Two swimming pools in Mansfield have been highly commended by the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS), following unscheduled ‘mystery shopper’ visits.

The visits were part of a company-wide initiative by Serco Leisure, which runs the pools — the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre and Water Meadows Swimming and Fitness Complex — as well as the award-winning Oak Tree Leisure Centre and River Maun Recreation Centre, Mansfield.

Out of a sample of 35 Serco Leisure UK pools, the Mansfield pools finished overall joint first with total scores of 96%.

Mansfield’s lifeguards scored full 100% ratings for observation of duties, spot-check questions, and competency.

The unannounced spot-checks by officials from the RLSS’s training subsidiary, the IQL, tested the centres on the standards of their training, consistency of documentation, and overall attitude and competence of the lifeguards.

It was the latest success for centres operated by Serco for Mansfield District Leisure Trust, Mansfield District Council’s arm’s-length management organisation for leisure facilities in the district.

Gavin Short, of the leisure trust, which oversees the running of the centres with Serco Leisure, said: “To receive such great feedback from a mystery visit is very pleasing.”

As well as the life-saving accolades, this year the leisure centres’ successes in Mansfield include:

•Oak Tree Leisure Centre winning Midlands Leisure Centre of the Year in awards run by UK Active.
•Inclusive Fitness Initiative accreditation for Water Meadows, which recognised it as a place that reaches high accessibility standards for people with disabilities.
•High scores for Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre and Water Meadows in the Sport England benchmarking scheme, Quest, which assesses the management of leisure centres.
•Investors in People accreditation, awarded to good employers.