Luton Today 6.11.08  By Anne O'Donoghue http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/duns-news/Mums-urge-reprieve-for-kids.4666976.jp
Mums urge reprieve for kids play area team / Protestors plea to ditch planned change of management 

Angry mums are calling for a reprieve for a popular team in charge of a soft play area for young children at Dunstable Leisure Centre. They have mounted a protest petition urging mangers at Leisure Connection to drop plans to take over the running of the soft play centre. At least 100 signatures are said to have been added to the petition already, by furious parents and grandparents who say that the current team is doing a great job. 

In 2006, the team had stepped in to save the soft play area when a franchisee moved on. Now it is understood Leisure Connection plans to end that arrangement next month.  Protestors said they are impressed by how the team has ploughed profits back to transform the soft play centre, without putting up prices. 

In a letter to the Dunstable Gazette newspaper, Mrs Pam Bree, of Luton, wrote: "It does seem so unfair that the reward for their hard work should be this bombshell from Leisure Connection, who have now obviously seen what a great job they've done and want to cash in on it." 

A Leisure Connection spokeswoman said: "Leisure Connection has taken the decision to bring the management of the soft play area back in-house. This isn't a decision that has been made lightly, and our customers' best interests were at the forefront of this decision. Managing more than 60 centres across the UK allows the company to benefit from economies of scale, and access to national initiatives, which ensures that we are providing the very best service and delivering value for money to our customers. It's an exciting time for Dunstable Leisure Centre, and there is a great deal planned for 2009, which will result in a great deal of investment into the centre. 

"New initiatives, new branding and new activities will see more children from the South Bedfordshire district ditching their computer games for their trainers as part of a more active lifestyle. We do appreciate the hard work, time and effort that has been invested into the soft play area over the past two years."

New branding! Wow, that will give the kids hours of fun! 

Customers' best interests? More likley LC shareholders reaping the profits from the work others have done. 

And if the  decison was not made lightly, was there consultation with  parents of users? PB

Customer Letter to Luton on Sunday  c. May 2005? http://www.seriousaboutnews.com/luton/page.html?pageID=26&storyID=30771  Reproduced in full

MADAM - In response to your article last week relating to the closure of the Health Suite at Dunstable Leisure Centre, I have two comments to make.

Having been a member of the leisure centre for over two years - subscribing monthly to gym membership, which includes unlimited use of the Health Suite - I fear the joint statement from the district council and Leisure Connection is based on poor statistics.

The 'fact' the usage figures for the Health Suite are reducing is likely to be down to inadequate management as opposed to a true decline.

To access the Health Suite one must obtain a pass number from reception in order to open the changing room door. In, say, 28 months I have done this twice (as the number has changed once), however I may have, on average, used the Health Suite three times per week in that time.

By my calculations this makes my true usage some 60 or so times more than Leisure Connection or the district council actually think.

I could, of course, queue up at a crowded and understaffed reception each time to obtain the (same) said pass number, however, this seems a little pointless to me. I do not need to convince you that I am not the only person who has done this - hence any usage figures are inevitably flawed.

Having said that, true number of users of the Health Suite may still be declining. With erratic equipment, inadequate changing facilities, no lockers (which were inexplicably removed from the Health Suite) and a general lack of cleanliness, it would be of no surprise if the real numbers of users were falling.

Perhaps if the district council and Leisure Connection spent some time analysing the situation properly, they would surmise their numbers are way out - usage is higher than they think, but falling at an alarming rate.

In a competitive marketplace for this kind of service, I suspect it won't be too long before the district council and Leisure Connection realise the financial effect of their decision, should it stand.

Paul Williams. The Lane, Tebworth.  The website does not give the date but other letters suggest it was shortly before the general election in May 2005. PB

Swim shorts snip makes mum fume - Pool says it was following health and safety rules

from Dunstable Gazette 25.8.05 http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=543&ArticleID=844131 Reproduced in full apart from photo.

A mum has warned other parents that taking children to swim at Dunstable Leisure Centre could prove costly after her son's shorts were cut down for being too long. Caryl Warner, of Cowper Road, Markyate, says her 12-year-old son Freddie was told he would either have to cut a couple of inches off his shorts or call her to bring some other swimwear because his shorts came below the knee.

The leisure centre staff then chopped the shorts down in "jagged lines" which left Freddie looking "like a pirate". When she arrived to collect him, she was presented with the staff's handiwork and told that the rule was necessary because longer shorts cause swimmers to struggle. Caryl said: "It's absolutely outrageous."

In a statement the firm which manages the leisure centre on behalf of the council said it took pool health and safety very seriously and strictly adheres to industry guidelines.    If only other health and safety rules were followed so keenly! PB

from Minutes of Dunstable Leisure Centre Joint Advisory Group 19.2.03 http://www.southbeds.gov.uk/your-council/view_doc.phtml?csubitemid=1428 

Regarding the performance indicators, Members were advised that the cleanliness of the centre had been one of the main causes of customer dissatisfaction. Specialist equipment would now be hired to deep clean these areas causing concern.

from Minutes of Dunstable Leisure Centre Joint Advisory Group 20.11.02  http://www.southbeds.gov.uk/your-council/view_doc.phtml?csubitemid=334.

5.0 CORRESPONDENCE

5.1 Dunstable Leisure Centre received 58 logged enquiries during the months of July – September 2002, which include verbal and written comments. The comments received were mainly written comments regarding staffing issues and cleanliness. The management team at Dunstable Leisure Centre have been working hard to rectify the problems with the cleaning and Officers are closely monitoring the site. The issues relating to staff have now been addressed with additional training.

7.0 QUALITY MONITORING

7.1 The quality index score from 1st July 2002 –30th September 2002 was 90.84%%. The figure represents 11 failures and 50 concerns on a random checklist produced weekly on unannounced visits to the Leisure Centre. The failures represented items on the check sheet that did not conform to the standards in the management contract specification. Concerns represent non-itemised checks that were picked up from the visit or items that were not serious enough to warrant a failure on the checklist.

7.2 The issues were mainly lack of cleanliness in the wet change areas and pool hall areas of the building. This reflects the customer comments in paragraph 5.1 above.

Bedford Today 23.6.03  http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=543&ArticleID=328936   Reproduced in Full

Shocked mum is victim of pool 'peeping Tom'   Leisure centre mounts investigation after pervert alert

A shocked mother was disgusted to discover a peeping Tom spying on her and her baby in a swimming pool changing cubicle at Dunstable Leisure Centre. She had taken off her swimming costume, wrapped herself in a towel and undressed her baby daughter when she caught sight of the pervert, watching them from under the cubicle wall. The 35-year-old mum shouted angrily at him and rushed out to confront him, with the seven-month-old baby girl in her arms. But he shrugged off her furious complaints and left the changing area.

Now she and a friend, who was in another cubicle with her own seven-month-old baby son, are angry about what they see as security lapses. And they point out that the incident happened at a time when a number of children were changing for swimming lessons, at about 4pm on Wednesday. The mums had just finished a happy swimming session with their babies. They say the pervert, who appeared to be drunk, could walk straight into the area, as a security barrier at the entrance to the changing rooms was not in use at the time.

Staff usually operate the barrier to control entry to the changing area, and centre users can open the barrier from inside to exit the area. The barrier was not in use because it was a peak period when many children were arriving with their parents, including mums with pushchairs, for swimming lessons. 

The Houghton Regis mum targeted by the pervert said: "The security up there wasn't very good and there were a lot of kids about up there. I don't know if it was me he was trying to look at or my little daughter. You just don't know." 

She had seen the grey-haired man loitering in the changing area. He appeared to be in his 50s, of medium build, about 6ft tall and was smartly dressed in a blue shirt and pale blue jeans. The mum was uneasy, but assumed he was waiting for someone to get changed. "I could tell by the way he was walking that he was drunk," she said. "It was quite obvious he had had a few."

In the cubicle, she took off her swimming costume, wrapped a towel around her and started to attend to her baby daughter. The mum said: "I'd got her undressed and I was drying her. I just noticed a shadow on the floor and I thought somebody had gone in there (the cubicle next door) to get changed. I didn't think anything of it, I carried on."

Then she spotted the peeping Tom, just as he was moving away from under the cubicle wall. She shouted at him, calling him a "dirty pervert" and confronted him outside. "He just said, 'it's all right', and carried on walking, and I said, 'it's not all right'," she said.

Another woman, who was fully dressed, followed him out of the changing area and said she would report the incident. The mum went back to dress her baby after being comforted by her friend. She said: "It was a horrible thing to happen. You just don't expect that."

Her friend, a 28-year-old Houghton Regis mum, said: "Obviously, she is very upset, we both are. It could have happened to anybody in there. There were children in there without adult supervision, getting changed for their swimming session."

The irate mums reported the incident to the management and later to the police. Nick Parkin, the centre's contract manager, said a full investigation was being carried out in conjunction with South Beds District Council and the police. The police would be invited to review the centre's procedures to see if they could be improved in any way. He was unable to comment further until the investigation into the allegations had been carried out. Anyone who saw the peeping Tom, or who has any information about him, is asked to contact Dunstable police on 01582 471212.