The leisure Trust based in Seaford, won Business of the Year for its continuing project with Shakespeare Hall in Newhaven. Shakespeare Hall was rescued from closure in 2010/11 with a business plan to make the facility a hub for the community within Newhaven.

Partnering with Lewes District Council and Newhaven Town Council, the Trust successfully refurbished the facility with over £300k of funding, bringing it back securely for the benefit of the community and ensuring that it was accessible for all and fully compliant with the Disability Act 2004. The hall then re-opened to the public in late 2011.

After the successful procurement of Lottery funding, enabling a development team to be appointed, Shakespeare Hall continues to provide activities for the young and disadvantaged residents of Newhaven. Since securing the facility Shakespeare Hall has been able to introduce a programme of activity for seniors and has managed to secure accreditation to run a successful Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

Such has been the success of the programme; the facility exceeded it 3 years targets of engaging with young people by 15% within the first ten months of operation. This engagement trend continues and is constantly being increased through initiatives such as the Newhaven Integrated Sumer Holiday Programme.

The Trust’s Managing Director, Peter Crowley, was also recognised in the category of Business Personality of the Year and was additionally recognised through the President’s Award – Lifetime Achievement Award, after nearly 30 years of managing and directing leisure provision within the district.

Business of the Year – Sponsored by Swindells Chartered Accountants.
1st: Wave Leisure (Shakespeare Hall project)
2nd: Badger Inks
3rd:Mike Shorer Fine Jewellery

Business Personality of the Year – Sponsored by the Sussex Sign Company.
1st: Mike Shorer of Mike Shorer Fine Jewellery
2nd: Alan Novis of Prestige Promotional Products
3rd: Peter Crowley of Wave Leisure

President’s Award – Lifetime Achievement Award – Sponsored by Newhaven Enterprise Centre.
1st: Jean & Margaret Cantell from Studio Tempo
2nd: Peter Crowley from Wave Leisure
3rd: Paul Boswell from Meeching Estate Agents

Best Customer Service – Sponsored by Wave Leisure.
1st: Autowise
2nd: Badger Inks
3rd: Payline

Wave Leisure is a certified social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark.

It is nationally recognised that employment is a very important issue in relation to mental health issues. Although 85-90% of adults with a mental health issue would like to work under 30% of them are actually in work, compared to around 70% of the working age population as a whole.

Paul Gooding, 50, is a Link Worker at Torbay Voice. Paul initially seems like quite a quiet person, but once he starts talking about something he’s passionate about he really opens up. Very friendly and helpful, Paul is eager to support others in his work, which comes across very clearly.

Paul had been unemployed for 18 months before coming to Pluss and finding his job as the Torbay Voice Link Worker.

Paul says “I served in the Royal Navy and had an injury when I was about 18, carried on serving, and went to the South Atlantic in 1982. That’s when things started going slightly wrong. I suffer with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as it’s now called, which wasn’t recognised until very late on. I’m still working through it and still get upset by it. There are times when things will make me jump or run and the team just says “Alright Paul!” and let me go until I’ve calmed myself down.

“The physical disability left me unable to do the activities that I used to do when I was younger and the type of work that I was used to. This is my first office job and I’m finding it a lot easier. It’s mentally tiring but easier on the body itself.

“I was unemployed for 18 months. Finding work was difficult because of the restricted number of hours I could work, due to my health. Employers aren’t supposed to look at the physical disability but I’ve gone into interviews where they see my walking stick and they just switch off. They say everything’s ok and that you’ll hear from them, and then you hear nothing. It makes me angry. There are a lot of people out there with various disabilities who can do a damn good job given half a chance.

“I was referred to Pluss through the Jobcentre Plus’ disability employment adviser and was having fortnightly meetings with Pluss’ mental health team. We went through what was available; different types of paths, training and skills I could improve on. Gavin from Pluss always brought forwards various jobs that were available for us to have a look through and we saw the one for Torbay Voice Link Worker and the rest is history!

“My day to day job involves promoting & supporting Torbay Voice: which is a group of people who have used or are using supportive services in Torbay; examples of people involved are those with mental health issues, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, older people, people with drug and alcohol misuse, and people who’ve experienced domestic violence.

“It’s about getting out promoting Torbay Voice to people using supportive services, setting up our bi-monthly meetings, and getting speakers to attend on relevant issues, I support Torbay Voice with admin duties too. I’m working with outside agencies, including Pluss, to bring more members into Torbay Voice; it’s about networking with other organisations out there, getting the name out there and supporting more people to become involved, empowering them to feel confident & move their lives on in positive direction, at a pace which suits them.

“I’ve been here since September 2012 and it’s a fantastic team. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Everybody knows roughly about my background and my issues, and they’ve just taken it in their stride. I enjoy meeting people and having a purpose during the day, I love my work.

“Pluss is always there in the background, I know if I need any training or skills Pluss will support me to do that. And it gives me a reason to get up and do things; if they weren’t there you’d start to lose focus without someone to give you the support. Being in work gives a purpose to life, it’s something I enjoy, meeting up with people and helping where I can. People here accept you for what you are.

“Going on I’d like to maybe work with one of the Forces’ charities and maybe start my own business making wooden toys and rocking horses. I’d definitely recommend Pluss and have done several times already! That’s the great thing about the crossover of us working with other organisations and being able to pass on my experiences to people out there. Seeing other people with similar and different issues to my own, it makes you realise that you could be worse off.”

Jess Sneddon, Community Engagement Officer, is Paul’s boss. Jess says “Paul is very good at his job. People are a very important part of this role and he gets on well with everyone. He’s become very good on the computer, learning our systems and filing processes. Paul is incredibly punctual; he’s here before me everyday and hates being late. He’s done amazingly well in the time he’s been here so far. As a team member he’s really professional, open and honest; you can’t not get on with that!

“We’ve had a couple of meetings with Pluss to monitor how Paul’s getting on and to help with Access to Work, such as getting an assessment done and supplying a special chair for him.

“The point of the role is to empower people, as part of our ethos we try and get service users to make decision about what we do and directions we take and Paul facilitates that. He learns very quickly and manages himself very well. He knows he can use his flexi-time when he’s not feeling 100%. He has a real understanding and passion for what he does: ultimately his facilitation helps so many people to gain skills.

“Going forwards Paul will probably be doing some more IT training.  Torbay Voice get involved in so many things for examples talking to the new Police & Crime Commissioner, being trained on dementia issues and then going out into the community & making others aware, being involved in the whole commissioning cycle when new services are being brought it is paramount we have the experience & knowledge of those people who have used services when making decisions, Paul coordinates & supports & is constantly keeping himself updated on relevant issues, it’s up to Paul to see what is happening in the area and where Torbay Voice needs to be involved.”

Pluss is a certified social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark.

Mark gave a talk to GCSE students, telling them all about the sacrifices he had to make to get on Team GB. The hard work in both his training and the wide range of varied secondary jobs he had to do to support his quest including how a bit of selfishness is necessary to obtain your goals.

He continued about the details of his training, diet, and fitness in order to maintain his career; and the ups and downs of playing in a handball team abroad as he now lives and plays in Iceland. After there was a question & answer session, with PCS PE teachers Mr Gore and Mr Butterfield as keen to ask the Olympian questions as the students were.

Following the talk, it was out onto the Astroturf, where the students appreciated training with Mark.  Hawkins also refereed the matches and at the end of the session the students were all queuing up to shake his hand.

Brett Crowhurst, Operations Manager at Peacehaven Leisure Centre said:

Sportivate is a fantastic programme that allows us to engage with lots of young adults and inspire them to continue their involvement with sport. We are delighted to be able to continue to offer this programme throughout the Lewes district.

Teenagers and young adults across Sussex are reaping the benefits from a sports programme that aims to fulfil the London 2012 Games legacy to ‘inspire young people to choose sport’.

Sportivate is a £32 million Lottery programme that gives 14-25 year olds who aren’t playing sport in their own time, access to six-week courses to give them the chance to find a sport they enjoy. The young people are then helped to find a club or venue where they can keep taking part.

As part of the Places People Play mass participation legacy programme, Sportivate will see hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults across England completing sports courses over four years.

To help inspire and motivate the participants, our Sporting Champions – a team of current and retired elite athletes, many of whom competed at London 2012 – will visit Sportivate sessions to share their experiences and enthusiasm for sport.

Wave Leisure is a certified social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark.

From left to right Richard Morgan, Pluss Job Broker, Scott Barnes and Jason Legg,
Production Manager, Atlas Packaging

With Mental Health Awareness Week just around the corner (May 13th to 19th), Atlas Packaging in Barnstaple is delighted to be celebrating the success of its first recruit via Pluss – a certified social enterprise that supports thousands of people with disabilities and other disadvantages into employment each year.

Scott Barnes has been employed as a machine operator at the packaging plant for six months.  Scott has suffered from mental health issues for a number of years but his life has transformed since he joined the company.

He explains: ‘Before I came to Atlas I was in college in my third year studying plumbing. Up until two days before the start of that term I had been in a mental health unit and I found it really hard to make the jump back to college. My mental health was getting worse; I left college as I struggled with going out and was hiding away a lot. I was only leaving the house for one hour a week. At the same time I didn’t want to stay on benefits and really wanted to get into work.

I went to Pluss and within a week I had started a traineeship at Atlas. I really like it here – it feels comfortable and right.  The machine I work on is a die cutter that cuts raw board for packaging. We do custom jobs for different customers and it usually involves four or five different pieces for each job. The paperwork needs to be filled out, we check that each product is ok and if there are any problems, I sign off the job then put the product onto pallets and print labels ready for delivery.   A lot of my job is to do with time management; making everything run smoothly is very important here. You have to be thinking about the next job to get it ready whilst the first is still going. The difference between me now and a year ago is amazing. Earning money has made a big difference, supporting my Mum and sister means a lot to me. Now I can help out at home, I’ve been able to pay for driving lessons, my test and I’ve bought myself a car, too’.

Jason Legg, Production Manager is delighted with his dedication and commitment.  Commenting, he said: ‘Scott started off in a six week work experience role.  This was extended to full time last September, when he became a permanent member of the Atlas team.  Following three months of training, Scott is now a fully qualified machine operator.

We’ve been impressed right from the outset with Scott’s 100% dedication to the role.  He listens and learns quickly and is responsible in his approach to any task in hand.  From a personality point of view, we are also astonished at his progress. When he first started, he came across as quiet and shy but once his confidence developed, he really opened up.’

Jason Legg is looking forward to welcoming further recruits via Pluss to the Atlas team in the future. ‘Scott has amazed us all with his capabilities.  All he needed was a chance and he’s turned out to be a trusted and valued employee.’

The Future 50 Awards, part of the Future 100, puts the spotlight on young entrepreneurs aged 20-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in running a responsible business venture; one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success.

The Future 50 are invited to join the Ernst & Young Accelerate network  giving them access to skilled business support through a series of networking and learning events.

Chief Executive of Striding Out and organiser of the Future 50 awards and the Future  programme, Elaine Owen FRSA said:
“The future of our world is in the hands of individuals who are committed to generating commercial and ethical returns.”

“Challenging economic times can offer opportunities to question the way we operate as both a business community and a society. We are profiling the ‘Future 50′ young entrepreneurs who are changing the face of everyday business and improve commerce’s impact on the wider world.”

The Future 50 Awards encourage and rewards extraordinary vision, ethical business practice and social responsibility. They aim to showcase businesses that offer innovative and sustainable solutions to social problems.

The Future 50 Awards is part of the Future 100 programme organized by Striding Out CIC  www.stridingout.co.uk, a Social Enterprise Mark-certified, national social enterprise  which is committed to supporting the development and growth of young and ethical entrepreneurs.

The competition, thought to be the first of its kind in health and social care, is looking for new approaches to the problem of an ageing population and falling public sector budgets.

It is being supported by the North West Social Value Foundation – an independent think tank- and will be managed by Salford based Social Enterprise Mark certified Unlimited Potential using national funding. The competition is being backed by local health and social care organisations.

The competition acknowledges that people are experts in their own lives and workplaces and can often come up with new and radically different ways to tackle problems. It will build on the strengths and social relationships that already exist within local neighbourhoods to enable older people to have greater control over their own lives. It is also looking for ideas which can be replicated across the country.

The competition is open to residents and staff who support local older people and people from outside health and social care, such as artists, technologists, scientists, engineers, students or business people who may be able to offer fresh eyes or use transferable ideas from their own working lives. It is being advertised on the internet to encourage international ideas alongside local ones.

As well as cash prizes of £1000 for the best ideas, it is an opportunity for anyone with a passion for improving people’s lives to see their idea potentially taken up and implemented.

Three big problems in the NHS in the North West will be tackled in Salford, Knowsley and Wirral. Mike Pyrah, who leads on this work for the Social Value Foundation said ‘We want to hear from local people who understand their communities best and know what will work and what won’t. If you are sat there thinking, why don’t they do such and such, now is the time to tell us.’

After two successful engagement events with local people in October 2012, local leaders in Salford have developed integrated care for older people in the city. This involves finding and using support in neighbourhoods, such as local community groups and residents with useful skills and knowledge, bringing services closer together by establishing multidisciplinary teams and developing an integrated contact centre which will act as a hub to help guide people to the care they need.

Programme Manager Melanie Walters from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust who is helping to lead the work said: ‘Our ambition is to support older people in Salford to live healthy and independent lives. To do this we need to join up all the support available to older residents and we think our community holds the key to this.’

Anyone who is interested in applying is invited to visit the website http://www.nwsocialvaluefoundation.org/competition/ for a downloadable application form, or can contact the project manager Heather Henry on tel: 07941790670. The closing date for applications is 13^th May 2013.

Stevenage Leisure (SLL) has achieved the internationally recognised ISO14001 standard for its Environmental Management System (EMS), which minimises the leisure trust’s negative impact on the environment.

The charitable organisation, which manages 18 sites on behalf of five different local authorities, worked with quality management specialist Right Directions to achieve the award, which is held centrally by Stevenage Leisure for all its facilities.

James Barker, Facilities Director for the Stevenage Leisure said:  “For some time, we have identified the need for an EMS to be integrated with our Quality and Health and Safety systems.  ISO14001 Environmental Management Standard has always been our ultimate goal as it is a structured system, which looks at continuous improvement to manage and protect the environment for the benefit of our teams, customers and clients.

Working in partnership with Right Directions we have produced and trained our staff on our EMS, which we have successfully demonstrated in a Stage 1 and Stage 2 ISO14001 audit.  We are extremely pleased with the award of ISO14001 and the fact that our assessment showed no significant areas for improvement.

ISO14001 sets out the criteria for an EMS and can be used by any organisation that wants to improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and drive down costs.

Caroline Constantine, Director of Right Directions, which delivers Sport England’s quality assurance mark Quest, as well as the ukactive Code of Practice, said:

Achieving ISO14001 can provide assurance to Stevenage Leisure’s employees, stakeholders and customers that the trust’s environmental impact is being measured and improved.

Stevenage Leisure has been working with Right Directions for 10 months to develop and implement a practical and informative EMS, with a view to achieving the ISO14001 award.  Constantine continued:

The assessor was not only impressed with the SLL specific EMS, he was delighted with the knowledge, commitment and enthusiasm of the team.

In the ISO14001 report, the auditor from the British Assessment Bureau finalised his assessment with: ‘Throughout the sites audited, the knowledge of the staff regarding the EMS and environmental matters was very impressive and it is clear that the ethos and efforts of the management of the organisation has had a positive effect in this regard.’

Stevenage Leisure is a certified social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark

Alliance Homes has officially opened North Somerset’s first zero carbon homes, in
Portishead. Guests who attended the opening were treated to a tour of the two,
three-bedroom homes, which will offer affordable housing for local people.
The zero carbon homes were designed by Congresbury-based Raj Architects with
a team of specialist consultants and the Alliance Homes development team, and
were built by Halsall Construction.

Rajeswari Raj of Raj Architects said “We are delighted to be involved in such a
landmark development with such committed and aspiring clients. We left no stone
unturned as a team to ensure the development was highly sustainable, from the
materials to the technology chosen, without compromising the aesthetics and
provide a home where people would be proud to live in and that Alliance Homes
would be proud to own”.

The highly energy efficient homes have been built to level 6 of the Code for
Sustainable Homes, which is the highest level possible. They will produce more
energy than they use through a combination of a well-insulated structure built from
sustainable materials, triple glazed windows, photovoltaic panels that produce
electricity and solar thermal heaters that produce hot water.
Jon Hobbs, Design and Development Manager at Alliance Homes said, “We are
proud to have been involved with North Somerset’s first zero carbon homes. It
allows us to build on our low carbon expertise and further cements our position as
a market leader in green energy. More importantly, the new development provides
homes for local people that are cheap to run and future-proofed for generations to
come.”

Alliance Homes is a certified social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark.

The centre which is managed by Social Enterprise Mark certified, Stevenage Leisure Limited (SLL) on behalf of North Hertfordshire District Council, was crowned as the ‘Highest Scoring Facility Management Centre 2012’ out of over 600 facilities at the recent national Quest/NBS Conference held at HolywellPark, Loughborough.

In a two day assessment, Royston Leisure Centre was rated as ‘excellent’ in areas including maintenance and equipment, teamwork and continuous improvement. It was also rated ‘excellent’ in environmental management, by demonstrating that comprehensive energy saving measures are in place, with tangible results measured, evaluated and fed back to customers and clients to help make future improvements.

Quest is the UK’s Quality Scheme for Sport and Leisure incorporating leisure centres across the UK which are examined across all areas of their operations.  The Quest scheme sets the standards for the industry and encourages the ongoing success and development of leisure facilities by focussing on the people using them. Its rigorous assessments challenge the very best leisure centres.

Ian Morton, SLL’s Managing Director, said: “To be rated as the best in the Country from over 600 centres which were Quest assessed is a fantastic achievement, and it is a fitting tribute to the hard work and high standards that the team at Royston delivers on behalf of NHDC and the local community.”

Cllr Ian Knighton, NHDC’s portfolio holder for leisure, added: “This award is a superb achievement and recognition of the excellent management of the Council’s leisure centre by Stevenage Leisure Limited.  The real winners are people in and around Royston who know that they have a nationally acclaimed leisure facility serving their community.”

The innovative Aquaterra Cancer Survivorship Exercise Programme continues to go from strength to strength. Launched in May 2012, this programme is a free* community-based physical activity intervention promoting the physical and psychological wellbeing of cancer survivors by increasing activity levels, supporting a healthy lifestyle and promoting secondary prevention. It seeks to benefit cancer survivors, their families, friends and the local health care system.

The facts:

Participants: 60 people have joined the programme
Gender: 12 men and 48 women
Age range: 19-85 years old
Cancer types: breast, colorectal, lung, thyroid, lymphoma, ovarian, testicular & oesophageal

The results:

16 is the average number of exercise sessions attended per participant
83% of participants have improved energy and levels of physical activity
89% of participants have improved confidence and enhanced sense of well being
78% of participants have improved cardiovascular fitness
100% of participants have described the programme as excellent

Deryn Howard recently participated in and completed this programme and said:

“In the summer of 2010 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I went from being a fit and active person to finding myself debilitated by the extensive treatments I received. I not only felt that I needed to rebuild my physical fitness, but also my self confidence.

I’ve now completed my 3 months on the programme and slowly but surely my fitness is returning and I’ve lost weight! I am now confident to go in to the gym and complete my programme of exercises, progressively increasing the sets I do!

I’m so grateful that this programme has been available to help me rebuild my life, my physical and emotional strength.”

Antony Kildare, Chief Executive of Aquaterra said:

“I’m proud that this progressive exercise programme is helping to improve individuals’ physical and emotional wellbeing living with or beyond cancer as it is Aquaterra’s mission to improve the quality of life, health and wellbeing through leisure, fitness and sports activities that are accessible for all.”

If you would to like to apply for this programme or find out more information, please contact the Aquaterra Active Health Team on 020 7689 9846/7 or e-mail referrals@aquaterra.org

If you would like to view other customer testimonials from this programme visit http://www.aquaterra.org/health-testimonials

Aquaterra Leisure is a guaranteed social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Mark, proving it is in business to care for communities and protect the planet.