Leisure centre boss talks about improving our health
Thursday, 19th January 2012.
The boss of Haverhill Leisure Centre has told town business people about his organisation's efforts to improve health in the community, and the 'huge opportunities' which the Olympics present.
Warren Smyth, chief executive of Abbeycroft Leisure, which runs the Haverhill and Bury Leisure Centres, was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of thebestofhaverhill promotional website.
He explained the work of the organisation, which is a trading charity, from which all funds are re-invested in facilities or support of community activities.
It has a turnover of £4million a year, and has 6,000 gym members across both centres.
Over 200 people work for Abbeycroft Leisure, although only about half of them are employees.
Mr Smyth said the community feel of Haverhill Leisure Centre and other community facikities in Haverhill was unique in his experience and continued to amaze him.
As a business with a social purpose, Abbeycroft Leisure had to balance its commercial and social drives. It has been highly-placed in various national assessments of Leisure Centres.
Last year St Edmundsbury made the best progress in the UK in terms of increasing physical activity and 25 per cent of the borough's population now take part.
Among his main challenges was how to increase this, particularly addressing a drop-off in activity which tends to occur about age 14 or 15.
Twenty-five per cent of the borough's population is obese, and the cost to the NHS of physical inactivity in th borough is estimated at £1.7million a year in health care.
He was keen to encourage health managers that spending money on activity to prevent illnesswas as important as spending on dealing with the illness itself.
A lot of the problem was lack of time, which was a lifestyle issue.
"In many ways my main competitor is Cambridge shopping centre rather than the gym up the broad," he said. He did not think lifestyle behaviours would be changed quickly.
Abbeycroft had been affected by the economic climnate like everyone else, but it had a wider responsibility. If people cancelled their gym membership part of his challemnge was to ensure they continued to keep active somewhere, perhaps by walking or running.
Warren Smyth, chief executive of Abbeycroft Leisure, which runs the Haverhill and Bury Leisure Centres, was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of thebestofhaverhill promotional website.
He explained the work of the organisation, which is a trading charity, from which all funds are re-invested in facilities or support of community activities.
It has a turnover of £4million a year, and has 6,000 gym members across both centres.
Over 200 people work for Abbeycroft Leisure, although only about half of them are employees.
Mr Smyth said the community feel of Haverhill Leisure Centre and other community facikities in Haverhill was unique in his experience and continued to amaze him.
As a business with a social purpose, Abbeycroft Leisure had to balance its commercial and social drives. It has been highly-placed in various national assessments of Leisure Centres.
Last year St Edmundsbury made the best progress in the UK in terms of increasing physical activity and 25 per cent of the borough's population now take part.
Among his main challenges was how to increase this, particularly addressing a drop-off in activity which tends to occur about age 14 or 15.
Twenty-five per cent of the borough's population is obese, and the cost to the NHS of physical inactivity in th borough is estimated at £1.7million a year in health care.
He was keen to encourage health managers that spending money on activity to prevent illnesswas as important as spending on dealing with the illness itself.
A lot of the problem was lack of time, which was a lifestyle issue.
"In many ways my main competitor is Cambridge shopping centre rather than the gym up the broad," he said. He did not think lifestyle behaviours would be changed quickly.
Abbeycroft had been affected by the economic climnate like everyone else, but it had a wider responsibility. If people cancelled their gym membership part of his challemnge was to ensure they continued to keep active somewhere, perhaps by walking or running.
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