Oldham Community Leisure have been busy working behind the scenes to improve the quality service and provision which they provide to customers in order to encourage a community, more active, more often.

A new Customer Contact centre is now open, which will deal with all telephone and web based enquiries for all OCL sites and activities. The centre will be open in line with site opening hours to provide a more accessible service to the public who can contact the centre for information, bookings and to resolve any issues which they may have linked to OCL facilities. The contact number for the centre is 0161 207 7000.

OCL have launched a new service to their brand where children aged 11 and over will be able to attend specific fitness classes with a responsible adult who is participating in the class which were previously only available to adults. The classes include Zumba, Bokwa, Aquacise and Aerobics to name but a few.

Following on from the recent successful launch of their family fitness classes, OCL has invested funds to upgrade their combat room at Oldham Sport Centre.

The combat room currently plays host to a variety of exercise classes, ranging from gentle exercise activities such as Pilates and Tai Chi, to high impact classes such as Pump FX, Zumba and Spin.

The refurbishments include major improvements to the lighting, sound and floor. The newly installed stage and disco lights will be the focal point of the room and aim to create a vibrant, motivating atmosphere, which will hopefully result in increased participation levels.

Glo-gyms, OCL's Budget Gym brands, at Crompton, Glodwick and Royton Pools and Fitness Centres are proving popular with a record amount memberships being sold and more individuals taking advantage of the gym facilities and classes available at these sites.

Those who visit sites regularly may have noticed improved branding displays including posters and leaflets available on site; these have been produced to provide consistent and informative literature across OCL sites informing customers of services and activities which are available. These will be regularly reviewed to ensure that up to date information is always available.

In line with the improved front of house marketing staff will all be wearing new uniforms over the coming months to quantify the OCL brand with all staff wearing a consistent colour uniform which will extend to areas of the company.

OCL are keen to utilize the improvements which are being made and have arranged a number of open days at their sites over the Olympic weekends which will include Swim for £1, competitions including football tournaments and a colouring competition and taster sessions such as aquafit, basketball, badminton, bowling, boxing, diving and trampolining. The climbing tower will also be available at the open days for participants to try their hand at climbing in the open air.

Behind the scenes OCL are looking to recognise their quality within and have recruited and employed sixteen Modern Apprentices which has given young people within the area an opportunity to gain nationally and internationally recognised qualifications such as a Level 2 qualifications in Pool Life Guarding and Gym Instruction, BSC Level 1 in Health and Safety, First Aid, Customer Care and Manual Handling training and for those based at a wet site a Level 2 qualification in Pool Plant Operations.

OCL has also registered the above Modern Apprentices and their contracted Gym Instructors on to the Register of Exercise Professionals. By doing so this confirms that all individuals hold the relevant industry based qualifications, practical competency and work to the registers Code of Ethical Practice. OCL have also registered their Senior Management Team to the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) which is a mark of experienced and qualified professionals in the sector, who meet the ongoing requirements of the Institute's CPD programme. OCL were the first corporate partner of CIMSPA showing their support for the newly formed institute.

The Investors in People (IIP) accreditation has been awarded to OCL for the eighth year running, having just undergone and successfully passed their third review. The maintenance of the IIP accreditation demonstrates the company's commitment to human resource and people management.

Quest is a tool for continuous improvement, designed primarily for the management of leisure facilities and leisure development. All of OCL's Pools and Leisure Centres have now been through the accreditation process and all passed, with the stand out performer being the Chadderton Wellbeing Centre who were given a rating of good.

The QLM Leisuresafe Certification process is used to drive up standards of health and safety performance, nine of the OCL sites have been through the accreditation process and have all passed with the remaining sites planned to go through the process over the coming year.