Everyone Active acts as an agent of St Albans City & District Council, managing Harpenden Leisure Centre and other local facilities on the council’s behalf. The business is divided into three regions, with the South East region stretching from Hertfordshire down to Winchester and Chichester, and operating under 32 separate leisure contracts.
The awards event took place on Thursday 15 May at Porchester Hall in London – a venue also operated by Everyone Active – and celebrated excellence across more than 100 sites in the region.
Harpenden Leisure Centre was named Large Site of the Year, with sales colleagues Ashley Defries and Jake Devereux also winning Sales Team of the Year for their exceptional performance in helping more local residents get active and delivering impressive year-on-year growth.
Emma Townsend, who joined the team in February 2023 and oversees customer service, was crowned Customer Service Manager of the Year in recognition of her consistently high customer satisfaction scores, strong leadership, and support in managing a range of services and new programmes.
Meanwhile, Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre celebrated success of its own, with two team members recognised for their outstanding contributions. Slawomir Krzywicki, Contract Food and Beverage Manager, was named Colleague of the Year, and Jamie Vine, Contract Operations Manager, won Site Safety Coordinator of the Year (Wetside) – recognising excellence in facilities that include aquatics and other wet leisure elements.
The celebrations extended to Everyone Active’s cultural venues in the area, with Joe Martin, who works across the Eric Morecambe Centre and Alban Arena, winning Site Safety Coordinator of the Year (Dry) – a category for sites that do not include pool-based facilities.
Courtney McCarthy also took home the award for Theatre Colleague of the Year, further highlighting the strong performance across the St Albans contract.
The awards were presented by Iwan Thomas MBE – a former European, Commonwealth and World 4 × 400 metres relay champion. Thomas, who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, brought a touch of sporting stardom to the evening.
Chloe Ledger, General Manager at Harpenden Leisure Centre, said: “We’re incredibly proud to receive these awards, which reflect the dedication, passion and teamwork of everyone here. From our front-of-house staff to our instructors and management team, every individual plays a part in creating a positive experience for our members and the wider community.”
Steve Cox, Area Contract Manager for Everyone Active, added: “To see Harpenden, Westminster Lodge and our theatre venues recognised at a regional level is a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the hard work and commitment of the teams across the St Albans contract. I’m incredibly proud of the leadership, innovation and customer focus that continues to drive our success.”
Councillor Helen Campbell, Chair of the Council’s Public Realm Committee, said: “This is a very impressive list of awards and shows that our partnership with Everyone Active is providing our residents with first class leisure facilities.
“Harpenden Leisure Centre has gone from strength to strength since it was rebuilt and reopened four years ago and thoroughly deserves to be recognised in this way.
“Our congratulations go to Ashley and Jake from their sales team and Emma from customer services as well as Westminster Lodge’s Slawomir and Jamie for their individual awards.
“This shows that Everyone Active has an exceptionally dedicated and talented team managing our leisure operations.”