It seems like a fond, distant memory now but we had an amazing summer & as this is the first blog we’ve put out since then we just wanted to touch on some highlights & indulge in some shoutouts.
December is generally a quieter time for us in the activities department but there’s still plenty to shout about from before our Christmas shutdown. We’ve said goodbye to some people, welcomed others & celebrated the festivities with our SSG families.
Christmas Celebrations…
We love any excuse for a party, theme or dressing up here at SSG so our Gymnastics, Football & Fun4All Christmas sessions were the perfect opportunities to do all 3! The staff & some children got into the swing of things with Christmas jumpers & accessories to enjoy fun sessions for their last sessions before Christmas.
At football, we had the inflatable football dart board to hone our shbooting skills in a really fun way. We were very impressed with some of the shots on target & had lots of laughs when they went a little more astray!
The children at gymnastics got to burn off their energy on our bouncy castles. I don’t know about the children but our staff members were certainly tired out!
Even the swim schools got involved, with Christmas themed games & relay races, as well as a very creative version of a Christmas tree made from pool floats, made by the talented Ella & Orsi!
In Fun4All, we had Christmas themed activities all day, with arts & crafts, songs, games & our very own Christmas party, including biscuits the children decorated themselves.
Goodbye…
In December we said goodbye to not 1 but 2 members of the team. Firstly, our operations manager Laura Baird left us after working for SSG in a number of roles for several years. Laura did a great job working closely with our academies, particularly gymnastics & we wish her lots of luck for her next job.
Secondly, we said goodbye to Dom Henderson from the business support team. Dom has been with SSG for what seems like forever, starting out as an apprentice & fast becoming an integral part of the team. It’s hard to imagine the office without his infectious cheerfulness & larger than life personality but we wish him all the best as he leaves for new adventures.
Hello…!
We are delighted to introduce our newest member of the SSG activities team, taking on the role of operations manager, Sam Harrison.
We thought the best way to get to know Sam was to ask him some very important questions:
Sam Harrison
Job Role:
Operations Manager
What was your first job? :
Activities instructor Center Parcs
Where were you working before SSG? :
EV Installer
Do you have any pets?
Cat (called Buddy)
What is your favourite season?
Summer
What would you choose to give up forever if you had to pick between crisps or chocolate?Chocolate
Have you ever met anyone famous?
Tom Grennan, Dele Alli, Danny Dyer
What is your karaoke song?
Robbie Williams – Angels
Another hello… and congratulations!
Adam Lewis is a familiar face to most people involved in SSG activities so I’m sure you will be delighted to hear his baby son, Ollie was born safely on 27th November 2021 at 2.01am. He weighed 6lb 10oz & is doing fantastically well. I’m sure it won’t be long before baby Ollie is having his first swimming lesson with Fish 2 Water!
Shout out…
While Adam was off work with the newest member of his family, one of our senior instructors, Chloe Watson took over some of his duties as operations manager so we just wanted to say a big well done & thank you to her for doing a great job.
Chloe has also recently taken on a bigger role within the Fish 2 Water swim schools, supporting the teachers on the ground & acting as a liaison between the office & the project leads. She looks at progression & movement analysis, keeping track of spaces & individual student progression. Chloe has been involved in Fish 2 Water for years, first as a child learning to swim, then volunteering for work experience, before becoming a fantastic swim teacher herself, winning our ‘swim instructor of the year’ award in 2020. I don’t know many other people who have a better knowledge of the programme than Chloe so this new responsibility is well deserved.
Looking Forward…
That’s it for this month, lots of endings & new beginnings, as is always apt at this time of year. In next month’s blog, we look forward to seeing how 2022 has got off to a great start.
