(Image above – Big Sport Group at Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centre)
Today (17 November) is #SocialEnterpriseDay – a day to celebrate and raise the profile of social enterprise around the world.
Social enterprises are businesses. Like any other business, they seek to make a profit and succeed commercially. But how they operate, who they employ, how they use their profits and where they work is transforming lives and communities across the UK and around the world.
Abbeycroft Leisure are a Suffolk based social enterprise, as well as one of the largest, independent leisure trusts in the UK, and we manage 12 leisure facilities on behalf of our partners West Suffolk Council and Babergh District Council, to provide high quality facilities and services and we work closely with health and wellbeing partners to provide opportunities for the community to lead, healthier, more active lives.
Warren Smyth, chief executive at Abbeycroft Leisure said:
“There are lots of things that make us unique as an organisation and the work that we do consistently makes me proud.”
“However, without question, one of the things I am most proud of is the work we are able to do for the community as a result of being a social enterprise.”
“Every week, across our portfolio, we see how our community programmes, classes, lessons and instructors are literally changing people’s lives for the better.”
Some of our Community programmes
Active Living
Aunique, award winning Exercise Referral scheme designed to support people living with a long-tern health condition. Read more >>>
Stand Tall
Stand Tall is a free 8-week programme for 11-19 year olds, designed to support health and wellbeing. Read more>>>
FREE NHS Health Checks
An NHS Health Check of your overall health can tell if you are at risk of certain health problems.
Read more>>>
Free Family Park Cooking Days
Adults and children take part in an amazing unique experience, away from the normal pressures of life.
Read more>>>
#Who Knew
Many people ask us about the community programmes we are able to run as a result of being a social enterprise. Since 2019 these have included:-
- Supporting 1003 families and providing 20,000 meals as part of our fit and fed initiative
- Delivering 90 Christmas meals as part of the hunger and isolation project
- Steel Bones – supporting 1519 participants in a pilot scheme providing amputees with tailored support to access and take part in regular exercise, with the aim of creating an environment for individuals to take the first step to regaining their health, which is absolutely essential to amputee life, with a social value of £119,131
- Care Leavers – a pilot scheme developed with Suffolk County Council’s Care Leavers Team to support young people leaving care settings with 6-months free access to our leisure facilities. 84% felt less anxious as a result, 77% felt more confident and 63% found an improvement in their sleep patterns. The value of the memberships given was £2070.
All about Social Enterprise
Social enterprises are businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose. There are more than 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing £60 billion to the economy and employing around two million people. Social enterprises demonstrate a better way to do business, one that prioritises benefit to people and planet and uses the majority of any profit to further their mission. Social enterprises contribute to reducing economic inequality, improving social justice and to environmental sustainability.
What do social enterprises do?
Social enterprises are businesses. Like any other business, they seek to make a profit and succeed commercially. But how they operate, who they employ, how they use their profits and where they work is transforming lives and communities across the UK and around the world.
Social enterprises work in every sector of the UK economy, creating and trading consumer products and services, providing local community resources, running creative agencies, arts organisations, recycling projects, cafes and restaurants, cleaning services and waste management companies. Social enterprises also provide high quality public services, and as many as a third of community healthcare providers are social enterprises.
