News

We love to keep busy! Here's just some of the news we're producing for Big Fish clients. Take a browse or simply search by company from the 'Categories' section

15th September 2015

£2million funding boost for local communities to help get women, older people and inactive groups into sport

Areas benefitting from the scheme include: Tadcaster, Newcastle, south Dorset, Exeter, Northampton, County Durham, Lincolnshire, Stockton on Tees, Test Valley, Sheffield, Tandridge, Ashford, Newham, South Downs, Dover and Northumberland. Older people, women, and inactive groups in England are set to benefit from thousands of pounds in funding to help them become more involved in sport. Sport England has teamed up with sporta, whose members manage 40 per cent of community sports, leisure and culture facilities in the...

10th September 2015

Bigwave Media expands the team further

Bigwave Media is continuing its eight-year period of growth with the appointment of David Johns as Business Development Manager. Formerly working as a Partnership Development Manager with sport and exercise charity Active Nation, Johns, 54, has enjoyed a long career in sports and exercise management, across public, private and not-for-profit organisations, including DC Leisure (now Places for People Leisure), SLM Everyone Active and Oldham Community Leisure. The new role with Bigwave Media, which has more than 100...

5th September 2015

The Gym Group launches price-based retention model

Retention Guru, Dr. Paul Bedford and Rob Gregory, former global director of member experience at Fitness First, have created a statistical model for The Gym Group to understand the impact of price changes on behaviour and to predict future outcomes for the business. The data model, which included analysis of more than 800,000 member records from 50 of the brand’s gyms across the UK, will enable the company to make strategic decisions about pricing and promotions...

30th August 2015

Leisure-net launches new industry networking event for 2016

Leading leisure insight specialist, Leisure-net Solutions is launching a new industry networking event. Innovate 2016 will be a one-day event for organisations looking for new and innovative activities to enhance both participation and income streams. Building on Leisure-net’s successful two-day active-net conference, Innovate 2016 will take place in Burleigh Court, Loughborough University during March next year. The day will enable operators to formally meet with up to nine suppliers, maximising their time and building relationships that could...

28th August 2015

Lifetime Training takes fitness ‘naked’ at Fitness Directors’ Summit

Lifetime Training encouraged top industry operators to get ‘naked’ at its sixth annual Fitness Directors’ Summit. The theme focussed on ‘stripping’ back to the corporate ‘bare’ essentials, to review what is at the heart of each business and why it is being delivered in this way: What should traditional health clubs be driving to add value and how can they dial up 1% of the key elements of their business for maximum benefit? Attendees of this unique...

25th August 2015

Leisure centres see financial upswing but throughput falls

There has been a remarkable improvement in the financial efficiency of leisure centres across the UK, according to an annual report released by Sport England’s National Benchmarking Service (NBS) – but there is still much work to be done to increase usage and widen participation among the most at-need groups. Delivered by Leisure-net Solutions in partnership with the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, NBS enables local authorities to compare the performance of...

20th August 2015

Expansion for quality and health & safety specialist Right Directions

Quality and health and safety specialist Right Directions has welcomed four new members to its team. Tricia Lewis, 69, joins the company from 1Life Management Solutions where she was Head of Health, Safety and Quality, a national role with Corporate responsibility all sites. Lewis has been in the leisure industry for more than 30 years, enjoying a number of roles from Swimming Development Manager to Brand Operations Manager. Her new position as Right Directions’ Quality and...

15th August 2015

Local lifeguard recognised at one of the UK’s top 50 workers

Local lifeguard, Janet Appleyard has been honoured as one of Britain’s best older workers in People Management magazine’s top 50 over 50 workers. Janet, 61, came 7th in the prestigious awards, which included names like Prof. Stephen Hawkins, as well as a Lord, a Dame, doctors, a surgeon, a barrister and campaigners. The awards, which are voted for by the public, include an eclectic mix of professions, sectors, experiences and ages. “I am in with the elite,”...

10th August 2015

Customer support and integration teams expanded at Refer-all

Refer-all, specialist in software solutions for exercise referral has added two new personnel to its customer support and integration teams. Chief Support Officer, Hannah Bacon, is tasked with enhancing the fast and efficient service for which Refer-all is renowned. Alongside managing the support desk, Bacon provides insights from Refer-all’s clients to ensure the company’s strong focus on usability and simplicity in product development is continued. Her drive and commitment to exceed customer expectations means clients can...

9th August 2015

STITCH Accident Benchmarking Tool first State of the Nation Statistics

Most accidents are outside of operators’ control, according to statistics from industry accident benchmarking platform STITCH. The online leisure management analysis tool, which captures, collates and aggregates accident and 'near miss' data, has published its first annual findings. Overarching figures from the ‘STITCH of the Nation’statistics show that 84% of recorded incidents, such as running into a squash racquet, colliding with a wall during a 5 a side football game or slipping on wet surfaces on poolside,...

5th August 2015

LIW VIP Lounge sponsors announced

Leading insight company Leisure-net Solutions has announced it will be sponsoring the VIP Lounge at this year’s LIW alongside Quality and health and safety specialist Right Directions, award-winning industry education provider Lifetime Training and leading leisure marketing company Bigwave media. The quartet will provide a true one-stop shop for show visitors to find out more about learning and development, quality and safety standards, customer insight and marketing and communications. Visitors to the lounge will be able to...

1st August 2015

Refer-all software wins City of London contract

Refer-all has won a contract to support the Sports & Community Development Team at Golden Lane Sport & Fitness with a software solution to streamline its Exercise Referral programme. Based in the Square Mile, the centre is run by Fusion Lifestyle on behalf of the City of London Corporation. The centre’s Sports Development Officer explained, Leonie Wade explained: “We began our Exercise on Referral programme in January 2013 using a simple Excel spreadsheet. Our targets, monitoring...