The Leisure Review: news in brief

Edition number 76; dateline 8 October 2013

Nick Reeves: in memoriam
A memorial service to remember and celebrate the life of Nick Reeves will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London at 11am on Tuesday 19 November. Anyone who would like to join what will no doubt be a sizeable congregation is asked to drop a line to Lorraine Poole at CIWEM to confirm their attendance so that the verger can set out an appropriate number of seats in the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire. You can contact Lorraine at lpoole@ciwem.org.uk

Coaching Insight: individuals, teams and teams of individuals
The next Coaching Insight session is scheduled for Tuesday 29 October at Nottingham Trent’s Clifton campus. Starting at 1.30pm, this event will investigate the differences between coaching teams of individuals and coaching individuals in groups. The session will last until about 4.30pm and offer extensive opportunities to discuss and debate sports coaching with highly experienced coaching professionals and fellow coaches seeking to develop their own coaching careers. In recent years The Leisure Review Coaching Insight sessions have been established as a highly effective element of continuing professional development for coaches looking to expand their understanding of the coaching process beyond the confines of their particular sports. For full details of how you can be part of this event contact Mick Owen at The Leisure Review.

Join the 2014 Leading Learning Programme
Applications are now being invited for the 2014 Leading Learning Programme. Full details of how to secure your place are now available via the Leading Learning website or by contacting the programme director, Sue Isherwood, who will be happy to discuss all aspects of the programme. Leisure and culture management professionals considering the programme may also like to download the recently published testimonial document in which alumni of the Leading Learning Programme explain how the programme has helped them develop their skills, abilities and opportunities within their managerial roles.
• Visit www.ncfleadinglearning.co.uk. Sue Isherwood writes about the Leading Learning Programme in this issue of The Leisure Review.

RAPS officially opened for business
The leisure industry turned out to welcome the launch of the Register of Aquatic Professionals at a glittering event hosted by Greenwich Leisure Limited at their flagship Oasis Sports Centre. Created by SkillsActive in partnership with STA, ASA and RLSS UK, RAPs offers aquatic professionals a structured career pathway and the opportunity to enhance their development through quality-assured continuing professional development (CPD). Roger Millward, chief executive officer at STA, who has been one of the driving forces behind the register, said: “The launch of RAPs is significant for the aquatic industry. It will serve to raise standards, and recognise the expertise and qualifications of individuals working in the industry. Significantly, it provides the aquatic industry with a single qualification framework for swimming teaching, lifesaving and pool plant.” Steve Parry, Olympic bronze medallist and now a familiar face broadcasting from poolside during the major competitions, said, “The Register of Aquatic Professionals will go a long way to strengthen the credibility in the aquatic industry. We can be assured that those on this Register are fully qualified and hold the latest, most relevant qualifications. Ensuring there is quality and professionalism throughout this industry is a must, and I’m delighted that the Register of Aquatic Professionals is actively addressing this major issue. Employers can now easily identify the best qualified staff, and the public, especially parents, can rest easy in the knowledge that those working in this industry are up to the task.” Owned and operated by Skills Active, RAPs will provide a system of regulation to ensure that individuals working in the aquatic industry meet agreed national occupational standards, which describe the knowledge, competence and skills of good practice.

FEES post for Whitling
Precor’s UK sales director, Jez Whitling, has been appointed as the new chair of the UK Active Forum of Exercise Equipment Suppliers. FEES was created in 2006 to represent UK Active’s equipment supplier members and its main purpose is to raise standards within the sector. Whitling’s appointment will mean he also sits on the UK Active board. He said: “The forum, along with UK Active, has undertaken some great work to improve the UK fitness environment and understanding of health and safety legislation. The FEES data pooling initiative is also a fantastic way to gain genuine insight into UK fitness equipment trends.”

Lies, damn lies and Sport England
Sport England are making much of their Active Universities programme. Sport England says that “more than 102,000 students have tried sport in the past year” as a result of this initiative. The programme targets broader participation in university sports, “encouraging students to develop a sporting a habit for life, rather than the traditional team and performance improvements”. The latest data, together with the results of the HE Sport Survey, which measures sports participation at a university level, found the number of students not playing any sport had fallen, with 57% now playing sport at least once a week; or at least at HEIs which have Active Universities active. The definition of “sport” may worry some readers as, according to the release, frisbee, paddle boarding and “glow in the dark” badminton are all included. Sport England’s language, always a study in hyperbole, also suggests that going to “Take Part Tuesdays” to “try some new sports or rekindle a love for a sport they played at school” is tantamount to developing “a serious commitment to a sporting lifestyle”.

City mayor threatens leisure and culture
Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson has warned that government cuts mean the city could be bankrupt in just over two years. Thanks to government austerity measures, he says there will be only enough money to run mandatory services, such as social care. Given that Liverpool City Council currently spends a quarter of its net budget of £550 million on cultural events, regeneration and leisure centres, this is stark news for the sector in the North West. Mayor Anderson intimated that by financial year 2016-17 “the city will be bankrupt - it is that stark a challenge for us” but luckily local government minister Brandon Lewis was able to put this threat into context: “The Mayor of Liverpool, and Labour generally in Liverpool, have used this scaremongering year on year now,” he said. “The reality is Liverpool has one of the highest spends per household anywhere in the country. They've got a duty to provide good-quality services.” Phew!

At the gates of Dylan
Bob Dylan, the thinking man and woman’s obscurantist, is establishing something of a reputation as a visual artist via his latest works, in the form of seven iron gates that his Bobness has welded using a variety of found metal items. These works are on show at the Halcyon gallery in London, offering another opportunity for Bobophiles to pore over his works and despair; or rejoice, depending on their view.

Everything we know about the theatre: wrong
It seems everything we thought we knew about the sort of people who go to the theatre – and more worryingly perhaps, everything that people who think they know about the sort of people who go to the theatre thought they knew about the sort of people who go to the theatre – may be wrong. A survey of public attitudes and experiences of theatre-going has revealed that the audience for theatre is larger, younger and more resilient that many had thought. For example, 87% of 16- to 19-year-olds said they were likely to visit a theatrical performance and 63% of all people surveyed said they had been to the theatre in the previous twelve months, a figure that is significantly larger than the 53% who said they had been to a music event or the 47% who said they had been to a sports event.

Bard back at the Barbican
It seems that the RSC is to return to the Barbican, some ten years after the two theatrical behemoths fell out and went their separate ways. A warmer relationship was re-established last year when it emerged that Richard II starring David Tennant would transfer to the Barbican in 2013 but more recently the announcement that Henry IV Parts I and II, starring Antony Sher as Falstaff, would be heading for the Barbican in 2014 seems to have indicated that a full-scale love-in may be on the cards.

Figures offer a sweet taste for Tate
The Tate’s latest annual report includes some impressive visitor numbers and a new focus on digital interaction. A total of 7.74 million people visited the Tate sites, with 5.5 million of those at Tate Modern, a figure that ranks the Bankside gallery second only to the Louvre in the list of the world’s most popular art galleries. A new focus on the Tate’s digital offering will include 75 new access screens within Tate Modern that will provide opportunities for visitors to comment on the art they are seeing and the ability to add their own artwork to the collection.

Library campaign add children’s laureate to the cause
Malorie Blackman, the children’s laureate, is supporting a campaign to persuade the government to ringfence library funding to protect them from budget cuts. Library campaigners have reckoned that some 347 libraries closed in the first two years of the coalition government administration and warn that a further 400 could disappear over the next three years. Blackman makes the point that while culture minister Ed Vaizey was prepared to prevent the sale of an item of jewellery owned by Jane Austen on the grounds that it is a national treasure his department has steadfastly refused to prevent the closure of libraries; damage to this network of national treasures has provoked little evidence of outrage, Blackman noted.

Vaizey gets on board with the bus station
Ed Vaizey, at the time of going to press still a minister of state at the DCMS despite the previous story, has signed off English Heritage’s recommendation to grant Grade II listing status to Preston’s bus station. One of the UK’s most celebrated examples of 1960s brutalist architecture, at least among those who celebrate such things, the bus station had been scheduled for demolition, a decision that Preston council concedes will have to be revisited. The council estimates that a refurbishment of the building will require spending in the region of £20 million.

Brookes unveils the Inside Track for mentoring
The Oxford Brookes department of sport and health sciences has launched a mentoring scheme designed to create new links between the leisure industry and the university's sports science and sports coaching students. A full report on the Inside Track initiative will appear in the next issue of The Leisure Review but further details are available via the Oxford Brookes website at www.shs.brookes.ac.uk and Brookes staff are keen to hear from any industry professionals willing to serve as mentors.

Row Z correct shock: TLR Christmas conference 19 December
For the first time in living memory it seems that Sideliner has got something right. The Leisure Review Christmas conference will take place in Oxford on Thursday 19 December and will welcome readers to the home of TLR South with a guided tour of one of the city's cultural centres before extensive networking opportunities in other venues.