Tricky times during Covid muddy the water for Atlantis Leisure
Positivity, realism and dogged determination to make things work are the key elements to keeping Oban’s community-run leisure centre going through increasingly uncertain times, writes Fiona Scott.
This was the view voiced by Atlantis Leisure board chairman Neil Matheson who addressed a belated 2019 annual general meeting on Monday November 30.
Significant investment in 2019 meant the centre entered 2020 on a good footing, with the board and staff looking to continue to build on their work in improving and extending the first class fitness centre already on offer. Enter Covid.
Mr Matheson told the online gathering: ‘These have been tricky times for Atlantis and no-one had read the manual.
‘We are so grateful to the team for the massive effort they have made to keep things going but sadly we had to lose some staff, which made things even more challenging.
‘We were not entitled to many of the grants on offer as we had enough money to survive through the three-month stipulation and we were very limited on what we were able to do. What we did and are still doing is to work out how to live with it and how to work our way through it.
‘We remain positive, realistic and doggedly determined to make things work.’
Treasurer Andrew Mead reported that although the centre had been closed, or running limited sessions throughout the year, as far as finances went Atlantis Leisure was in a reasonably good position with a reserve fund of £140,138 available to keep the service afloat.
‘We are not here to make a profit, we are here to provide a service and I’m sure everyone will do their very best to continue doing that,’ he said.
Among the many success stories Atlantis Leisure has achieved in 2019 were hosting two dance shows, a second fantastic gymnastics competition, the hugely successful Oban High School ‘LockIn’, run in partnership with local youth charity Hope2Oban, and Summer Sensations.
An integral part of the year was delivering ongoing plans to improve the fabric and facilities of the centre, which meant a range of projects were delivered during the year, including the installation of a full new online ‘Scuba’ booking system; welcoming Beth and Iain Macdonald who took over the lease of Café Atlantis; investment in the gym with new lighting, matting and improved flooring and décor; a new pavement at the rear car park; renewal of corridor flooring; a full upgrade of the building’s lighting system to LED; redevelopment of the soft play and upgrading of the dance studio and beauty therapy room.
As well as one-off events, business as usual proved no less busy or evolving, with a number of core offers seeing significant growth and development of lifeguard training, Oban Swim School, Oban Gymnastics School and the StayActive programme run in conjunction with Healthy Options. Another new initiative was the Oban Health Partnership.