Pendle Leisure Trust partners with Pendle Council to establish Community Hub

March 2021 – Updated statement

Last year, during the first few months of the Coronavirus outbreak, Pendle Leisure Trust staff helped over 2,000 vulnerable residents. From the beginning of April, until the Trust’s leisure centres reopened at the end of July, a team of furloughed staff volunteered seven days a week in the Pendle Community Support Hub, which was set up to co-ordinate support for the borough’s most vulnerable and shielding residents.

Since then, a team has made over 10,000 calls to check on the borough’s vulnerable on behalf of Pendle Council and the NHS – and continues to do so.

Furloughed staff have also been helping out at two local health centres which are being used as vaccine centres, guiding, directing and monitoring patients, as well as cleaning the relevant areas.

Two of the Trust’s leisure centres – Pendle Leisure Centre in Colne and West Craven Sports Centre in Barnoldswick – are currently being used as Lateral Flow Testing Centres, which are being run and manned by furloughed Pendle Leisure Trust staff.

19 May 2020

Pendle Leisure Trust staff have helped almost 1,000 vulnerable residents since the Coronavirus outbreak.

A team of furloughed staff are volunteering seven days a week in the Pendle Community Support Hub, which has been set up to co-ordinate support for the borough’s most vulnerable residents and those without a circle of friends or family nearby to help them.
The Hub is run by Pendle Council, in partnership with Pendle Leisure Trust and supported by Burnley and Pendle Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) and other local organisations and volunteers.

The fitness instructors, lifeguards, beauty therapists, reception and admin staff have temporarily swapped their roles to volunteer in the hub, taking calls and responding to emails to match people up with the support they badly need.

Through a call centre, the team are helping residents with food and prescription deliveries, dog walking, mental health issues and dealing with social isolation and loneliness, as well as financial and debt advice and so far have helped almost 1,000 people since it opened at the end of March.

They have also been calling back the hundreds of residents who have contacted the Hub to make sure they have received the help they needed, as well as making over 4,000 outbound calls to people who have been identified as vulnerable or who are on an NHS shielded list.

And Pendle Leisure Trust staff are also working with local volunteers and organisations to make up – and deliver – weekly food parcels with essentials donated by local residents and supermarkets.

Alison Goode, Chief Executive of Pendle Leisure Trust, added: “We are really pleased to be supporting Pendle Council and playing our part in helping the local community during this very difficult time.

“I am very proud of my staff who have been doing a brilliant job in the support hub helping some of the borough’s most vulnerable residents. We have a dedicated team – including reception staff, beauty therapists and swimming and gym instructors – answering phone calls and emails seven days a week.”

Dean Langton, Chief Executive of Pendle Council, added: “I’m very proud of Pendle Community Support Hub and thank everyone who has volunteered to help provide this much-needed service. Together we are making a big difference at this very difficult time.”

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