Somerset County Council Honours Leisure Staff
| Published: 3rd September 2008 14:16 |
Staff at Somerset County Council's award winning sports and leisure centres have recently been honoured for their hard work.
A special awards ceremony was held at Huish Episcopi Sports Centre, Langport, to congratulate around a hundred staff who were short-listed for awards by the Leisure Services Senior Management team, following nominations from each centre. The awards were split into ten categories which recognised excellence and innovation in areas such as customer care, health and safety as well as impact on the environment.
- Chilton Trinity Leisure Centre, Bridgwater scooped the coveted prize of Leisure Centre of the Year together with the award for the best community engagement.
- Castle Leisure Centre,Taunton won the award for the best customer care, and Caryford Leisure Centre, Castle Cary was presented with the prize for the best green initiative.
- West Somerset Sports and Leisure Centre, Minehead, was recognised as the most improved leisure centre, and Cresta Leisure Centre, Crewkerne won the health and safety award.
More than a million people a year visit the Somerset County Council-run leisure centres, which are situated on secondary school sites. This means that the sports facilities are used by school pupils during the day and by the local community during the evening and at weekends.
As well as providing fitness programmes for members who use their gyms and sports facilities, staff at the leisure centres also provide a wide range of community-based services. These include GP referral schemes, clubs for adults with learning difficulties, and holiday play schemes for children.
Almost all of Somerset County Council's leisure centres are accredited to the Quest Award Scheme which monitors standards in the UK leisure industry.
Tim Nightingale, Senior Manager of Somerset County Council Leisure Department, said: that all the staff deserve recognition for the valuable work they do: "All of our leisure staff are passionate about the service they provide, however, the Manager of Chilton Trinity, Nick Lovett, and his team epitomise what a community leisure centre is all about. There is a strong spirit among the staff there, and they always go that little bit further to provide a high quality service."
Cllr Justin Robinson, Somerset County Council's Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, said: "Having a fit and healthy population is great for Somerset. Successful and thriving leisure centres contribute greatly to this, so my congratulations go to all the staff at our Leisure Centres."
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