Behind the Scenes: Nov ‘22

The past month has been another characteristically busy period for Atlantis as we dive head into our Winter programme proper. There’s a lot to get caught up on so read on read on to find out what the final months of 2022 have held in store for your community health and leisure centre:

Staff Team - ‘building the team behind the action’
As our local community continues to recover from the huge impact of Covid and its associated lockdown, we feel confident in building our staff team. We’re excited to build on the fantastic work our brilliant gang of staff do each week. In the last month, we were therefore delighted to welcome Ben and Abi MacCorquodale to the leisure attendant team. Both Ben and Abi had already invested many hours of voluntary service in a number of capacities, so it’s brilliant to have them as a full part of the staff team. They both also achieved their pool lifeguard qualifications as the first stage in their training. They’ll continue training up in their new roles over the next few weeks. Welcome Ben and Abi!

Mental Health First Aid  - ‘health means body AND mind’
Atlantis has long been committed to increasing the ways we provide support across all aspects of our community’s health and wellbeing needs. Yes, a large part of that is in all the sporting activity and fun and games we do. We also place huge importance on our mental health and wellbeing. As part of this, this month saw a cohort of our staff team attend a two-day Mental Health First Aid course. This was the first course of several that we plan to continue with next year. The courses are fantastic resources that offer insight, training and focussed guidance for how participants can assist with mental health and wellbeing needs, what to look out for and how to protect and look after their own mental health.

This month saw the latest instalment of the programme get underway and we were pleased to welcome Gary Macdonald and Diarmid MacMillan to the Centre to deliver the training.

Atlantis’ work brings us into contact with a wonderfully diverse range of individuals, groups and organisations. It’s more important than ever that we are all aware of the challenges faced by everyone in our community and we think investing in training like this is vital.

Winter Warmer Project - ‘Increasing Atlantis’ impact in our Community’
This month saw the launch of a new project at Atlantis called the Winter Warmer. Supported by funding from the Scottish Government, the project is an initiative led by Atlantis Leisure that provides support to those that need it this winter. We know that many are facing a really difficult time this winter and as a community organisation we want to ensure our community space is available for that need it most. The project runs throughout the winter and includes a range of activities, social sessions and events to provide community support, encouragement and resource. Atlantis are also partnering with Healthy Options, Hope Kitchen, Greenshoots Garden, ALIEnergy and the Oban Youth Café to ensure that professional service and support is available for those that need specific help this winter. The Winter Warmer is open to all, more information can be found on the Atlantis website.

Centre Life - ‘know your building’
The coming of winter doesn’t change anything when it comes to maintenance! – with a programme of works and routine jobs still to be done. As we look ahead to the new year, this comes with a small amount of disruption. The Sports Hall floor requires routine works to maintain its high standard. Unfortunately, this does mean that the Sports Hall will be closed from Friday 6th January until Tuesday 10th January. Thank you for your understanding as we make sure our facilities are kept up to the highest standards for the community.

Sundays - ‘Atlantis ALL week’
Following the success of our Sunday opening trials this year, we plan to continue 7 day opening in the new year from the 7th January. Reintroducing Sundays to our programme of activities have allowed us to explore the return of many of our community-focussed events and additional Sports Hall activities that have been missed since the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. Café Atlantis also plan to extend their opening hours to include Sundays from the new year onwards.