Edinburgh Leisure has announced that the swimming pool at Drumbrae Leisure Centre will reopen on Monday, 18th September.
Nicola Duffy, Manager at Drumbrae Leisure Centre said: “We’re delighted to be reopening the Drumbrae Pool after a closure for essential maintenance work over the summer and we’d like to thank our customers for their patience while the work has been undertaken.
“The investment will ensure that it’s able to be used by the community for many years to come.”
Drumbrae pool, sauna and the pool changing rooms have been closed since 26 June. Edinburgh Leisure carried out the work during the summer months as these are the times when their venues tend to quieter.
As leisure venues start to adapt to the new norm, Edinburgh Leisure has introduced new Family Swim sessions at their five pools that are open, in a bid to offer activities for all ages and stages.
The Family Swim sessions will be available to book at Ainslie Park Leisure Centre, Drumbrae Leisure Centre, The Royal Commonwealth Pool, Gracemount Leisure Centre and Leith Victoria Swim Centre.
To enable customers to safely enjoy the benefits of family swimming, the pool will be sectioned off into ‘pods’, with each family having their own private area. Each pod will cost from £9.60 – £12, depending on type of membership held.
Members can book eight days in advance or seven days for non-members, with sessions starting from Saturday, 17 October 2020. Booking is now live to members and non-members can book from 9pm tonight (Friday, 9th October).
Customers will be able to book a 40-minute session with a maximum of five people, from the same household bubble. However, customers will need to stick to the existing adult: child ratios*.
This will allow flexibility for how customers use the space – e.g. children from 9-12 years who do not need to socially distance, can book to attend with their friends if they wish. During any one sessions, there will be between three to eight pods to book.
Angela McCowan, Swim Development Officer at Edinburgh Leisure said: “We are delighted to be welcoming families back to our pools. We know how popular previous family swim sessions have been so opening up our pools to families in time for the October holidays, will mean that more people, of all ages and stages, can continue to get active with Edinburgh Leisure.
”Things may be a little different than before but we have everything in place to keep families safe and most importantly, enjoy making a splash with us.”
Following guidance from Scottish Swimming and from Edinburgh Leisure’s Health and Compliance Manager, Edinburgh Leisure has introduced the following guidelines to keep everyone safe:
All Family Swim Sessions must be pre-booked online or via the Edinburgh Leisure app. To book a session, an Edinburgh Leisure account is required. (This will be in place if a person is an Edinburgh Leisure customer of hold a discount or loyalty card). For customers who do not have an account, one can easily be created by visiting the Edinburgh Leisure website.
Customers are encouraged to arrive ‘beach-ready’, wearing their swimwear underneath their clothes to minimise time spent in changing areas. Lockers will be available for customer use but customers should bring their own token. (These are also available to buy at reception with cashless payment.)
Customers will be asked to follow the COVID-19 guidance, and maintain physical distancing, sanitising hands before and after each session, and following any signage guidance around the venue. Masks are mandatory when moving around public places, unless exempt due to age or health conditions.
Customers are asked to arrive only 5 minutes before their swim time. Any earlier, they will be asked to wait outside the venue, physically distanced in their groups.
No toys or equipment will be provided or loaned by Edinburgh Leisure. However, customers will be allowed to bring their own toys with them to the session, including floats, sinkers, armbands – but they must be washed before entering the pool. Large inflatables are not allowed. There will also be items available to purchase, using cashless payment only.
Once a family session has finished, customers will be asked to exit the pool safely and ensure they maintain distancing from other family groups. Although showers will be available to rinse off after the session, the use of soaps, shampoos and conditioners is discouraged. This is to maintain physical distancing. Hairdryers and costumer drying will not be available.
Customers or any family group/household displaying symptoms of COVID-19 are asked not to book or to cancel any pre-booked sessions.
Edinburgh Leisure reopens six of its leisure venues
Edinburgh Leisure, the city’s largest sports and leisure operator, will be reopening its doors at six of its venues, today, Monday, 14 September 2020.
The venues reopening on 14 September are: Ainslie Park Leisure Centre (badminton, fitness, gym, swim), Craiglockhart Leisure and Tennis Centre (badminton, fitness, gym and indoor and outdoor tennis and squash), Drumbrae Leisure Centre (badminton, fitness, gym, swim), The Royal Commonwealth Pool (fitness, gym, swim) Leith Victoria (fitness, gym, swim), and Gracemount Leisure Centre (badminton, fitness, gym, swim).
They will initially be reopening their gyms, fitness classes, tennis, badminton and squash courts, and lane swimming in these centres. Bookings went live for members at 9pm on Thursday, 10 September and for non-members on Friday, 11 September.
Their six golf courses have been open since 4 June, and there has been a big upturn in demand for tee times. Their outdoor tennis courts have also been open since June and have been free to play.
Whilst First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon brought forward the date that indoor leisure venues could reopen to 31 August 2020, Edinburgh Leisure has always been working towards the original date that was indicated of 14 September.
An Edinburgh Leisure spokesperson explained: “We’re delighted to be re-opening the doors at six of our venues on 14 September and have been busy preparing for our customers return. We’ve missed them, as I know, many of them us.
“As you can imagine, bringing Edinburgh Leisure’s diverse range of venues and services ‘back to life’ in a COVID-19 environment is a big and complex task. We had over 900 staff on furlough, and it’s been necessary to check and refresh/update relevant compliance training before we could reopen, for example. Our number one goal is to provide our customers with a clean, safe and enjoyable Edinburgh Leisure experience.”
The Edinburgh Leisure experience will be different from before but customers will still receive the warm, Edinburgh Leisure welcome.
The main changes that customers will see are:
All activities must be pre booked via the Edinburgh Leisure app or website;
They will be operating in a cashless environment, accepting contactless payments;
Safety guidance will be on display throughout the venues;
Additional sanitisation stations have been installed throughout the venues for use before and after each visit;
All activities are timetabled with staggered session start times to reduce congestion;
Customers will be encouraged to wear face coverings in communal areas, but not for their activities.
Edinburgh Leisure has produced a series of videos and guidelines to virtually help customers through their first visit, and have a new ‘Ask Us’ section, which is available on their website, advising and supporting customers to make a booking and answering any questions they may have.
Edinburgh Leisure, like every leisure trust in Scotland, is facing huge financial challenges. They continue to lobby the Government for financial support for the sector to ensure the sector survives and can continue to contribute to the country’s health and wellbeing.
June Peebles, CEO of Edinburgh Leisure said: “Edinburgh Leisure is committed to ‘building back better’ to a sustainable Edinburgh Leisure and to continue making a positive impact to the citizens of Edinburgh’s health and wellbeing – as we have done for the last 22 years.
“Never before has health and wellbeing been so important. And Edinburgh Leisure remain committed to supporting the people of Edinburgh to be active and enjoy good health.”
Edinburgh Leisure is a charity dedicated to creating opportunities for everyone to lead more active, healthy lives. They do this by running over 30+ sports and leisure facilities across the city and deliver their Active Communities programme, which helps improve the lives of people affected by health conditions, poverty, inequalities and disabilities.
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This year’s ukactive Awards saw Edinburgh Leisure’s Drumbrae Leisure Centre win the prestigious Regional Club/Centre of the Year Scotland award.
Held on the 6th of June in Manchester, the awards included entries from over 50 different organisations from both inside and outside the leisure industry.
Drumbrae Leisure Centre was competing in a tough field, with other entrants from Sport Aberdeen and North Lanarkshire Ltd bidding for the top spot. Even making the final shortlist was a highly competitive process, involving a nomination form, a customer survey and a mystery visit.
Lynne Bauba, Manager at Drumbrae Leisure Centre said: “It goes without saying that all the staff at Drumbrae are overjoyed at having their efforts recognised on a national scale.
“The awards recognise great centres that customers love going to and staff love working at – great centres like Drumbrae. It just goes to show that you don’t need the biggest facility or the widest offer, so long as the venue meets the needs of the customers, local community and staff.”
The award ceremony was held as part of the Active Uprising event at Manchester Central and saw over 800 guests attend. There were 23 different awards categories in what turned out to be the largest ever ukactive Awards to date.
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