Edition number 78; dateline 11 December 2013
Leading Learning Programme alumnus wins Guardian public servant of the year award
Christine Parsloe, leisure and culture development manager at the London Borough of Merton and alumnus of the Leading Learning Programme, has been named the Guardian public servant of the year. Having won the online vote from a short list of peers from across the public sector, Parsloe thanked everyone who had voted for her. “This is a massive accolade,” she told colleagues at the Leading Learning Programme, “but one that can only be achieved with other fantastic people around you, so thank you one and all.” The national competition seeks to acknowledge and celebrate those who “embody the very sprit and ethos of public service” and find the public servant “who has gone the extra mile for service users and made a real difference to outcomes”. Speaking to the Guardian, Parsloe was clear that such awards were important to a precariously funded sector such as sport, leisure and culture. “Keeping a high profile for our services is very, very important because the public must need and want them,” she said. “Otherwise we’re at risk – we’re not a statutory service. We’re measured by how happy and satisfied people are with their lot. In difficult and challenging times, it’s nice to know that your council is trying to lessen your challenges. It gives a great feel-good factor.” The award follows Parsloe’s work to deliver tangible legacy achievements from London 2012. Working with no specific budget, Merton has seen a doubling of the number of young people taking part in health and fitness activities at the borough’s leisure centres, the development of partnerships to bring in external funding, the opening of a BMX track, the creation of two beach volleyball courts in Wimbledon Park and 116,000 children have tried out activities at its water sports centre. “I didn’t do all that work last year on my own,” she said. “I did it with a huge number of people all playing out their parts in a massive theatre.”
● Read The Leisure Review interview with Christine Parsloe.
● Leading Learning Programme at www.ncfleadinglearning.co.uk
Significant decline in funding for the arts, says NCA
An account of funding for the arts over recent years has found a couple of positives among a much longer list of negatives. Published by the National Campaign for the Arts and launched with the assistance of the actor Samuel West, the 2013 index report highlights arts funding over the last three years, noting a 21% reduction of Treasury funding, a 16% cut in local government funding and an 11% reduction business contributions, part a 30% reduction in business investment the arts over the last five years. The positives include a 17% increase in lottery funding for the arts as a result of redirected Olympic funding, an 18% increase in donations from trusts and foundations, and a 2% rise in the number of adults attending an arts event. However, the NCA warned that lottery largesse is variable and subject to variable public preference but it is also, the NCA noted, essential: “Lottery funding is no longer the icing – it’s cake.” The report also raises the issue of making arts provision a statutory requirement of local authorities.
10x10 raises £90k
We reported in the last issue that Article 25, the UK’s leading architectural and construction aid charity, was promoting its 10x10 Drawing the City art auction and we can report that the event raised £90,000. All participants created unique pieces of art and this year the focus was on areas such as Hackney, Shoreditch and the Barbican. Maxwell Hutchinson, founder of Article 25, broadcaster, architect and former past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, commented: "This year’s auction was a wonderful celebration of all the visual representations of the built environment from drawing and photography to painting and sculpture. The auction is in its third year and once again the event would not have been a success without the support from sponsors and each participant taking time to create artwork for the benefit of those in need of sustainable shelter.” Article 25 will be using all proceeds from the sale of artwork to design and build best practice Street Children’s Centres, helping to get thousands of Africa’s most vulnerable children off the streets permanently and reconnecting them with their families or foster families.
Kenwood House back in the heritage mix
Kenwood House, the mansion on Hampstead Heath designed by Robert Adams, has reopened to allow the public once again to view one of the greatest art bequests, the collection left to the nation by Guinness heir the Earl of Iveagh. After a major restoration of both exterior and interiors the curatorial team are confident that visitors will find a pleasant change from what curator Susan Jenkins described as a building that was previously “a bit bleak and municipal”. Efforts to make Kenwood more welcoming has included a general abandonment of the barriers, ropes, information boards and “please do not touch” signs in favour of comfortable chairs for visitors and information about the collection and the house available in the drawers of the furniture. Heritage managers will be watching the experiment with interest to see how visitors react to such an unfamiliar environment.
Sports clubs offered benefit from new tax arrangements
An overhaul of the community amateur sports club (CASC) scheme has been welcomed by the Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA), the organisation representing sports governing bodies that helped negotiate the new arrangements with HM Revenue and Customs. The new regulations include a number of benefits to sports clubs, including a removal of the limit on funds raised through social income (eg bar takings or non-sporting revenues), a limit of £100,000 per year in income raised from non-members and the raising of corporation tax exemption thresholds for trading and rental income, which have been increased to £50,000 and £30,000 per year respectively. Tim Lamb, SRA chief Executive , said, “Tax relief might not be the most interesting of subjects but it will make a significant difference to sports clubs – in some cases a make-or-break difference – and we're delighted to have secured them.” The new regulations are subject to approval by parliament but should come in to effect early in the new year. In advance of this there will be a short “technical consultation” to which the Alliance and other sports bodies will be invited to contribute. Existing members of the CASC scheme will be given 12 months from the passing of the regulations to make any necessary adjustments in order to remain in the scheme. There will also be a deregistration amnesty during this period so that clubs will be able to leave without having to pay the deregistration penalty.
● Further details are available at www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/news/
Putin puts presidential push behind park
Moscow is to have a major new park at the heart of the city following the intervention of President Putin. Situated right by the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral, the site was formerly the gargantuan Hotel Rossiya, which was built in the 1960s and was at the time the biggest hotel in the world. The hotel was knocked down in 2006 and the site has lain empty since while plans for a new edifice came and went. Last January Putin was wandering the empty space and decided it would be a good place for a park. He mentioned this idea to Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, and wheels were quickly put in motion. The city has come up with a budget of £125 million and the park should be finished by 2016.
Some sense comes to La Serenissima
Italian national transport and culture ministries have approved plans drawn up by the governor of the Veneto region and the mayor of Venice to limit the size and volume of large-ship traffic within the Venetian lagoon. The decision follows growing campaigns against the dominance of huge cruise ships that arrive daily in Venice to deliver their passengers for a short visit to La Serenissima. From January traffic passing in front of the Piazza San Marco will be limited and from November 2014 ships of more than 96,000 tonnes will be banned from the Guidecca canal.
Pick up your brushes, says Tate
Tate Britain is hoping that its most recent exhibition will demonstrate that painting is still a vibrant contemporary art form. Running until 9 February, Painting Now is showing the work of five UK-based artists working in what some might regard as a traditional and even outmoded art form. The concept of the exhibition came from a discussion between members of the Tate Britain curatorial team and Turner prize winner Gillian Carnegie, an artist who paints and who had not had a public UK exhibition since she won the Turner in 2005.
Chief constable defends children’s right to grow up
Growing up is not a crime, according to Jacqui Cheer, the chief constable of Cleveland. Speaking to an all-party parliamentary group exploring the experiences of children, Cheer said that society was becoming intolerant of young people in public and was increasingly ready to sanction and even criminalise “what looks like growing up to me”. Antisocial behaviour, she said, “is not just being annoying for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or there’s more than three of you.” The new antisocial behaviour bill, which is expected to become law before Christmas will mean that children as young as ten can receive an injunction for “causing nuisance” and older children could face jail if such an injunction is breached.
Parks Alliance welcome for funding initiatives
The Parks Alliance, a recently constituted coalition of senior parks advocates, has welcomed a number of initiatives designed to assist the development and protection of public parks across the UK. First to receive the Alliance’s green seal of approval is the decision by Nesta, the lottery-funded innovation charity, to introduce “pump-priming funding” to encourage new funding models for parks. The Alliance has also welcomed a Policy Exchange thinktank study concerning the long-term funding of parks and in particular the suggestion of an online rating system for green space and the reporting of dog fouling, litter and graffiti. A spokesperson for the Parks Alliance said: “Sustainable funding is crucial if our public parks are to survive. The Heritage Lottery Fund and The Big Lottery have made significant investment in the fabric of parks in recent years but on-going funding is needed to continue to deliver safe, high-quality open spaces that make such a vital contribution to urban communities health and wellbeing.” With reference to the Policy Exchange proposals, they said: “We hope that policy-makers and those that fund public services will read and respond to the report and help turn this proposal into a reality. The report’s idea of mapping the quality of parks [would enable] local parks users to add their voice to the debate about the long-term funding of parks across the UK.”
New approach for the Knowledge Hub
The Local Government Association (LGA) has formed a new partnership with CapacityGRID with the aim of securing the long-term future of the Knowledge Hub, the online collaboration platform for public sector employees and public bodies. The LGA has explained that under this partnership Knowledge Hub staff will transfer to the CapacityGRID and join an enlarged team, which will assume overall operational and development management responsibility. The LGA will become a foundation partner and continue as an active user of the Knowledge Hub to engage its members. Councillor Peter Fleming, chair of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said, “We spent several months seeking to secure the future of the Knowledge Hub after the strong response that came from the community, and we are delighted that CapacityGRID will enable it to continue and grow. The LGA will use the Knowledge Hub as a strategic platform to collaborate with colleagues and members.”
Perennial celebrates 175 years of helping horticulturalists
Perennial, the UK’s only charity dedicated to helping horticulturists, will celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2014. In recognition of this landmark the organisation is launching a year-long awareness and fundraising campaign at a party at The Roof Gardens, Kensington on 17th January. Perennial is hoping generate support from all corners of the horticultural industry as well as from the garden-loving public to safeguard its services for those struggling with disability, debt or illness. With this in mind they are suggesting that supporters might like to raise £175 for Perennial this year. Established in 1839 by a group of wealthy landowners who wished to provide for their long-serving head gardeners in retirement, the Gardeners’ Benevolent Institution began life as a pension fund. It soon attracted the attention of Victorian high society, who willingly supported the fund with annual donations and appearances at its annual fundraising dinner. At the ninth annual event Charles Dickens said: “I hope the day will come when every gardener in England will be a member of the charity.” Now known as Perennial, the same institution still helps gardeners across the UK in retirement and has extended its reach to all professionals working in and retired from horticulture and their families. There are an estimated 500,000 people working in horticulture in the UK but only a fraction of those are actively involved with the charity.
● For further details visit www.perennial.org.uk or contact the team on 01372 373962.
Leisure-net targets industry networking
Leisure-net Solutions is launching a new networking event aimed at the health, fitness and leisure sector. Active-net 2014 is scheduled to take place at the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry from 30 April to 1 May 2014 and aims to bring together operators from across the public sector with suppliers for high-level educational seminars and a business-focused networking event. Just to show how serious they are about this new initiative they have set up a Twitter account: @_active-net.
Sabin to lead the LTA
Everybody's favourite national governing body, The Lawn Tennis Association, has its first female president. Cathie Sabin, a former PE teacher who succeeds Peter Bretherton, described the post as "a huge privilege" and promised "a time of change" for the game. Given that the LTA took 125 years to select someone who did not happen to be a man to be its president, it is not likely that the revolution will be swift but it will be welcome none the less.
