Issue - meetings

To receive a report containing details of the take up of sports and leisure activities in the Borough by children and young people.

Beverly Thompson, Sports and Leisure Manager and Tony Penge, Contract Manager for Places Leisure presented the report which gave details of the take up of sports and leisure activities by children and young people in the Borough.

Beverly Thompson stated that the recommendation was that children should exercise for 60 minutes every day, Wokingham scored well in this regard in comparison to national statistics.  Members asked for further clarification on the National Picture on Physical Activity graph as the numbers were not clear.  Beverley Thompson agreed to check the graph and report back.

Some of the points that were made during the presentation and discussions are listed below:

·           Wokingham employed a Schools Sport Co-ordinator for three days a week based at Bulmerhshe School who oversaw school games and offered mentoring for Physical Education staff;

·           Elite athletes received sponsorship from the Council;

·           Beverly Thompson stated that care leavers and Looked After Children (LAC) were entitled to free use of leisure centres.  This was made possible with the new leisure contract and had not incurred a cost to the Council;

·           In response to a question Beverly Thompson stated that the take up of the free membership at leisure centres by care leavers was low, mainly because it was difficult to know who they were;

·           In response to a question Beverly Thompson stated that she could find out how many LAC had leisure centre cards and inform the Committee;

·           Beverly Thompson stated that all swimming pools now had been fitted with hoists;

·           Tony Penge stated that one initiative that proved to be successful in encouraging participation was allowing people to play football without the need to hire the whole pitch out, by paying only £1 to play.  There were a variety of after school activities available, and many classes for mothers and babies;

·           Members were interested to know how the service promoted sports take up.  Beverly Thompson stated that the activities were advertised on social media, schools and various other places;

·           Members asked about the methodology used to work out the data in the report.  Beverly Thompson stated that a snapshot of 500 people had been used by Sport England;

·           Members were interested to know how to promote sports activities to those children that were currently inactive and to minority communities;

·           In response to a question Beverly Thompson stated that swimming sessions for women only had been tried in the Borough, however this had stopped as result of complaints;

·           It was recognised that girls tended to drop out of sports activities at around the age of 14.  Tony Penge stated that the service was looking at the possibility of adopting a scheme produced by Les Mills which targeted this age group;

·           Councillor Croy stated that in his experience young people tended to use basketball hoops at school during break times;

·           Members were interested to know if there were enough fields in the Borough for sports activities.  Beverly Thompson stated that there had been improvements to Cantley Park for example, with additional lighting having  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33