Tim makes leisure his business

Tim Forde, former manager of Seaworld in Lahinch, jumped at an opportunity that presented itself 13 months ago in Ennis. Through an offer from Clare County Council, he took over as manager of Ennis Leisure Centre, Lees Road Sports and Amenity Park and Tim Smyth Park Playground. In short, every sport and recreational facility in Ennis.
Eight years of management at Seaworld prepared Tim well for the remit and things have been going well so far.
“In essence, I’m in charge of a 25 metre swimming pool, a state-of-the-art gymnasium, eight pitches, a running track, a skateboard park and playgrounds, so it’s quite diverse. Figures are good; usage from 2010 has tripled in 2011, particularly in Lees Road. For a facility like that, the peak-time usage is a big demand and we’re always trying to find places for people. We’re trying to make it so that everyone gets to use the facilities and the challenge is to get people going during the off-peak season too.”
The key to this increase, as Tim puts it, is awareness. As well as making improvements (work on the installation of three new playground areas in Tim Smyth Park began in February 2011), he has been hard at work promoting the facilities, expanding their demographic and collaborating with local bodies.
“What we would hope, I suppose, first is to make people more aware of the facilities that are available to them in Ennis town, from a sporting, recreational and leisure perspective. Secondly, the fact is all the facilities we have can help both young and old, be it in the sporting capacity or health and well being. We have a good mix – we have swimming, gyms, playing pitches, nature walks (there’s a 130-odd acres of forestry with a cross-country running track), the playgrounds and running tracks,” he said.
Tim continued, “We have pitches at various locations around town so that all the local communities have access to them. My job is to try and promote all that, so people are aware of what’s available. We have to meet the needs of our clients and ensure everything’s done in a safe and fun fashion. The whole family can partake in one location or an individual can do what they like. We’re trying to make sure people are conscious that the facilities are out there. It’s absolutely essential.”
He insisted that working closely with local sporting bodies and impressing the FAI was paramount. “We’ve spread the word, worked with local bodies and encouraged them to use us as their first place for activities. Lees Road would be considered a home ground for four of our local soccer clubs, as opposed to having their own pitches.
“We’ve been offering them that instead of them trying to raise money and doing it the hard way, like it would have been in the past. Tim Smyth Park has one team using it too. We work closely with the national body of the FAI to show what we can do here, to show that we’re a centre of excellence, to show it’s worth investing time and money here.”
Tim also spoke of the beneficial nature of opening up their facilities to outside parties. “We had the Darkness to Light charity walk recently. They’re a suicide and self-hurt awareness group, operating nationwide from Dublin. They raise funds and we got on board with them. The two-hour walk took place in the middle of the night. I even did it myself. It was a very enjoyable and strangely surprising experience, given the time of night. Lots of people were touched by the message, especially the atmosphere that went with it. So things like that show what we can do here. Obviously, there’s a business to be run but it’s about providing for the community as well,” he said.
As well as working with charities, special courses have been set up for the unemployed. Packages have been made available, to get people out of work into the gym.
“We’re working with other bodies to try and get people who are unemployed or retired back exercising. We have special packages for them. So we’re conscious of the challenge that face people.
“We’ve run a number of short-term programmes to encourage people who may be out of work to come in and take part in exercise. We’ve been working hand-in-hand with the HSE about stuff like that. If you’re out of work, there’s a tendency to unwind and become lazy, so we give people the incentive to get up out of bed in the morning, do, say, an aerobics class and then they may take themselves around the town and look for work. Little things like that are very important to us.”
In terms of the recession affecting business, Tim ensured their prices are good value. “In these tough times that we’re in, we have to charge what is reasonable but what we don’t have to charge for is still there for people to use, like the parks and playgrounds. We have the most reasonable pricing structure in the sporting industry and we’re maintaining that – we haven’t changed that. The amount of services and the mix of things we offer to people is very good value for money.
“As for future facilities, there isn’t any money at the moment so things have been put on hold but that’s not to say that we’re not thinking. We have a lot of ideas as to where we want to go and what we want to do. It’s not a case of being finished – we want to do more when we can – we’re just waiting for the gates to reopen,” Tim added.
Overall, he is delighted with progress so far and proud of what they’ve been able to achieve.
“We’re holding our own on the indoor side of things, which is a challenge, and with Lees Road we’re advancing and making progress. I’m very confident that things are going to improve on the outdoor side of things soon,” he concluded.
To find out more about the facilities available, visit www.clarecoco.ie; www.ennistowncouncil.ie; 065 6821604 or email elc@clarecoco.ie.