This year’s Ireland Active Conference and White Flag National Quality Standard Awards took place at the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone on Friday.
The ceremony awarded leisure and fitness facilities for their remarkable standards in the areas of safety, hygiene, customer service and human resources with the Aura Leisure in Letterkenny and Waterworld, Bundoran among only three leisure centres in Ulster to receive the award.
Picture captioon: Conn McCluskey, CEO Ireland Active, with Aine Temple and Janice McCready of Aura Leisure Centre, Letterkenny.
Fitness entrepreneur and Dublin GAA All Star, Philly McMahon, Dublin GAA High Performance Manager, Dr. Bryan Cullen, Team Ireland nutritionist Sharon Madigan and Cork Camogie legend and host of Ireland’s Fittest Family, Anna Geary, were among the list of impressive speakers at the conference discussing topics such as nutrition, industry insights and health and physical activity.
Áine Temple, Operation Manager, Aura Leisure Centre Letterkenny said: “We are so delighted with this award, I’m so proud of the staff and their continuous hard work, it has paid off in being awarded Gold in the White Flag Award, we will continue to improve and deliver the highest standards possible in the leisure industry.”
Conn McCluskey, CEO of Ireland Active said: “With such high calibre entries for the White Flag National Quality Standard Awards, each of the categories were keenly fought. We were delighted with the scale and range of the entries and we wish to congratulate the winners on the high standards that are being achieved by leisure, hotel and fitness centres throughout the country. Our members are continually striving to improve quality in our industry.”
The White Flag National Quality Standard, grades facilities’ operational standards, similar to the Blue Flag award which classifies Ireland’s beaches, and it is the most sought after accolade in the leisure and fitness industry. It is the only industry specific award for the Irish leisure and fitness sector and this year saw over 100 entrants for the Awards.
The White Flag National Quality Standard is based on the four essential areas when operating any leisure or fitness centre: Safety, Hygiene, Customer Engagement and HR.
The standard is designed to encourage continuous improvement and it is categorised into three levels for the leisure and fitness sector: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Awards are also given for the hotel sector at two levels: Emerald and Diamond and an Accessibility Award is given for centres which excel at making their facilities accessible for people with a disability.
The awards were presented by legendary GAA commentator, Marty Morrissey.
