Member Article

Stockport Sports Village is officially the best in the UK

Stockport Sports Village (SSV), a Life Leisure sports and fitness facility, has been named National Leisure Centre/Health Club of the Year at the 2018 ukactive Active Uprising Awards.

It is a hugely prestigious win for Stockport Sports Village. The ukactive Active Uprising Awards – formally known as the ukactive Flame Awards – are the pinnacle of recognition for the UK fitness industry.

Last year Life Leisure’s Houldsworth Village site in Reddish was named Leisure Centre of the Year in the north of England, in recognition of the development and investment from the company, which manages 12 sports and leisure facilities in and around Stockport. But this year’s award puts Life Leisure at the top of the industry, as not only was SSV named the best in the north, it is now officially the best in the UK.

SSV is the ‘go-to’ facility in Stockport and the surrounding area, and a unique leisure trust offering a wide range of facilities over its 23-acre site. They include a 5,000 sq ft Gym, aerobics, HIIT and dance studios, free crèche for members, 3G football pitches, tennis courts, and new this year, an outdoor training facility for obstacle course races (OCRs) and an outdoor Laser Combat course.

SSV is also home to Stockport Town FC of the North West Counties Football League and to The Tough Tribe Obstacle Course Race. The inaugural race was held in 2017 with 600 racers competing on the 10k course.

More than 800 guests saw star hosts Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Greg Whyte present the award to Matt Skates, Senior Business Manager at SSV.

The first ukactive Awards introduced a wider array of categories to better celebrate the range of leaders getting more people active. Each of the award finalists underwent a rigorous independent assessment designed to select the best in each category from hundreds of entrants.

There were several stages of evaluation, including customer insight surveys, mystery calls, visits and a ‘Judges’ House’ assessment day at WeWork London.

ukactive Chair Tanni Grey-Thompson said: “It was a privilege to co-host the first ukactive Awards in their new format and the competition was particularly fierce this year.

“It was incredible to listen to the stories from our finalists – their passion for physical activity is evident. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all those doing more to get more people active – you really are leading this movement.”

Life Leisure’s CEO Malcolm McPhail was also shortlisted for outstanding leader of the year, but lost out to a truly worthy winner, Oliver Stacey of Kensington Leisure Centre. The centre is on the doorstep of Grenfell Tower and in June 2017, Oliver was the first staff member from the centre on the scene as the horrific fire took hold. He facilitated the centre’s use as an initial triage unit and base of operations for the emergency services, managing the situation impeccably.

Michaela Pennington, Assistant Operations Manager at Life Leisure said: “The ukactive Active Uprising Awards are the prize that everyone in the industry wants to win, and we were absolutely thrilled to be named the best Leisure Centre/Health Club of the Year in the UK. We are passionate about providing the best facilities and programmes for our customers, as well as continually evolving our product offering to ensure we can offer something for everyone as we work towards getting more people more active. The award and recognition are testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone who works at Life Leisure.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire Evans .