"It was great to see the words ‘mental health’ on the cover of HCM" – Muir Gray, The Living Longer Better Programme

Read the May issue of HCM at www.HCMmag.com

photo: Europe Active/Myzone

I’m thrilled to see #BeActive day running again on Friday 23 September, during the European Week of Sport (23 - 30 September).

This initiative has become the biggest drive by the sector to celebrate and promote the fun and importance of regular physical activity. The results have demonstrated how resilient and engaged the sector has become, with thousands of events and millions of participants across Europe and beyond every year.

#BeActive day is a collaboration between Europe Active and its 17 national association partners, who will be hosting thousands of free events and activities, and we encourage every key player in the sector to contact their national association and organise an event centered around physical activity.

The success of the #BeActive day campaign has contributed to the European Commission’s recognition of the European fitness and physical activity sector as an essential partner for the promotion of active, healthy lifestyles for all Europeans.

Europe Active is joining forces with the European Commission to encourage Europeans to be more active, to improve their general health and wellbeing, and to make the most of the Commission’s HealthyLifestyle4All campaign.

As the main representative of the European fitness and physical activity sector, we firmly believe #BeActive day improves how our sector is perceived by policy and decision-makers, strengthening our case for recognition as a public health solution. Furthermore, the campaign is an opportunity to not only to bring members back to clubs, but also to generate new leads and engage with new customers.

This initiative fits like a glove with our ambition of getting more people, more active, more often.

More: www.beactiveday.eu
www.hcmmag.com/healthylifestyle4all

GLL is working to make pools safer using technology / photo: shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

The summer holidays are nearly upon us and more people will soon be enjoying the UK’s pools and lidos.

While lifeguarded pools are inherently safer than unsupervised locations, we can always do more to enhance safety at managed swimming facilities.

This year GLL, the UK’s largest public pools operator with 130 pools – and swim school provider with 130,000 children in swim school and 200,000 in school swimming lessons – is rolling out an expansion of assisted lifeguarding technology (ALT) in 10 more pools across England and Northern Ireland.

The approach blends the benefits of both leading-edge technology and human interaction, backed up by GLL’s signature bespoke training, which we believe to be the best-in-class.

The system and software technology is designed to assist lifeguards by constantly monitoring water-based activity, detecting swimmers in distress in submersion incidents and spotting potential drownings and medical episodes – so helping with the safe management of customers and reducing the risk of lifeguard human error.

We’ve set ourselves a target of introducing ALT into all suitable pool settings within the next 10 years and we’d like the wider sector to follow our example by pledging to do the same.

We’ve consulted sector bodies including BSI, RLSS and UK Active in relation to our plans, and are happy to discuss them with other leisure providers wanting to find out more.

Working together we can make pools safer for everyone.