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press release: Serco Leisure
Serco Leisure’s Helen Bull achieves first for wheelchair users
26 May 2022
Helen Bull has become the first wheelchair user to gain RLSS UK’s Open Water Lifeguard (OWL) qualification / Serco Leisure
Helen achieved the qualification at a training and assessment day at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, a site Serco Leisure manages on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council.
This achievement followed Helen’s success in 2019 when she became the first wheelchair user to achieve the RLSS UK National Pool Lifeguard Qualification.
Helen requires a wheelchair on land, but it's a different matter in the water. She’s a keen swimmer - in all weathers – and, as well as being a NPLQ lifeguard she’s also a fully trained Swimming Teacher and Tutor. But she was aware that no wheelchair user had qualified in the open water element of lifeguarding, and Helen loves a challenge.
For the qualification, Helen needed a volunteer in the lake that she could rescue - step forward her aquatics colleague and industry training expert, Lynn Goring-Crook, Serco Leisure’s Aquatics Training Lead.
Lynn said: “Helen is an inspiration, so even though getting in a cold lake isn’t my idea of fun, to help her achieve this first, I couldn’t say no, and because Helen is Helen, she passed!”
Jo Talbot, Commercial Director at RLSS UK added: “Helen’s achievement in gaining the RLSS UK Open Water Lifeguard (OWL) qualification reflects her passion for the industry and water safety, not to mention her determination - she is truly an inspiration for others.
"RLSS UK is committed to ensuring our qualifications are accessible. As part of her role as RLSS UK Trustee, Helen is helping us to ensure our qualifications and awards are as accessible as possible within the parameters of the rigour and robustness prerequisite, and standards required to pass the assessments.
“We want to congratulate Helen on her achieving the qualification and wish her continued success with her role at Serco Leisure."
With this challenge now complete, Helen turns her sights to something new and the possibility of achieving her RLSS UK Beach Lifeguard Qualification.
More press releases and updates from Serco Leisure:
Following a competitive procurement process, Serco Leisure and its operating partner, More
Leisure Community Trust (MLCT), have been appointed to operate five leisure facilities on
behalf of Oxford City Council from 30th March 2024.
Bisham Abbey and Lilleshall, the Sport England National Sports Centres managed by Serco
Leisure, have come out top across the leisure sector in assessments carried out in December
by Hospitality Assured.
Following a competitive tendering process, Serco Leisure and its operating partner in the
region, More Leisure Community Trust (MCLT) have been awarded a five-year contract by
Buckinghamshire Council to operate five centres, starting April 1st 2024.
Serco Leisure has won Water Leisure Operator of the Year at the UK Pool & Spa Awards, the fifth
time they have achieved this accolade in the past six years.
Three national sports centres operated by Serco Leisure have earned Elite Training Centre
(ETC) accreditation from UK Sport, the organisation responsible for the strategic investment
of Government and National Lottery funding into Olympic and Paralympic sport and major
events.
Serco Leisure: news from HCMmag.com and FitTechGlobal.com
UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) is backing research to investigate the
lack of older adults accessing facilities for exercise and the barriers they face.
Following a competitive tendering process, Serco Leisure and its partner More Leisure
Community Trust Limited (MLCT) have been awarded a 10-year contract by Mansfield District
Council to operate three centres in the town, starting 1 May 2022.
Serco Leisure
Tel: +44 0116 240 7500
Email: [email protected]
Address:
Lancer House,
38 Scudamore Road,
Leicester,
Leicestershire,
LE3 1UB,
United Kingdom
Simon Lane, Managing Director
Serco Leisure video gallery:
Key personnel
Simon Lane, Managing Director
Steve Nelson, Operations Director
Sally Kurton, Commercial Director
Steve Lawrence, Operations Director
Leigh Brooks, Marketing Director
Warren Higgins, Business Development Director
Steve Nelson, Operations Director
Sally Kurton, Commercial Director
Steve Lawrence, Operations Director
Leigh Brooks, Marketing Director
Warren Higgins, Business Development Director
Key customers
Sport England
WheelPower
Local authorities
WheelPower
Local authorities
Plans for the next 12 months
2022 was a record-breaking 12 months for Serco Leisure, as we celebrated a set of sales figures at year-end that even our most optimistic forecasts hadn’t predicted.
2023 will see us consolidating those gains, while looking to improve our overall customer offering via the introduction of a new Single-Customer-View CRM system. When this launches later in the year, it will allow us to provide customers with a journey that goes far beyond their leisure centre visit and will instead marry up their in-centre experience with engaging digital touch-points and supportive human interventions.
2023 will see us consolidating those gains, while looking to improve our overall customer offering via the introduction of a new Single-Customer-View CRM system. When this launches later in the year, it will allow us to provide customers with a journey that goes far beyond their leisure centre visit and will instead marry up their in-centre experience with engaging digital touch-points and supportive human interventions.
Testimonial
"We have enjoyed a fantastic partnership with Serco Leisure since the contract was awarded in 2015. They manage nine facilities on our behalf and together we have opened four new facilities: Stechford, Northfield, Erdington and Ladywood, two of which won prestigious ukactive awards, highlighting the quality of these new builds.
"The knowledge, expertise and experience Serco bring is first class. In the post-COVID era, we’re confident they are the operator who will provide the level of service, variety of activity and the inclusive welcome the people of Birmingham deserve."
– Dave Wagg, Head of Sport & Development, Birmingham City Council
"The knowledge, expertise and experience Serco bring is first class. In the post-COVID era, we’re confident they are the operator who will provide the level of service, variety of activity and the inclusive welcome the people of Birmingham deserve."
– Dave Wagg, Head of Sport & Development, Birmingham City Council
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