Oldham Business Awards 2024 Nominee

We are an Oldham Business Awards 2024 Nominee!

Oldham Active (Oldham Community Leisure) has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Supporting Young People category at the prestigious Oldham Business Awards, with winners being announced in September.

The Supporting Young People category asks businesses to demonstrate an ongoing programme of career support for young people (up to the age of 30), including through apprenticeships, and/or by providing work experience. 

Oldham Active, a charity operating leisure facilities across the borough, consistently encourages the personal development of young people.  In fact, its employment profile shows almost half, 47%, of its staff are under 30 years old.  

Additionally, during 2023/24, Oldham Active hosted 45 work experience placements and 13 apprentices.  The leisure trust has also attended career events at local schools, meeting more than 2,000 students, to demonstrate what a career with Oldham Active could look like. 

Simon Blair, Deputy CEO, Oldham Active says: “We are thrilled to have made the final in these prestigious local awards and believe our work with young people in our community has been both consistent and longstanding. We love our apprentices and work experience kids and are proud of the number of young people who work with us. We  always want to be the local employer of choice for young people in the area and are committed to the personal development of our young staff, through upskilling and training.  

“There are so many employment and career pathways within the leisure industry, from working as a personal trainer and/or instructor to corporate roles in sales and marketing, management, hospitality, administration and facilities. Working in leisure has a fantastic career pathway, and I speak from personal experience having started my career as a personal trainer.” 

Oldham Active recently partnered with Oldham College to upskill its staff to provide specialist health and fitness support for local children and young people looking to use the leisure facilities. The partnership has seen 16 members of Oldham Active’s workforce completing a specialist Level 2 Qualification in Leading Physical Activity for Adolescents at Oldham College. 

Blair continues: “We are passionate about young people and want to see them thrive, both in terms of their wellbeing and their personal development. We have actively encouraged young people to use our leisure facilities by launching a Young Persons Membership and have since seen a boom in the number of young people signing up and using our services. We are thrilled that approximately one third of our new members are now a young person.  

“We constantly review our memberships and offers to reach out to our community and make a real-life impact on the borough’s health and wellness, so we are really proud of the significant uplift in young people using our facilities.   

“In the coming 12 months we will be incorporating young peoples’ influence into our decision making by welcoming them into the Boardroom, recognising and valuing the perspectives of this often neglected cohort.”