CAMDEN COMMUNITY UPDATE - JULY 2023
WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME LAUNCHES IN CAMDEN
Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre is the first centre in Camden to host a student this year as part of a rollout to support local students prepare for employment in the leisure industry. Adrianna was given an induction two weeks prior to her placement and supported through an induction checklist on her first day with the DM on concierge team. Adriana familiarised herself with the activities and memberships on offer to support customer enquiries and spent the majority of her week supporting customers access the centre. Adrianna provided positive feedback on her experience at Swiss stating she felt very welcomed by the centre team and was able to increase in confidence as the week progressed. She has also expressed an interest in any career opportunities in the future.
GLL 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
Camden Leisure Centres celebrated GLL’s 30th Birthday weekend with 90s themed fitness classes, Centre teams dressed in 90s outfits creating competition from across the partnership. 90s themed pool sessions and generated interest from customers wanting to find out more about GLL as a company and its achievements across the UK.
Highlights included:
- 300 GLL birthday cards and birthday themed colouring sheets completed by children and young people attending swimming lessons and soft play.
- Successful GLL 30th Walking Football competition hosted at Swiss Cottage LC and delivered by Club Lead Abu in warm up to the Club Games 2023. Trophies awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd including medals and BETTER goodie bags with over 70 participants.
- 90s music played in reception areas and gyms
- 90s the med soft play sessions at Talacre with parent and child arts and crafts
- 90s themed fitness classes with customer engagement with celebrating GLL 30 years
- GLL staff dressed in 90s clothes from across the partnership
- 90s themed Swim For All sessions popular with young families
Testimonials
“It’s so good to hear that GLL are still running our local centres and my family have all been members for over 20 years and still enjoy using your facilities. It’s a great atmosphere here today and the children have loved taking part in the birthday card colouring activities”
“Happy Birthday GLL thanks for teaching my children how to swim”
“Happy Birthday GLL, I will never forget the time when you encouraged me to take part in a fitness class after my accident and now I attend two classes per week and made some great friends”
“Our children are having a great time today we look forward to the next birthday weekend”
FREE SWIMMING FOR CHALCOT RESIDENTS
Residents from the Chalcot estate within a 5 minute walk from Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre will be given access to free ‘Swim For Sessions’ for up to a year as part of a funded campaign through Camden Council. The residents from Bray, Taplow, Dorney, Burnham and Blashford tower blocks will each be issued with a business card linked to their tower block which features the terms and conditions on the reverse to support with access to Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre. The funded campaign will support residents who will be disrupted by essential maintenance works on the tower blocks set for a number of months. The number of free adult and child swim sessions will be monitored and reports run to track usage to identify the number of residents utilising the offer. A communication sheet has been created for FOH teams to understand the campaign and entry process.
The campaign will start in August and run up until October 2024
FINAL PUSH FOR FIT INTO KINDNESS CAMPAIGN
Hot on the heels of our welcoming coffee mornings and providing warm spaces for our community in partnership with Age UK Camden, leisure centres in Camden are supporting the Fit into Kindness Fundraiser from 5th June- 28th July where anyone can sign up to get sponsored for a gym workout, a yoga session, a swim, or any other preferred activity. This event was hugely successful in 2022 which took place in Parliament Hill Lido; this year, following a close working relationship, Age UK Camden decided to partner with us for this project. Age UK Camden’s services are needed more than ever. They are vital for the wellbeing of so many older people living in our community who are experiencing increasing hardship and isolation within the challenges of the current day realities. Age UK Camden have secured support from large organisations in Camden such as Google and Facebook, and we are currently working with our corporate partners to increase the support for the fundraiser. Age UK Camden Fundraising manager said “As always it’s been an absolute pleasure working with the GLL Camden Community team who have supported many of our campaigns this year. We want to thank all of our fundraisers and hope to schedule an end of year celebration in recognition of their support.”
CAMDEN RESIDENTS GIVE IT A GO ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH
Sunday 16th July saw the GLL Camden Community Sports team attend the annual ‘Give It A Go’ festival on Hampstead Heath in partnership with PAC (Physical Activity Camden) steering group promoting physical activity across the borough.
The Community Sports team engaged with over 200 attendees throughout the day promoting the Schools Out summer holiday programme and challenging visitors to take part in the Spin Wheel. By spinning the wheel the visitors would either need to complete a fitness challenge or be lucky enough to take away a BETTER goodie bag.
The Mayor of Camden was also in attendance and also completed 10 sit ups as part of her spin wheel challenge. The team also were lucky to attract Strictly Come Dancing winner of 2017 Joe Mcfadden who we found out was also a BETTER member. Joe was very complimentary on our activities and the service we offer to the local community. The team were slightly star struck so didn’t manage to capture of a photo of Joe in action. Over 200 holiday programmes and goodie bags were distributed to local residents and Camden Council Sports and Physical Activities team were also in attendance promoting our offer on the day.