Newsletter January 2009

Hello,

I wish you a Happy New Year as we now move into 2009. As the new year progresses there will soon be an issue on many Health and Leisure facility managers' agendas - how to introduce and manage the UK Government's new extended initiative of free swimming for not only the over 60's but also the under 16's.

To date 82% of local authorities in England have signed up to take part in the government's £140 million initiative of offering free swimming to over 60's and under 16's. This initiative which is due to start in a couple of months time in April 2009, has the potential to open up 1600 public pools to a wider audience as a legacy to the 2012 Olympics.

One of the main aims of this initiative is to try and get more than 2 million people active by the 2012 Olympic Games. This offers the health and fitness market the prospect of a fantastic growth event by getting many people young and old to take an active interest in sports and fitness.

This has the potential to be a great initiative, especially with the younger generation, in getting them interested in exercise and adopting a healthier lifestyle. As with other similar large scale initiatives, one of the key challenges for the programme's success will revolve around the data collection, records management and statistical analysis to ensure accurate reporting. In our experience, this challenge can be easily addressed by providing those who are eligible for a free swim with their own unique card or even a keytag, giving the leisure facilities a fast and effective method for recording and reconciling the usage within the swimming pool complex.

Recording data of children's participation in sports activities is not new to us at Gladstone, as many of you may know from reading the North West Leicestershire case study in our November 2008 issue of the newsletter. In that initiative children were given keytags to record their 5 hours of PE per week at school, earning them points, which in return could be redeemed against free sports activities in their local leisure centres.

The other challenge from this new initiative would be an increase in customer traffic and new numbers of swimmers, for which our new self-service "Gladstone kiosks" could be used to fast-track the existing members or people arriving for a free swim. The efficiency of Kiosks have already been proven amongst many of our existing customers around the UK - by reducing front of house pressure and allowing receptionists to engage more actively with those customers requiring further assistance whilst keeping overhead costs down.

If you would like more information about how we can assist you to rapidly introduce and manage this significant business opportunity then please feel free to contact us on +44 (0) 1491 20 10 10 or call your account manager for further information.

Once again all the best for a happy and successful 2009.

Kind Regards,

Dr. Said Ziai
CEO
Gladstone plc

13 January 2009