Inverness Leisure prepares for its first ever shutdown to bring its 150 plus staff together for a two-day training session

The city’s largest leisure provider will be closed to the public on Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd December in order to allow the many staff in the facility the opportunity to train on topics and areas that wouldn’t be wholly possible if there was public in the building.

Speaking about the training closure, Inverness Leisure’s Training Officer Shelley Davies commented, “We have been working on the two-day training closure for a number of months now and I am sure that the many staff in attendance will be really happy with the packed programme that has been pulled together. 

“Over the two days, our staff will work in their own respective teams – however this is the first time that we have ever had an opportunity to bring together practically every single member of staff in the building to work as one massive team. 

Mrs Davies went on, “The programme that has been devised will incorporate site specific sessions such as building evacuations rehearsals and emergency action planning.  This will be made all the more realistic as we have brought in the services of a local Amateur dramatics company to assist with pre-set customer profiles that our staff could be expected to deal with in a real-life situation. 

“Our second day will be taken over by external speakers and presenters, and we are delighted to have representatives from Northern Constabulary’s Anti-Terrorism unit who will deliver a full session on dealing with a major terrorist related incident occurring in the city, but in particular utilising Inverness Leisure directly in some way. 

“The day will culminate with an invigorating and motivational presentation by local man, Donald MacNaughton.  Donald has worked with Inverness Leisure before, but not to the scale that he will be presented with on Tuesday.” 

James Martin, General Manager of Inverness Leisure said, “We are certainly looking forward to the Christmas training closure the first of what we hope will become an annual fixture in our calendar. 

“It is obviously a very brave step for the myself and the Board of Trustees to take with regard to completely closing the facility down for two days.  However, we have always been committed to our staff training programme and believe that this is simply the next step in our ongoing ‘people development’.  And in addition, the week leading up to Christmas is traditionally an extremely quiet period for the leisure industry as a whole as people prepare for a busy week ahead. 

“We would thank our customers for their patience and look forward to welcoming them back to business as usual on Wednesday of next week.”