Behind the Scenes: March ‘25
March may signal the start of Spring, but things have been in full swing at Atlantis all month long! Read on to find out what’s been happening at your community-run leisure centre recently:
Community – ‘making a difference beyond the Centre’
Living in and around Oban means that the sea is a huge part of all our lives. That’s a relationship we take very seriously here at Atlantis; we recognise the important role we play in making sure as many people as possible know how to safely interact with water. This month, that mean running our first lifeguard course of the year. We had 8 young people from our local community taking part. It was a fantastic start to the year that continues our longstanding commitment to do all that we can to make sure we’re a coastal community that respects the water.
Centre Life – ‘know your building’
You know that feeling when you’ve made a ‘to-do’ list and then you manage to tick each item off? – we’ve just had a month like that! Now, it must be said that our lists tend to be stricter than typical maintenance lists; however, it is still very satisfying to have a month where everything comes together! Over the last few weeks, we’ve put neat little ticks next to our biannual legionella risk assessment to make sure our water is as safe as it can be. We also completed the last of our emergency lighting tests and our annual fire extinguisher service. Where our lists are exactly the same as your list at home however?! – as soon as one item is ticked off, another is added!
Elsewhere in the Centre we reached the milestone of completing the last works to the male dry-side changing refurbishment. Together with the female dry-side, this project has been on the go for a long time so it’s fantastic to have it finished off. We were particularly pleased to have it done and dusted in time for a major badminton competition which brought lots of competitors to the Centre to test out the new facilities!
You might have read about a recent planning application we submitted to extend our Gym and add a small office. This is a very exciting project which would make a huge difference to the community work we host in the Centre. These kinds of projects have many parts to them, and it is very early days for this one in particular. While we wait to hear the outcome of the planning application, we’ve been busy exploring funding options for the project. As ever, we’ll keep you up to speed as and when things develop.
February Camps – ‘holiday mode: engaged!’
We celebrated the February half-term with a very welcome return to our holiday camp programme. Over the short break, we ran full day programmes filled with all the usual Atlantis fun. We also partnered with the ScreenMachine, showing a selection of films each day.
Staff News – ‘the team behind the action’
This last month has been all about training for the Atlantis staff team – in fact, we’ve racked up some impressive stats in the process; (drumroll please…) last month, we reached 306 hours of training across the staff team! We don’t share this to seek congratulations. Rather, it’s a helpful demonstration of just some of the ongoing work that’s required to run Atlantis – and we’re doing it all as a community-run charity! Training is vital to the continued safety of everyone that comes through our front doors, staff and customers alike.