My name is Jennie Willetts and I am a Duty manager at Bramley Baths, an award winning social enterprise based in Leeds. Within our 119-year-old heritage site, we offer access to affordable leisure facilities such as swimming, gym and classes for both physical and mental wellbeing, whilst also fulfilling the need for swimming lessons; babies through to adults, community projects to schools, everyone is welcome at “Britain’s Friendliest Baths!” If we didn’t exist, over 3000 people per week, would go without the facility to enable them to learn the life skill of swimming and over 1200 people would not have access to local leisure facilities.
Throughout our 10-year history as a community led, not-for-profit organisation, we have delivered several successful National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) courses enabling us to not only train them, but led participants to employment with ourselves or have gone on to work at other sites across the country. This qualification is one of the corner stones of the leisure industry and a foot in the door for any young person seeking employment.
We are raising funds to enable 12 young people to gain this life changing qualification. This week long intense course provides them with all the skills needed to be a lifeguard and equips them with first aid skills which we as an organisation feel are vital. These young people, who will be identified through our work with local youth organisations, may not engage with mainstream education or have financial barriers which, through no fault of their own, limits their prospects of further education and ultimately employment. We want to inspire these young people to not only work in the leisure industry but also give them a sense of pride as to what they have achieved and in turn act as an example to their pier group and other people within their local communities.
In order to raise funds, 16 of our staff team members at BB have pledged to walk from Whitby to Scarborough along the Cleveland Way Coastal path, a total of 21 miles in one day. A challenging marathon distance for our mixed age and ability team – but we know we can do it!