Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Tottenham Green pool and Fusion
Following on from this thread I was wondering what people's experiences of the leisure centre have been recently. We went on Sunday with our children, a little worried after tales of the children's pool not being open, and guess what? Not enough life guards had turned up (I think they now require three to be able to open this pool) so they didn't open the children's pool all morning. So, all the children with their parents crammed into the shallow end of the main pool as we were not allowed further than about 5 metres from the end. With two children out of their depth in such cramped conditions (lane swimmers and a class also using the pool) I felt it would have been much safer to open the children's pool!
Anyway, am going to complain to Fusion and possibly council as well but thought I would get an idea of how common this is first. Fair enough if it is a one-off, but if this is a regular occurrence it's just not on! A private company taking over a public swimming pool and reducing the facilities..... grrrrrr....
Tags for Forum Posts: fusion, leisure centre, swimming, tottenham green
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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There has been a problem a few times with the women-only sessions having a male lifeguard. For me this is not a problem, but for some women who are only allowed to swim in a segregated setting, it means they cannot go in. I don't remember this every happening in the past; it seems to be a staffing issue since Fusion took over.
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Permalink Reply by Liza on
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They have however turned up the heating in the changing rooms and these are now habitable in the winter which is pretty amazing. But.... I heard some of the regular ladies moaning about lifeguards not having turned up for early morining sessions and they said that the staff are mainly / all? on temporary contracts and so behave as such. Casual staff behaving to type.
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Permalink Reply by Bridget Hunt on
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Over the last few days, as the temperature outside has plummetted, the temperature of the air conditioning has too. It's really cold in the changing rooms at the moment!
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Hi Gillian
I'm afraid this has become the norm for the TGLC. I can't remember the last time I saw young children in the baby pool as H&S apparently insists on a separate lifeguard for that area and there are generally only two of them on duty at one time - and the new rules say they're both needed for the main pool. I can't imagine any occasion where there'd be something needing their attention in both pools and at least one of the ladder-chairs could surely be positioned so as to cover the baby pool. Fusion must be losing a lot of revenue by not having this area open.
There have also been occasions when a number of swimmers are in the pool and a whistle blew to get our attention. We were then told we all had to get out of the pool because there was only one lifeguard on duty. You can imagine how delighted we all were at that...
I have found, however, that regular emails to the people at Fusion and at TGLC gets results. The early morning swimmers suffered months of icy cold showers; icy cold changing rooms; badly cleaned changing rooms, etc. I was kept informed of progress as to the boiler repair and the cleaning staff every time I emailed and I'm happy to report that the showers and changing rooms are warm. The cleanliness of the Centre is still a cause for concern but it's definitely getting better.
I'd suggest that you email Fusion about your concerns - and get all your friends to do the same! Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by GillianM on
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Good to know you're hopeful Therese. Yes you're right that better communication would make a big difference (and as you know expecting anyone to answer the phone is not realistic). I really hope they can get the staffing sorted because when it works this is such a great pool to take kids to.
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The promised improvements to Park Rd. pool haven't happened either. It is still just as dirty, lockers out of action and some showers not working. There's talk of price rises as well but am not sure whether that is just alarmist chatter.
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Thank you everyone. Bridget that is very depressing news. I definitely shall complain. I shall also ask how often they have had to close the baby pool. I imagine there must be some sort of service level agreement with the council. I'm sure when they were bidding for this they didn't say they were going to never open one of the pools!
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It is all about staffing levels so a separate person is needed for the baby pool. So for example this has meant this the pool not opening until 'later'. Actually the person designated for the changing room end of the main pool could eaily see the 'deeper end of the baby pool, but that I guess would contravene their 'inflexible' staffing requirements or contractual obligations.
However, have seen some improvements in cleanliness etc. Apparently, even keen for people to sign up their kids for swimming classes during the term now.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Why are the staff on temporary contracts? Didn't the sell-off come with the condition that staff had to have identical terms and wages as with the state employer?
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Email/copy in Haringey council as well as your councillors. The Leisure centre is still ultimately the Council's responsibility as a "farmed out" service.
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