Update: Monday 18th April 2022

From today, the Scottish Government has removed one of the last remaining legal requirements in the Coronavirus regulations, the requirement to wear a face covering in indoor public settings.

As a result, the wearing of face coverings is no longer mandatory in our venues either for our customers or our staff. Individuals can make a personal choice on whether they continue to do so, however we would recommend that you do so in busy periods.

Our signage will be updated to reflect this and we will continue to promote a message of “Give People Space” within our venues.

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Update: Friday 21st January 2022

In accordance with Scottish Government guidelines, from Monday 24^th January adult indoor contact sports will once again be allowed in our venues. We will also be removing one-way systems in our venues and there will no longer be a requirement for people to maintain a 1m social distance. However, we will continue to use the ‘give space’ messaging to encourage visitors and staff to give plenty of space to others.

Other measure such as wearing face masks outwith activities (unless under 12 or medically exempt) will remain in place along with, plentiful hand sanitising stations, enhanced cleaning regimes, good ventilation, clear directional posters to remind customers of the measures in place and continued compliance with Test and Protect.

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Update: Wednesday 22nd December 2021

Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic Live Active Leisure have continued to work hard to provide a safe space for everyone to live active without worry.

Following the First Ministers update to parliament on 21^st December the following activities will be available at our venues from 26^th December:

The list of activities available in our venues include: swimming, gym, fitness classes, skating, curling, bowling, badminton.

In line with revised guidance there will be no adult indoor contact sport permissible within our venues from 26^th December until 17^th January.  At this time, we have now taken the decision to delay the return of coached activities such as Gymnastics and Swimming lessons which were scheduled for the 3^rd January until w/c 10^th January whilst we put the appropriate control measures in place.

We would like to reassure our customers of the control measures currently in place in our venues:

• Face coverings must be worn indoors outwith activities (unless under 12 or medically exempt)
• Clear ‘give space’ messaging encouraging visitors to give plenty of space to others
• Hand sanitising stations and cleaning stations throughout all venues
• Enhanced cleaning regimes
• Promotion of good ventilation, doors and windows will be open wherever possible and our mechanical ventilation will be operating to maximise the intake of fresh air.
• Screens installed at our reception desks
• Clear directional posters reminding visitors of the measures in place
• Continued compliance with Test and Protect
• All staff have received COVID-19 training and are updated whenever there are changes to guidelines

What can you do to help?

If you’re planning on visiting our venues or taking part in our services please take a lateral flow test in advance and if its positive follow public health advice.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or anyone in your household has tested positive please follow public health advice and stay at home.

When visiting, if you are able to wear one, please wear your face covering properly over your mouth and nose when circulating through our venues.

Please give people space at least 1m but more wherever possible and don’t congregate indoors with others.

Changing rooms are available but wherever possible please come ready for your activity to minimise the time spent within them.  Showers are also available but if you are able to wait to shower at home this will also help us to reduce bottlenecks within the venues.

Arrive on time for your activity (no more than 5 minutes) before the start to minimise time waiting and please leave promptly afterwards.

Like all business we are operating in difficult and uncertain circumstances and whilst we will make every effort to maintain our services in line with what we are permitted to deliver, however we cannot rule out the possibility that venues and services may have to close at short notice either through the introduction of new restrictions or as a result of our staff complying with public health guidance on self isolation.

Should this happen it will be communicated online and via our social media channels so please keep an eye out for any updates.

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We were delighted to hear the first minister announce this week that all of Scotland will move beyond level 0 from Monday 9^th August.  Whilst this doesn’t signal the end of the pandemic, the removal of most legal restrictions relating to COVID-19 will allow our venues and services to return to something much closer to normal service than we’ve been able to since March last year.

Removing some of the COVID control measures that we’ve put in place will take some time to do and therefore we will be taking next week to review the revised guidance and make the necessary physical and operational changes necessary and therefore our venues and services will continue to operate as they have been until week commencing Monday 16^th August. We will communicate the planned changes from that date next week.

For the foreseeable future staff and customers can expect the following control measures to remain part of our venues and services

• Good hand hygiene and surface cleaning.
• Continued promotion of good ventilation.
• Requirement for face coverings indoors outwith activities.
• Continued compliance with Test and Protect.
• Under 12s are no longer required to wear a face mask within our venues.

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Following the First Minister’s most recent announcement on Tuesday 13th July it was confirmed that from Monday 19th July all parts of Scotland will move to Level 0. Following the First Minister’s most recent announcement on Tuesday 13th July it was confirmed that from Monday 19th July all parts of Scotland will move to Level 0. 

 

For Live Active Leisure this means: 

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We are please to announce to some of our venues will be reopening on the 26th April 2021 with the following being available.

• Live Active Rodney - Fitness & Strength Gym Sessions
• Bell's Sports Centre – Strength Gym Sessions, Family badminton, AAC, 
• North Inch Campus - Outdoor Junior Club Bookings Only
• Live Active Loch Leven - Fitness Gym, Lane Swimming, Club Swimming, Swim Lessons, Family Swim
• Loch Leven Community Campus - Fitness Gym & Outdoor Clubs 
• Breadalbane Community Campus - Fitness Gym,Lane Swimming, Swimming Lessons, Family Swim & Outdoor Clubs
• Strathearn Community Campus - Fitness & Strength Gym,Lane Swimming, Swimming Lessons,Family Swim & Outdoor Clubs
• Live Active Blairgowrie - Fitness Gym, Swim Lessons, Lane Swimming, Club Swimming, Family Swim

Bell’s Sports Centre will be running Junior Gymnastics from the 10th May & Wee Springers and Football Sessions from the 11th May.

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We are excited to share that Dewars Centre and Live Active Atholl have been confirmed as local vaccination centres for the people of Perth & Kinross. 

As a company, we're delighted that we can accommodate the NHS in the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and even though our venues are currently closed, it's fantastic that we can continue to support the health and wellbeing of the local community in this way.

We're working in partnership with Perth and Kinross Council and the NHS to ensure that our venues are ready for opening. Please note that we will be unable to answer any enquiries regarding the vaccine and appointment times, you'll be contacted by the NHS with your appointment details when appropriate.

This is another positive step in the right direction in our collective fight against COVID-19 and will hopefully bring us all closer to some kind of normality very soon.  

 

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Following the most recent announcement from the First Minister, Perth and Kinross will move into Level 4 of the Scottish Government protection levels from 26/12/20.  This will unfortunately mean all our venues will shut from close of business on 23/12/20 until further notice. 

We’ll automatically freeze all direct debit payments (including swim lessons) after 26/12/20, you do not need to cancel your Direct Debit at your bank.  You do have the opportunity to reinstate your membership to help support us if you’d like, to do this please complete the online form here.  

Those with a 30 Day or Annual Membership will have the number of days from 27/12/20 until we reopen added on to the expiry date of their membership.  

Gymnastics and Wee Springers classes which have been paid that will be missed, will be rolled over into the Summer block and other activities such as Family Swim Sessions, pay as you go Gym and Swim bookings, and Football Camps will be refunded as soon as possible. 

Our YouTube channel is packed with virtual workouts and we’ll continue to offer our live class timetable from 4/1/21. Remember to subscribe and click the bell to make sure you don’t miss a class and if you enjoy the class, click the 'Donate' link at the top of our website to help support us during these increasingly difficult times – every penny is greatly appreciated. 

If you have any questions, we encourage you to visit our Frequently Asked Questions page as we are working with a limited number of staff so email and social media messages responses will take a little longer than normal. 

We appreciate how disappointing this is for our customers, we’re feeling it too, but we look forward to seeing you again once we're allowed to reopen. We’ll continue to share any further updates on our website and social media as well as by email when appropriate. 

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Following the First Minister's announcement today 17/11/20, Perth & Kinross remains categorised as Level 3. Following the First Minister's announcement today 17/11/20, Perth & Kinross remains categorised as Level 3. 

As adult indoor exercise is not possible in Level 3, our YouTube channel has a whole range of videos, suitable for all levels and abilities: YouTube

 

We also have gyms and swimming pools open for individual exercise as is permitted under Level 3.

 

We continue to monitor the latest government advice and will share further updates on our website a social media pages.

 

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• Indoor Fitness & Wellbeing classes suspended
• Adult indoor team sports not permitted, therefore Dewars Centre will close from on 12/11/20 at 23:00.

We realise this news is disappointing however we are working hard behind the scenes to bring you a Live class programme, commencing Monday 16th November.  More information on this will be available soon.  Keep an eye on our social pages for details.

We are pleased to say that the following activities remain unchanged:

• Gym sessions
• Fitness swimming
• Swimming Lessons
• Term time classes including Wee Springers & Gymnastics

We would like to reassure our customers that we are following the appropriate guidance, and the health and safety of our customers and staff continues to be a top priority.   For customers who have booked and paid for classes and sessions from Friday onwards, refunds will be issued.  This may take a few days so we ask for your patience while these are processed.  We will also be contacting all members shortly regarding your membership.    

 

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Over the last few weeks work has been underway to assess the flood damage to Perth Leisure Pool's plant room, as a result of the exceptional rainfall during the storm in August.   Over the last few weeks work has been underway to assess the flood damage to Perth Leisure Pool's plant room, as a result of the exceptional rainfall during the storm in August.   

Given the complexity and specialist nature of the repairs required, Thomson Gray Consultants have been appointed to project manage the works required to reinstate the venue. The Consultant Project Team have confirmed that this work is estimated to take around 12 months to complete.  Read the full article here. 

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As part of our gradual reopening plan, we’re excited to announce the recommencement of Gymnastics, Swimming Lessons and Mini Kickers sessions from Monday 2nd November.  
 
Other Active Fun and Active Steps activities such as Badminton and Gametime are yet to be confirmed but we’ll update you soon as we can. 
 
With regards to Gymnastics, Mini Kickers and Swimming Lessons, things will look different, so we ask you all to read through the updates using the link below.

We expect to have a large number of enquiries to deal with so ask for your continued patience as we work through them. We’ve added a number of frequently asked questions on our website which we will continue to update over the coming weeks and ask that you make this your first point of contact before emailing us. 
 
Please note that April to July activities, booked and paid for in March 2020, will be fully refunded. Gymnastics refunds will be actioned from 19th October at the same time as calling to book your child in for their class. Swimming Lesson refunds will work differently, with the amount due to you being deducted from the first payment following the reinstatement of your Direct Debit. 
 
If your child has not participated in Gymnastics or Swimming Lessons previously, we will share booking dates once our existing participants have been placed. These dates will be shared on our social media pages and website.

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Following the First Ministers announcement yesterday (7/10/20), we want to confirm that the changes do not affect any of our current activities. 

We continue to follow the latest advice from both the Government and National Governing Bodies for Sport to ensure our customers remain safe whilst staying active with us.

You can find updates, information on safety procedures and much more on our website.

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Following the reopening of several of Live Active Leisure’s (LAL) venues, the company’s chairperson, Mike Robinson, today commented on the impact that covid-19 restrictions have had on the local sports and fitness provider.

Mr Robinson said, “We are delighted to welcome our customers back to Live Active facilities, albeit to a quite different sport and leisure experience.

“As with the majority of businesses over the last 6 months, Live Active Leisure has faced unprecedented challenges. Income levels have dropped to almost zero, and fixed expenditure costs have had to be managed over this period.  We clearly rely on customer income to operate, but with social distancing rules it is unlikely income levels will return to pre-covid levels for some time.

“Our principal partner, Perth and Kinross Council have remained supportive and we remain hopeful that sector specific support, which has been absent so far, will be provided from the Government at some point in the near future, but as a Board we have had to step in quickly, committing over £1m from the company’s reserves to ensure our staff and venues are supported as best as we can in the interim.

 “With staff returning from furlough, on-going venue costs and capacity constraints in place due to social distancing requirements, significant financial pressures are going to continue and it is inevitable that some difficult decisions will have to be considered in the future.

 “However, we firmly believe these our venues and services are an essential part of the social fabric of the area, and that fitness and leisure are more important than ever to local quality of life.  There has never been a greater need than there is right now to ensure that our communities have the opportunity to take part in regular exercise, to improve their physical and mental wellbeing and build resilience to illness.

“The phased approach to reopening is just one of the measures that we have put in place to ensure that we’re building customer confidence in tandem with laying the best possible foundations on which to recover and grow.

“I am only sorry we can’t open all our venues immediately, but we obviously need to ensure we are compliant with the various guidelines to ensure our customers and staff are safe.  We were unfortunate to be hit so hard by flooding after the recent thunderstorms which caused way in excess of £500k of damage to Perth Leisure Pool and some areas of Bell’s Sports Centre.

“We would therefore ask our customers, communities and stakeholders to remain patient with us while we navigate these difficult times, and on behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank the team and our customers for their ongoing understanding, commitment and loyalty.

“We will continue to update the Live Active Leisure website as we move forward and would ask you to make this your first point of contact for all updates”.

 

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Following the recent Scottish Government update on 20th August, we’re excited to announce that the following venues and services will reopen on reduced hours from the 14th September.

• Live Active Rodney – Fitness & Strength Gym
• Bell’s Sports Centre – Fitness classes & Virtual Cycling classes
• Live Active Loch Leven - Public Lane Swimming / Club Swimming & Gym
• Live Active Atholl – Gym & Fitness classes 
• Dewars Centre - Curling & Bowling Leagues (from 19th October, no casual use at this time)
• Wellbeing Classes - All Ability Cycling & Stride for Life walks

As you all know, it’s imperative we maintain a safe environment for our customers and staff returning to our venues. We’re opening to new operating arrangements and it’s our responsibility, and legal duty, to ensure that these work effectively in practise. 

Therefore, initially the range of activities offered, venues available and their opening hours and the number of customers we can accommodate will be limited in comparison to our pre-covid offer.

Moving forward, we’ll take every opportunity to increase the range of activities and services we offer at the above five venues. To determine if this is possible, we’ll review the latest guidance from the Scottish Government and Scottish Sports Governing Bodies in combination with customer and staff feedback, level of demand/attendances and financial performance. These ongoing reviews will be completed at three-week intervals, any changes or amendments to the range of activities offered will be communicated through our social media channels, website and customer newsletters.

The next phase of venue reopening will include those leisure facilities which also form part of a school or community campus. This phase will commence from the 19th October.

These timescales allow for a managed reopening of the sport and leisure offer across Perth and Kinross and will additionally allow colleagues in education to focus resources on ensuring our young people return to school safely during this crucial first term back. We’ll continue to work with Perth and Kinross Council in preparation for the reopening of activities within schools and campus' and will provide an announcement on our first phase offer on Thursday 1st October.

Perth Leisure Pool remains closed for the time being due to the flood damage, further announcements will be made once detailed surveys have been completed and guidance is available. The damage to Bell’s Sports Centre has reduced access to some of the sporting areas, but it will be able to open on the 14th September on a limited basis as detailed above.

Community Halls will also remain closed at this time unless required for essential childcare services or Food Bank/COVID Response.

As is the case with many charities and businesses, public leisure services like ours are faced with significant unplanned financial and operational challenges. From the period of lock down with zero income, to the reduced capacity required to maintain physical distancing when we reopen. These challenges will continue, and it’s inevitable that they’ll impact on the services that we provide in the future. However, we remain committed to tackling these challenges and will continue to do everything possible to 'be the provider of choice in Perth and Kinross for everyone to live active lives'.

Next week we’ll provide details on the safety measures that we’ve put in place and following that we'll provide further details on how you will book and pay for activities scheduled to start on the 14th September.

Our Direct Debit Memberships will remain frozen until further notice, however you do of course have the option to reinstate your Direct Debit.  This goes a long way in supporting us financially which is greatly appreciated and a thank you goes out to anyone who has already done this. We’ll share further updates on memberships as soon as we can.

We appreciate your continued patience during this challenging time and look forward to seeing you soon.

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We’re delighted the Scottish Government has confirmed indoor sport and leisure facilities can now start to reopen and we can’t wait to welcome you back.  Live Active Leisure venues will open incrementally from the 14th September.
 
We are currently reviewing the Sport and Leisure guidance which was published yesterday. This guidance, combined with the huge amount of work already done by our teams, will ensure that we have all the required standards in place to provide a safe environment for you and our staff, while still delivering the positive experience you’ve come to expect from us.
 
In our initial stages of reopening we’ll focus on a small number of venues and activities, returning furloughed staff and conducting essential preparatory work such as deep cleaning, implementing new processes, and delivering staff training at all levels and on all services. Our initial operating hours are also likely to be reduced as we adapt to the new arrangements.
 
We can advise that as the Scottish Government have identified children’s education as a key priority, sport and leisure services in Community Campus’  (indoor and outdoor)  will remain closed for the time being.
 
Following on from our recent communications regarding flood damage regrettably Perth Leisure Pool will also remain closed at this time.
 
It’s certainly been a tough few months and while the challenges are far from over, we look forward to being able see our customers soon.
 
We will provide further detail on our reopening plans next week.

 

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Update: Monday 10th August 2020

The First Minister has provided an indicative date of Monday 14th September for the reopening of gyms and indoor leisure venues in Scotland, however she also stated that this date would be reviewed again on 20th August.   Whilst this announcement is welcome news to all of us and we look forward to reopening our doors to our customers, there are still operational challenges to consider. 
 
We have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for reopening, however, the Scottish Government's specific guidance for operators of indoor sport and leisure facilities has yet to be published.  
 
Details such as social distancing, additional health and safety guidance and the types of activities approved will contribute significantly to how we will operate and our wider reopening plans. 

Q. Will your Summer Holiday Programme including Camps go ahead this year?

Unfortunately, due to our venues being closed and limitations on staffing, our Summer Programme will not go ahead this year. We of course continue to monitor the situation closely and will continue to update customers with any information regarding reopening.

In accordance with the government advice on reducing social contact, we have taken the difficult decision to close all Live Active venues and services to the public from close of business tonight (18th March 2020) which includes all services delivered in the community.  We expect the closure to continue until after the Easter Holidays, but we will be keeping the situation under review and acting in line with any further government advice. 

 

Q. I have an annual membership, how are they affected? 

Anyone with an annually paid membership for Fitness, Energy or Fun will have an extension automatically added to their renewal date once we reopen. This will also be applied from Monday 16th March 2020. 

Q. I didn't have time to complete payment for rebooking before your venues closed, what happens now?

Q. My child no longer wants to continue with their term time class, how do I cancel?

Q. Do you have any tips on how to keep my child active and fit while your venues are closed?

Q. I would like to hire out some gym / sports equipment, can I do this?

Q. I have a block booking in one of your venues, do we still have to pay? 

We continue to follow government advice during these unprecedented and challenging times.  The latest government advice is to ‘avoid all pubs, clubs and theatres’.  At this time we have not been given any directive to close our venues.

However, Perth & Kinross Council have advised that Campus facilities will close to the public from 18:00 on Tuesday 17^th March and will not reopen until after the Easter holidays at the earliest.  This move is intended to reduce the number of external visitors who come into contact with school staff and pupils.   

As such, our facilities within North Inch Community Campus, Strathearn Community Campus, Breadalbane Community Campus, Loch Leven Community Campus, Blairgowrie Community Campus, Live Active Blairgowrie and Glenearn Community Campus will be closed from 18:00 today (17^th March 2020). 

We understand that these closures affect the services we deliver in these venues including Holiday Programmes, Term Time Classes and Memberships. It will take time for us to contact affected customers so please bear with us.

All other Live Active venues will remain open as normal with continued increased measures on cleanliness and personal hygiene, to protect both our customers and staff. However, if you feel unwell or have any of the symptoms please refer to NHS information  and do not attend our venues.

Further updates will be posted on our websites and Social Media channels