday
17 November 2008 at the Rossmore Community College, Herbert Avenue, Parkstone, Poole.
CHAIRMAN
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