Indoor Play Magazine - Issue 34 Aug/Sept 2015

Is sector ready to take centre stage?

The magazinefor the indoorplay sector

Issue 34 | August/September 2015

Are you up for inactivity challenge?

Indoor Play 33_Layout 1 03/06/2015 10:59 Page 2

3

Time for sector toget involvedI read the Generation Inactive report released by ukactive recently with some interest.

Largely, it tells us a lot of things that we either knew or should have known already. For readers of this magazine, who work in and around the leisure sector, the health and fitness problems this nation’s next generation of adults is facing are all too stark.

That ukactive focused its initial attention on schools is fair enough. I have no kids myself, so I don’t spend any time in schools. But the comments of ukactive chair Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson seemed to me to hit the nail on the head. She suggests that the UK’s schools are far too preoccupied with measuring the inputs into the system – ie. how they are carrying out their duties against guidelines to set children up for a healthy life – to measure the outcomes.

At this point in time, those outcomes suggest this generation will be the first to die younger than their parents and that general ill health will place an incredible burden on the already creaking NHS.

There is increasing evidence, however, that like the NHS, our schools are under-prepared and under-resourced to take on the role of saving the nation without outside help. That’s where this sector comes in – it may be a commercial sector, but the impact indoor-play centres can have on the future of this country could

and should be far more widely recognised in the corridors of power than it is now.

As ukactive promises to throw its net wider for support, I hope many of you are prepared to throw your hats into the ring. The children of this country need you.

Tommy Leighton(Editor)

4 NewsBusy time ahead for BALPPA… Tramps come to London… Kidzania opens… Security key for payment solution… Notes teach kids value of money… Putting bounce in Kent… Aiming food at kids… Of Madness and Mess

10 Around the World with Gambado Multi-site operator introduces fun and educational concept to keep centres full during the summer

12 Twisting by the ToonRound the Twist, on the outskirts of Newcastle, enlisted the help of King of the Castles for a major upgrade

20 Different is GoodFEC chair Janice Dunphy gives a moving tribute to play pioneer Neil Scott, who died tragically young recently

22 Luna Landing in Emerging SectorThe team behind House of Play have launched Luna Trampolines, to transfer their successful model into the burgeoning bouncing sector

26 One Great RideWorld of Rides David Robinson looks back on 45 years in the driving seat of his company – and predicts the future

32 Acting on InactivityWe bring you the highlights of the recently published Generation Inactive report and ask two operators what soft play can do to help

38 Pass Potential for PlayFamily-pass provider Kids Pass believes the indoor-play industry is missing out on potential to significantly increase its footfall

40 Compulsory PlanningAre you doing the right things to ensure you comply with the government’s compulsory workplace pensions plans?

42 EYP offers New OptionsA great range of products, top-notch delivery service and loyalty rewards are key to new supplier on the block EYP

Editor: Tommy Leighton (07773 428 325)email: [email protected]

Journalist: Kathy Hammond (020 8211 4666)email: [email protected]

Head of Marketing: Natasha Fea (020 8603 0936)email: [email protected]

Advertising: Claire Eccleshall (020 8603 0929)email: [email protected]

Subscriptions: Rebecca Moore (020 8603 0946)email: [email protected]

Views and comments expressed by individuals in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publishers and no legal

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BALPPA counts more than 100 operators of indoor-play centres among its membership out of a total of over 400 members UK-wide. This creates a strong network that acts as a support mechanism to operators. It also has the added benefit of collective lobbying power and cost-saving membership benefits. Here are some dates for your diary.

BALPPA Autumn Conference 2015 - September 21-22, Blackpool Two days of informative fun in and around Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The itinerary includes the traditional Charity Golf Day, a visit to Blackpool Tower, dinner, a Blackpool Illuminations tram tour and an overnight stay. On day two there is a member meeting, tour of the Pleasure Beach and lunch.

The Family Entertainment Centre (FEC) subgroup of BALPPA’s next regional meeting is on October 21 at Marsh Farm, Essex, where James Sinclair and the Marsh Farm team will host. The agenda includes two guest presenters and there will also be a chance for some open forum discussions and a behind the scenes tour of the farm taking in its Halloween

and Christmas attractions. The event is free to attend and non-member operators are invited to join as guests.

BALPPA’s flagship black-tie event, the Annual Dinner 2016, will take place on January 12, on board Sunborn London (moored at Royal Victoria Dock) during the Visitor Attractions Expo (VAE) show 2016 - January 12-14, 2016 at Excel, London – www.attractionsexpo.co.uk

BALPPA’s Annual General Meeting is also scheduled for 11am on January 12 at ExCel. Members are then invited for lunch on the VAE show floor before enjoying what the expo and the EAG International show for the amusement and leisure sector, which runs concurrently at ExCel, have to offer. There is also a full programme of educational seminars running from 12-4pm on January 13, adjacent to the show floor.

To join BALPPA or for more information about these events, either visit www.balppa.org or email [email protected] for an application form.

BALPPA busy with fullevents programmeThe British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (BALPPA) has a busy calendar of events in the next six months and is inviting all indoor-play operators to get involved and take advantage of the extensive education and networking opportunities available.

Capital kids arebreathless on Oxygen

Kidzania brings role-play to London

Security at core ofpayment solution

London’s first indoor trampoline parkand free-running academyhas opened.

Oxygen Freejumping launched on July 20 with an offer spread over more than 30,000 square feet and a link up with Sébastien Foucan, the founding father of free-running and a pioneer of parkour. The new centre is located on a light industrial park in west London and has a dedicated 3,000 sqft obstacle course that will be used by Foucan to offer the free-running facilities alongside the inter-connected trampolines on the 27,000 sqft main floor.

There is also an 8,000 sqft mezzanine floor of trampolines and facilities for dodgeball, a giant air bag, tumble tracks and basketball hoops. Regular sessions offered will include Family Bounce, Teen Takeovers, Little 0’s for toddlers, fitness sessions on the park and in a dedicated rebounding studio, a professional trampolining academy for aspiring gymnasts, and holiday camps.

Oxygen Freejumping founder and leisure industry veteran David Stalker said: “We’re looking forward to introducing a new means of moving so adults and children will be able to enjoy the very best in bouncing, jumping and free-running.”

Stalker and his team already have an ambitious programme of further openings in London

and south-east England planned. He said: “Sebastien will be an integral part of the design team across all of our sites, ensuring we have the very best free-running facilities alongside all of our other activities.”

Ticketing solutions company Vennersys is helping support Apple Pay, since its UK launch last month [July].

Through Vennersys’s Venpos Cloud and Enterprise products, the company’s leading visitor attraction ticketing, back-office and Epos solution, play centres and other visitor attractions can take full advantage of Apple Pay. Payment card information is also more secure for purchases made with Apple Pay via Vennersys’s NFC-enabled POS terminals. Vennersys’s managing director Paul Harding said: “Our number one priority is security for the visitor attractionswe serve. Apple Pay allows their

customers to pay securely with ease and will change the face of the mobile payments industry.”

Security and privacy are central to Apple Pay, so when a credit or debit card is added, the card numbers themselves are not stored on the device or on Apple servers. Instead,a unique device account numberis assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the secure element on the consumer’s mobile device. Each transaction is authorised with a one-time unique dynamic security code, instead of using the security code from the back of the payment card.

Digital payments are on the rise. In the UK alone, mobile payments are projected to rise to £53.6 billion in the next 10 years, and 75% of the population is expected to have a smartphone by 2019, according to payments industry research.

News in BriefEXPANSIVE JELLYBUGS will launch its first soft-play centre in a garden centre, in October. The area will be part of an extension at Garsons in Esher, Surrey, which adds to the centre’s exisiting outdoor playground. Jellybugs already had soft play and play cafes in the Kingston-upon-Thames Rotunda shopping centre before teaming up with House of Play and Mothercare to introduce soft play to branches in Solihull and Gateshead Team Valley. More Mothercare centres are scheduled to open soon in Horsham, Manchester, Hounslow, Hull, Bromborough and Northern Ireland. Jellybugs is on the lookout for new franchisees to add to its portfolio.

REGENT SUPERBOWL has gone from strength to strength since opening Crazy Club soft play at its venues and rebranding as Superbowl UK. The business now has five centres, with three of them, at Widnes, Hull and Great Yarmouth, hosting Crazy Club soft-play areas and a fourth, at Merthyr Tydfil, due to open in October. Daniel Myatt, marketing manager and sales developer for Superbowl UK, said: “We see ourselves as part of the community and we do lots of experiential days and discounts for events such as National Play Day on August 5. Our staff wear Crazy Club uniform at these events and it helps build the relationship up with the communities we work in. We pride ourselves on our engagement with customers and we get fantastic feedback on our birthday parties.” Myatt believes the business’s staff are key to this success. “It is the staff that customers see, not the business and it is their burst of energy and happiness that is so important in customer interaction.”

A POPULAR CHILDREN’S play centre in Sheffield has closed after barely 18 months in business. Happy Monsters Play & Party announced it ceased trading on July 1 after a deal the owners were negotiating to allow the business to continue did not materialise. The centre only opened in December 2013 on the Dore House Industrial Estate in the city and won praise from local families for the quality of its food as well as play facilities.

The long-awaited opening of Kidzania London finally came on June 25, when 300 local school children poured through the doors into the role-play adventure city.

Company president Xavier López Ancona, from Mexico, where the first Kidzania opened in 1999, was joined by UK chairman Joel Cadbury, who said: “KidZania London will be an experience like no other. Throughout its development we have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the city is as authentic and true to the real-world as possible… we truly believe KidZania will alter the way the UK views education and entertainment, opening the eyes of future generations to a myriad of

possibilities they may have otherwise never known existed.”

The centre is unique in that it partners with, and receives investment from, major brands for each role-play

experience, or “establishment” in the child-size city so

in Kidzania London partners include British

Airways, Renault, Capital Radio and Innocent, giving youngsters a taste of the flight academy, Formula E racing,

radio production, and a fruit-processing factory

respectively.

Originally due to open in the spring, Kidzania London, located in the Westfield London (Shepherds Bush) shopping centre, cost an estimated £20 million to build.

(continued on page 6)

newsnews

5


Hit the right Notes for nippers

Gravity goes south with tramps

News in Brief

LINCOLNSHIRE POLICE is appealing for witnesses and information after a burglary at Playhouse indoor-play centre in Gainsborough. The incident occurred around 10.45pm on July 5 after a central alarm activated at the premises on Corringham Road industrial estate. The offenders damaged a window and a door to gain entry, but police said they did not believe anything was taken. Four males are thought to have been involved in the incident.

A TEENAGE EMPLOYEE has put forward the play centre she works at for a local award. Eighteen year-old Shannon Allen, nominated Krazy Playdays in Reading for the Great Place to Work accolade in the Pride of Reading Awards. The youngster said the centre has a great atmosphere and that her colleagues are people she can look up to and learn from. Allen also praised her employer’s flexibility over shifts and the friendliness of team members. The awards will be presented to winners at a glittering ceremony at the town’s Royal Berkshire Conference Centre on November 6.

ILKLEY IN WEST YORKSHIRE has a new permanent indoor soft-play facility. Dan’s Den is housed in the Riddings Hall at Christchurch, The Grove and has been built as a not-for-profit project. “The aim…is to reach out to all children and their families within the local community, regardless of faith or personal circumstance, by providing a fun, clean, safe and stimulating environment in which to play and develop,” a spokesperson said. The centre, which was set up after a fund-raising efforts, brought in more than £300,000, opened on July 4. The church consulted with a local group for children with additional needs as well as a special school before realising the centre, which has been two years in development.

A newly launched currency designed specifically to help children learn thevalue of money is being made availableto indoor-play operators ata discount.

Nipper Notes enables centres to create personalised bank notes that can be used as part of a reward to redemption scheme. Inventor Richard Short explains: “Nipper Notes are perfect for indoor-play centres that regularly use them as part of their own reward schemes.” “Often we see them being used in loyalty schemes for regular visitors and many also

Plans have been submitted for Kent’s first trampoline park.

The team behind the Gravity Trampoline Park at Xscape Yorkshire in Castleford have put in the application to open a park on the site of a nightclub in Maidstone.

The application is for a change of use for Wonderland nightclub to D2 at three units on the Lockmeadow Entertainment Centre in the town. Lockmeadow has a town-centre location but is just outside Maidstone’s core shopping area. Gravity Fitness wants to convert the space into a 25,000 sqft unit, to feature party rooms and a café as well as 15,000 sqftof trampolines.

use them as rewards when they are hosting parties or other special events. For example, at the end of the day, the child with the most Nipper Notes might receive a prize.”

For a one-off fee of £2.99, centres can customise an A4 sheet of bank notes, containing various denominations, with pictures and text before printing them off as many times as they like. Each order also comes with a reward chart that can be used to outline how the currency can be earned and spent.

Readers can receive a 50% discount using the promotional code INDOORPLAY atwww.nippernotes.com

The £1.8m project is part of a proposedre-launch and rebranding of the complex and will create some 65 full-time and part-time jobs.

Gravity Fitness appointed a property consultant, Savills, last year to seek out further suitable venues for its trampoline concept. Lockmeadow is owned by Land Securities Leisure Destinations which also owns Xscape Yorkshire and Xscape Milton Keynes.

(continued on page 8)

(from page 5)

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Kids vision for healthy eating

Madness and Mess mix well

News in Brief

THE BRITISH SOFT DRINKS ASSOCIATION has warned Public Health England that its guidance for parents to remove all sugar-sweetened drinks from children’s diets following the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s report last month [July] risks confusing consumers. The association said: “The fact is there is no difference between the sugar in soft drinks and the sugar in other types of food and drink. It is baffling that soft drinks have been singled out and the industry’s work to reduce the nation’s sugar intake ignored.”

HOUSE OF BOUNCE has launched in the Ardwick area of Manchester with an indoor-play area filled with inflatable play structures, a reading corner, quad-bike track and café as well as a planned outdoor area. Opened on June 20, House of Bounce was already planning a charity fun day in support of Kids Can on August 9 as well as childminder discounts and competitions to win a free party.

HIP POPS the soya and potato snack brand is launching 100g bag formats. Hip Pops are air-popped and contain typically 50% less fat than standard potato crisps on average. The savoury snacks are available in six different flavours; Salt & Vinegar, Sweet Chilli, Prawn Cocktail, Barbeque, Salt & Black Pepper and Cheese & Onion. Four flavours in the range are gluten-free.

Fittings specialist Alan Nuttall Ltd believes it can make food in indoor-play centres profitable by targeting the youngsters themselves.

With the ability to display both ambient and refrigerated products, the company’s Flexeserve® kidZone has been ergonomically designed to allow children to see and select their own meal options.

They can create a pick-and-mix offer in which operators can combine a selection of sandwiches, fruit, snacks, crisps and drinks. “These require little preparation but can be hugely profitable and suitable for all meal-time options,” says technical director Mike Steele. “The unit is visually appealing to young children and research indicates that encouraging children to make their own mealtime choices by letting them see and select their own options means they are more likely to finish their meals.

Two Essex mumpreneurs have closely aligned their businesses to offer families in the area some unusual indoor and messy play solutions.

Lynsey Webb founded Mini Madness three years ago as a mobile indoor-play solution for parties and small groups. As a trained nursery nurse she also saw the value of messy play and as she started to offer these sessions under the name of Happi-Mess to local groups she was getting too busy to run Mini Madness as well. That’s when like-minded Kerry Parsons, another mum getting back into work who had won a Mini Madness party in a competition, decided to buy the business and the two ladies have not looked back. Parsons said: “I wanted to return to work part time so Mini Madness is perfect for me. It is also perfect for families who want a small party at home or a slightly bigger party in a hall. We’ve got play tents and tunnels, a mini-trampoline and two big ball pits and ride-on Scuttle Bugs.”

Webb runs Happi-Mess sessions in local

This is a great way to encourage healthy-eating if operators offer the right typesof food.” Flexeserve® kidZone has interchangeable menu headers, and a range of graphic options so operators can create their own finish and storage slots for packaging.

The unit has two ambient upper shelves with removable acrylic containers, a refrigerated base and lower shelf. To maximise appeal, it is also supplied with a starter pack containing illustrated activity bags and crayons with inviting, colourful packaging.

indoor-play centres and halls termly or as an add-on for Mini Madness clients. “The group I started out doing was only in a small room that could just hold 10 kids, so I have found bigger rooms and now I have 20 kids on two days and a waiting list!”

The solutions both businesses offer are appealing as there is no mess to clear up for the client and expansion beyond the Basildon and Vange areas is in the offing.

(from page 6)

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What is the nature of your summer offer? Around the World in 60 Days is a great solution for parents looking for fun and secretly educational activities for their children to participate in during July and August.On arrival at Gambado in Beckenham, Chelsea, Eastleigh, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Watford, children pick up their passport loyalty card and check in for departures. Each time they visit, they receive a worksheet to complete which entitles them to exclusive offers along the way. As an added incentive, their travels could win them a free visitin September.

The first 300 children per site received a goody bag and there are set dates for travellers June 29 was North America, July 6 was South America, July 13; Asia and July 20 and 27; Europe. The destination on August 3 is the wild plains of Africa, on August 10, the rainforests and deserts of Australasia, before heading to Antarctica on August 17 and back home to England or Scotland on August 24.

How do you incorporate these themes into your centres? We include the food, toddler activities, treasure hunts and many more based on the weekly continent. All activities are free with admission and were bookable in advancewith our new online pre-book admission service for asaving of 20%.

Where did the idea come from? We meet every three months to plan ahead our themes

for the forthcoming quarter. There is not always a key date to work with so it means really being creative and coming up with some interesting ideas. This idea came from Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days.

How is it going now that the summer is part way through?It terms of driving footfall we will not be able to assess this accurately until nearer the end of the nine-week scheme, however customer reactions to the free VIP traveller pack have been very positive. Customers have really bought into the educational concept as well as the freebies.

What are your expectations and targets with this initiative? The aim is to give families a reason to choose Gambado in our beautiful summer months. In previous summers, we have run stand-alone activities that have not always followed a particular theme. Whilst these events have given customers variety, there may not be a connection fromeach visit to the next. The weekly passport incentives as well as the pre-scheduled activities offer more than just soft play and offer something different every time. We want customers to feel part of something rather than simply transferring funds. Byoffering a nine-week timetable of events with a consistent message throughout we hope to gain return visits by customers buying into the concept and making their visitto us a priority.

What kind of offers are available alongthe way?Children on the explorer scheme get the chance to join in on a host of exclusive themed activities on each visit. As well as this, each stamp on their passport gives families more free prizes such as ice lollies, coffees and discounted entries.

What type of activities are you running?As we make our journey through the continents of the world we explore through play, crafts, meet and greets and cooking. For example, in Europe we get creative with Painting like Picasso, little cooks’ pizza-making as well as a fun, super Mario treasure hunt and easy Italian.

How have you developed the worksheets?We wanted our worksheets to be super fun but also to sneak in some very clever educational value. Our North

Forward-thinking multi-site operator Gambado has tackled the tricky issue of keeping its centres busy in the hot and sticky summer months by introducing a travel-themed solution packed with enticing offers

ndoor Play speaks to the team behind the initiative Rachel Miles, sales and membership manager at Gambado’s Beckenham site and

Rose Elliott, membership manager at the group’s Chelsea branch

Gambado taps into staycation trend

America spot-the-difference helps develop concentration and focus. Our African safari-treasure-hunt keeps them

moving and our Australasia word-search helps develop reading skills. We have plenty of

worksheets also aimed at developing artistic flair such as South America and Asia colouring worksheets.

How are you catering to the different ages of visitors with this?

Children are encouraged to join in and do their best whatever their age. The vast majority

of our activities are semi-structured so children are given the flexibility to interpret the task.

How does this activity sit with what you are offering in terms of day-camps, the Groupon voucher summer membership and your other summer incentives? Our activities are open for everyone to join in with our annual members and day-campers being encouraged get involved.

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Steve drives

to new heightsRound the Twist

ound the Twist shut its doors for a week in mid-June to complete its refurbishment and when they reopened, the major change was a brand new, all singing all dancing baby

and toddler area, for the under 4s. “We decided to create something bigger for the toddlers as that’s our Monday to Friday bread and butter,” says Steve White, who established the centre with wife Kerry. “We’ve had a local lady working 30 hours a week for us for the last year and she has introduced an entertainment and activity timetable which gives toddlers something different every day – singing, music, dancing, cooking and other things. So we’ve got these customers in for an hour or so for these activities, but we wanted to give them a reason to stay a bit longer, get them eating while they are here and this will keep the kids entertained while they do that.”

The old baby and toddler area featured a small slide, ball pool and a few bash pads, but the new zone has gone to town. “When we opened three and a half years ago, the focus was on getting as

much bang for our buck into the space as we could. I’ve learnt a canny bit in that time,” Geordie Steve says, smiling. “There is no-one in this region the same size as us, but we have more smaller competition out there and they are aiming at the toddlers as they see them – like we do - as the core midweek trade.”

The baby and toddler area has been strategically located at the far end of the centre from the entrance. “It was hard to stop the older kids going in the toddler area – particularly when it’s busy and they want to play in the ball pool,” says Steve. “So, we put the area at the back, with no clear run through for the older kids and we have mimicked all of the key features in the toddler area in the bigger playframe for the bigger children, so there is less of a temptation to go elsewhere.”

It has tripled in size too and Paul Sanderson of King of the Castles, which designed the area and installed the kit says he’s never seen one as big in more than a decade installing toddler zones around the world.

Paul says: “Steve showed us a couple of images of different things he’d seen and we had a chat around his ideas – then I did the design work around that. What we’ve ended up with is a baby area with various activity panels, soft play, a ball pool and a large toddler area that arches over the top of the baby area, with three slides, a dizzy disc, ball canyons, lots of foam obstacles and plenty of theming.”

Steve says: “It’s pretty easy to make it look like there’s more activity going on than there really is – but we wanted to make sure that once the kids got inside the area, they’d have plenty to do. We knew this was the biggest spend we were going to make on this part of the centre for a while, so we concentrated on making the most out of the space. It takes the toddlers quite some effort to get around it.”

Three and a half years after opening in Benton, a few miles outside of Newcastle city centre, the North East’s biggest indoor-play centre Round the Twist has just completed its first big revamp, and turned to King of the Castles for the job


The centre was initially kitted out by Creative Play, with playframe installed on either side of a World of Rides go kart track. The extended playframe has been given several more features, including a twister slide and a hugely popular bungee tower and built over the top of the kart track. The football pitch has also been given a once over.

King of the Castles first entered the fray to carry out routine maintenance work about 18 months ago, but the relationship grew and when Steve was looking to give the centre its first facelift since opening, he turned to Paul for ideas.

“There are a lot of people out there,” says Steve. “It’s the quality of the work you do that makes you stand out. We didn’t plan for this expansion when we first designed the layout, so some things weren’t laid out perfectly for what we decided to do now.”

Toddler target“If any operator came to me and asked what they should invest in, I’d tell nine out of 10 that a baby and toddler area is the way to go, because like Steve says, it’s the bread and butter, 52 weeks a year,” says Paul.

However, Round the Twist vowed not to forget its over 4s customer base and the playframe that’s aimed primarily at the older kids has had a big upgrade too, expanding by around 50% in area.

“We’ve also changed the reception around a bit, to make it more in and out as it wasn’t quite working as we wanted it to before,” says Steve. “And we have changed all of the flooring – it was carpeted before, but it was tough to keep it clean, particularly with the amount of toddlers we get in.

“I know from being in the building trade that quality is everything. It’s not all about saving money, it’s about spending wisely in the right places. I’ve tried to go with the best stuff I can buy, knowing that it will last.

Cultured café“We have also spruced up the café as part of the recent refurb,” he says. “When we started, we probably tried a bit too hard with the menu in the bistro – we had lamb shank for example – but we’ve learnt and refreshed the menu three times to keep the customers guessing. The quality of our food has definitely got better with experience – there are so many decent burger places opening now and I’d happily take the Pepsi challenge against any of them with our burgers! “We’re in a good position too, because other than a McDonald’s in Asda down the road, there’s no other food establishments nearby.The food and beverage turnover runs pretty much in parallel with the admission numbers on the door, but we’ve become more efficient and built better relationships with suppliers over time, so we’re able to make a better profit while still giving the customers deals and value for money. Coffee and slush suppliers were harder work at first too, but once they know how much you spend, they soon change their tune.”

Most things about the centre are super-sized. Two dedicated rooms, one upstairs and one down, plus a raft of diner-style booth seating, provide ample party options. The go-kart track is large too. “Most of the other places we’d seen had a small track, but we had the space so we thought we’d make more of a feature of it,” Steve says.“We bought the cars when we first opened. We charge £1 a ride and they have been great. I’m amazed how many punctures they get,

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el: 01543 375311 Email: [email protected]

el: 01543 375311 Email: [email protected]

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.magrini.co.uk


feature


but it’s down to wear and tear. My dad is doing two days a week for us now, to keep on top of maintenance of everything including the cars. If there’s nothing obvious to do, we’ll paint something.”

There is seating for 380, yet still it feels pretty well spaced out. “We have plenty more space for additional seating, but I don’t want to put people too close together and make it claustrophobic,” says Steve. “They’d be less inclined to spend more time here if I did that.”

Twenty-two staff work on a normal Saturday, along with 4-5 in the kitchen. This has reduced with time, says Steve. “While we

were finding our feet, we had more staff in to be sure we could cope, but we know what we’re doing now and can staff the centre accordingly. We have a number of students who work weekends and during the week, we have more slightly older staff, whomight come to work while their kids are at school for instance.”

Geordie sureThe location is good for reasons other than the lack of food competition. Benton Metro station is a stone’s throw away, there is a bus stop a short buggie push away and the busy coast road from Newcastle to the east coast passes right in front of the centre. Steve, who first claims to have no idea why he added an indoor-play business to his existing roofing business (which he still runs), then remembers why he got into soft play in the first place. “It’s a great location,” he says. “I saw the building was up for grabs and when we looked at it, it just seemed a good fit for indoor play. We had young kids and we’d been to the odd soft-play area, but we hadn’t talked about doing it. If it hadn’t been for the building, we would never have done it.

“The problem is a lot of people go to indoor-play centres when they are full and think that you just need to open one and it’s a license to print money. It’s not - this has been 10 times more work than I thought it would be. Kerry does the accounts for both businesses and we have a separate manager for both. I split my time roughly 50:50 between this and my roofing company.”

charge £1 for the card, mainly to ensure that we’re not giving them to people who will just chuck them in the bin, and I’d say 99% of our regular customers now have one.

“The customer is not always right, but the customer is always the customer and you have to treat them in the correct manner,” he says. “I hadn’t dealt with customers in the same way with my other business and it can be hard sometimes.”

Steve admits that he has taken some of the negative reviews from the keyboard warriors on social media sites personally. “I think it’s hard not to, but after a while you realise that you have to just accept it. “We give out feedback forms and 99% of the feedback is positive, but I suppose it’s easier to complain online. It has certainly made me look at trip advisor and sites like that and read between the lines.”

Hot spotWhen Indoor Play was in town, the new-look centre had beenopen for a fortnight and the weather had been sweltering throughout. “All of the feedback we’ve had on this has been good too,” says Steve. “But it has been hot and we haven’t been overly busy. That’s why we timed the work for this period. It’s standing room only at weekends when it’s raining, but because we’re the size we are, we don’t need to impose any time limits. People can

He puts great stock in the way the customers are treated. Parents and under-1s are granted free entrance, for instance. “It’s more of a moral thing than a business thing,” admits Steve. “I always had a gripe when I was charged to enter as a parent and we said we would never do it. Today’s babies are tomorrow’s toddlers and the parents are coming in and spending money – what do they getout of it? “We’ve launched a loyalty card scheme too now, which links through our till system and gives people points for everything they spend in the centre. The take-up has been very good; we


stay all day if they want. Most places round here, you’ll get an hourand a half maximum.” “I think where Steve has shown he’s different,” says Paul, “is that when rivals open up, a lot of operators lose their drive because it puts a spanner in the works, but for Steve, this seems to spur him on to get even better.”

Steve adds: “Pretty much everything we were doing was being copied down the road within a week. I even considered serving sushi just to see whether they’d introduce that too! But I think generally speaking I’ve been more of a problem for the competition round here than they have been for me.

“I’d have to say it’s gone very well so far and now we’ve done this, I think we’ll settle for a while. I have been asked about going in on another centre on the other side of Newcastle, and if the right building was there, I might do it, but that’s the only thing that would sway me. I think I’d be quite a good consultant to other operators the amount of money my mistakes have cost me! Good lessons cost a lot of money.”

Three in one

he building that houses Round the Twist is in effect home to three separate businesses, with

Steve’s roofing firm working from the premises as well as Little Twisters Nursery, which was bolted onto the soft-play centre around 18 months into its existence. “When we took on the building, there were a few offices lying empty upstairs and we racked our brains for a while for a way to use them effectively. We thought about a hairdressers and other ideas like that (which would be attractive to parents while their kids were playing), but eventually decided the nursery was the way to go,” Steve explains.

It wasn’t straightforward to get planning permission on either the soft-play centre or the nursery though. “We’re in an industrial park and it’s never that easy to get change of use, but when they turned us down for the indoor-play centre, we went to see the mayor and explained we were going to employ 40-plus local people and bring business into the area and he decided they should make an exception for us,” Steve recalls. “The day before we were due to open the nursery, the planning people turned up and tried to stop that on a technicality too. There are so many retail establishments that have opened up on this estate without going through the required planning process, but we were doing it properly and we were in the firing line.”

Another trip to the mayor’s office did the trick though. “We talked it though again and they did what they had to do. Sometimes I think they just have to find reasons to turn people down to justify themselves,” Steve says. “The nursery has gone pretty well. It’s just gone past two years and it’s starting to pay for itself. The two businesses feed off each other and complement each other very well – we also have an outdoor area for the nursery, so with the soft-play offer open to the kids as well, there’s nowhere to compete with our facilities around here. The nursery business is obviously not weather dependent either and it is regular, predictable income.”

feature

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Steve White and Paul Sanderson

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elephone: +44 (0)1405 812 157

elephone: +44 (0)1405 812 157


eil was an architect, designer, manufacturer and operator who in the words of chair of the FEC group at BALPPA Janice Dunphy “worked tirelessly to make the indoor

play industry better”. Here Janice remembers her close friendand colleague.

“Neil knew there was a lot work to do to take the tired image of a traditional soft-play centre into that of a modern family entertainment centre, but he had the drive, talent and ambition to create beautiful things with quality and innovation at the heart ofall his work. “Whilst other designers used CAD to show their clients what they would build, Neil drew his designs by hand, even making them come to life by layering them so the client could be engaged in their very own pop-up book. He was honest and truthful and never oversold to anyone. He laughed about not filling a centre with play equipment - he said you needed comfortable seats. If the parents were not comfortable then they would not bring the children. “He valued his customers immensely and not only wanted to sell them a quality product, but also to ensure they would have a business that was sustainable after he left. Neil cared, becauseNeil cared.

Neil’s Different is Good legacy will live on

Neil Scott, one of the voices of the indoor play sector for many years, died as the last issue of

Indoor Play went to press, after a tragically short battle with Motor Neurone Disease


“Neil was a pioneer and an innovator, his designs often stayed in first draft because customers could not visualise his ideas, but he always remained true to his values and never gave up trying to lead the way in design and quality. One of his drawings was of a slide he wanted to create that was transparent with water and fish swimming over it. I’m not sure if anyone ever built it.

“Neil was hungry for safety standards to be improved within the industry and was disappointed every time he saw yet another cowboy manufacturer tendering for work, winning it due to a cut-down price, which was then reflected in a cheap product. Neil was responsible for achieving massive steps forward in terms of creating more profitable, successful models and his influencewill live on.

“Neil was hugely knowledgeable and in March 2006 was the natural choice to be the inaugural chair of the PPA where he was able to steer and nurture the “new breed” of operator that was emerging at this time. Neil was a calming influence and always seemed to know what to do or say in any situation. He was always completely professional and a real stickler for high standards. In business he led with passion and compassion and was not at all interested in self-promotion or what he might gain. Neil was a gentleman and a really honourable man. He was just as passionate about his job as

he was about his motorbikes, football, family and friends. He was very proud when he became a grandad despite the fact he was already considered a grandfather... to the whole indoorplay industry!

“Neil was recognised by the PPA for his services to the indoor-play sector with the first ever ASPIRE Legend award in 2008. At the same time he left Mister Twisters, where he operated three sites in the North East, to work again as an architect. However, he could not stay away for too long and, with various offers for his consultancy services, he re-formed his own company, Play Concepts, in 2010.

“From then on Neil was in his element, working from the office he designed and built at the bottom of his garden alongside his motorbikes - he was now able to steer new operators and impart his industry ideals like never before. He worked on projects from start to finish whilst also finding a niche in advising clients with

their planning hurdles, another area where again he was a fount of knowledge and had a great deal of success with his persistent spirit shining through.

“The centres Neil designed and built will be here for years to come, as living memorials to one of the most creative men the industry has been honoured to have as an ambassador. It is comforting to know that despite the tragic news of his death from Motor Neurone Disease that his “Different is Good” philosophy will remain as a beacon for all operators to strive towards as a continued legacy.

“Neil leaves a family who are all immensely proud of his achievements and of him as a man. They will miss the most fantastic and irreplaceable husband, son, father, grandfather and stepfather. His positive spirit, love and dedication to family values, friends and colleagues will live on through them.”

N

Issue 33 Indoor Play

Secret Players

25

Did you feel children were safe playingthere and was there adequate security?Yes, there was a member of staff walkingaround the whole time we were theremaking sure everyone was safe.

Was the centre clean?Yes, very clean.

How helpful and attentive were the staff?They were friendly and helpful when weneeded to ask where the toilets were.

And how were the toilets? Were theyclean enough and did they have theright facilities for Molly? Yes the toilets were lovely, very clean andwith built-in toddler seats, which werefantastic.

What did you eat and drink and howwell did the menu cater for adults

and children?This was the only disappointing thingreally. There was a big menu on thewebsite for kids and adults that lookedreally good. However, when we visited,the cookers were not up and running yetso there were only sandwiches and rollson offer.

It is probably just a teething problemas the centre is new, but maybe thatcould have been mentioned on thewebsite as we were planning on havinghot food there for lunch.

Nevertheless, the chicken baguette for£3.75 and cup of tea I had were good andMolly had a lunchbox with a roll, PomBear crisps, a tube of yoghurt a FruitShoot and a fruit box which was quitegood value for £4.50.

What did Molly say? Did she enjoy theexperience?

She loved it. She didn’t want to leave andwhen I asked if she had fun she said “yes”.

Was the experience satisfying as aparent?Yes, it was lovely and even better as it wasquiet.

Did you find the centre value for money?It was very good value for money. It was£2.50 for Molly and £1 for me to get in.What was good was that the entry priceincluded tickets for the Wooloomooloowalk-through aviary, which has justopened too. Saying we were going to seethe birds was how I managed topersuade Molly to leave! Peak-timeprices are dearer but still quite reasonableat £5.50 for the over 3s, for example.

Will you return to this indoor play area?Yes, definitely.

RENCO NETS

For indoor andoutdoor play areas

For further details please contact Mick Hall

01469 575804e-mail: [email protected]

www.renco.co.uk

l Netting - knotted andknotless

l Anticlimb netting

l Rope nets and swings

l Rope and twineWe are the main supplier ofBraided Polyethylene andKnotless Polypropylenenetting, twine and all kindsof rope nets in FlameRetardant and Non FlameRetardant for indoor /outdoor play areas.

l Made to order

l Quick delivery

l Large stock of netting,twine and rope


obituaryobituary


Child Protection

33

that centre operators and staff areconfident about dealing withsafeguarding issues in a professionalmanner. Training is available and shouldbe regarded as part of the widerapproach to safeguarding alongside thepolicies, practice and organisationalculture.

When choosing the appropriatetraining, whether it be face to face oronline, it is important for you to consideryour preferred style of learning and anyconstraints you may have on your time.At the ChildProtectionCompany.com, weoffer an online child protection trainingcourse which is in line with latestgovernment requirements, includingOfsted requirements and the WorkingTogether document. Online training isjust as engaging as a face-to-face courseand comprises of activities such as casestudy scenarios and quizzes.

Our courses also provide learners withaccess to a wealth of further and relevantinformation via links and downloads. Asa general rule, face-to-face trainingcourses tend to be more expensive on aper person basis and will require you totravel to a certain place at a specific time.In contrast, the online experience worksout at £27.90 (including VAT), takesbetween 1 and 2 hours of your time andcan be stopped and re-started to fitaround your busy schedule. You willreceive a personalised certificate lastingfor two years, which is fully portableshould you decide to work for a differentcompany or area.

Taking responsibility for safeguardingand promoting the welfare of children inyour care can be a very rewardingexperience and it cannot beunderestimated how important it is inhelping to reduce the risk of harm.

If you would like to have a chat aboutany of our courses, please call us on01327 223283 or drop us a line [email protected]

www.matta.co.uk

T: 02920 809090E: [email protected] source code S1942

• Unique interlocking tiles designed specifically for indoor play areas

• Available in 7 vibrant colours

• Wheelchair friendly

• Hygienic and easy to clean

• Can be used to define play areas

Lasts a lifetime - 10 YEAR WARRANTY Made entirely from soft rounded plastic. No sharp edgesSAFE - Complies with Safety Standards BS EN 14988-1:2006, ASTM.EASY TO CLEAN DURABLE & LIGHTWEIGHTSTACKABLE for convenient space saving storageRemovable tray allows parents to feed their children at the table

For information please visit:www.addgards.com or phone: 0800 973 165



featurefeature

ouse of Play is owned by Dave Booth and Jeff Ainsley, who these days play a crucial, but largely unheralded part in the business. Their input is perhaps less noticed because for

the last few years, they have entrusted the bulk of the operational side to Shaun Wilson and Kevin Bowles.

The new company benefits from the same managerial team and sees all four join forces as equal shareholders and directors. “I think this reflects just how successful our ops team has been under Shaun and Kevin,” Jeff told Indoor Play when we visited House of Play’s Astrabound site in South Yorkshire.

Luna Trampolines has been established as a designer and manufacturer of trampoline systems custom built to suit indoor trampoline parks. To complement its proven product design and manufacturing techniques, the company will mirror its service to the soft-play sector by also providing operational support and training to assist operators with the smooth implementation and running of their trampoline park.

The kernel of the idea to move into the burgeoning trampoline sector came through a combination of following emerging trends and demand and watching the right TV programme. “We came across the idea and started to discuss it about the same time as we saw a programme called Undercover Boss from the US about 18 months ago,” says Shaun. “Most of the manufacturing was happening in the US and Australia and someone came to us and asked us if we can do it.”

They decided that they could and the interim period has seen the Luna directors research the marketplace extensively – to understand the intricacies of the product and of the operational side of a trampoline park. After 18 months of exhaustive groundwork, they have absolutely no doubt that Luna is going to make a big impact on another sector of the market.

Full of

After 20 years fine-tuning its end-to-end offer for the soft-play industry, the team behind Doncaster-based House of Play has set its sights on a new indoor sector, with the launch of Luna Trampolines. Tommy Leighton talks to director Shaun Wilson about the adaptation of a highly successful offer for the soft-play sector for the trampoline centre market and plans to provide British manufactured product for one of the quickest growing segments of the UK leisure market

Safety firstThe safety side of trampolines is far from harmonised and Luna has cross-referenced a raft of different standards across the US, Australia and the UK in order to attain the levels they feel the market deserves. “Arguably, it’s a natural progression, because we are experts in taking steel structures and covering them in padding,” says Shaun. “But it’s not as simple as that. Any fool can make a bash bag, but the risks are inherently higher with trampolines and you can only design and manage out those risks effectively if you know what you’re doing.

“We are better placed than anyone to do this,” Shaun says, “with 20 years experience as a manufacturer of soft-play equipment behind us and uniquely, 10 years as an operator (House of Play runs the successful Astrabound centre in Doncaster).

“The R&D has to be meticulous and our experience and knowledge as a manufacturer and an operator gives us an unparalleled ability to give advice and support for any operator looking to open a trampoline park in the UK.

“There are two sides to the health and safety. First of course is the product and we have designed the components and parts of our products at a level that is at least as good if not better than anything else we’ve seen in the world. To be the best in the market is, in our view, the only way forward. Second, it’s down to the management of the facility and we have used the research we’ve done to compile a ‘manufactures recommendations’ manual with tight management and maintenance recommendations, control measures andrisk constraints.

“The better the design, the better the layout, the better the operation will be,” says Shaun. “We believe that a products provenance is of utmost importance. By choosing to buy Luna Trampolines product, you will be choosing a bespoke manufactured

product created using skilled tradesmen and the finest materials… accordingly, you will be assured that your investment will be protected for a longer period of time.

“Utilising our modular trampoline system, we can design your trampoline park to complement the characteristics of your chosen building and then work with you to customise the aesthetics of equipment to maximise your brand identity. Trampoline parks attract high footfall and usage, requiring commercial grade materials.

Made in Britain“Most of our business is still in the UK, although we do of course export. The fact that this product is made in Britain is a fantastic selling point. People know that the quality of the product is guaranteed from our fully automated 16,000 sqft facility and that the quality assurance measures we have in place ensure there will be no compromise on the highest manufacturing standards,” Shaun says. “Where we are truly unique though is our service from conception through to completion and beyond,” says Shaun. “It’s not just about the equipment; we provide practical support and advice every step of the way that enables our customers to be as operationally sound as possible.

“At the outset, we do all of the R&D and design work as you’d expect, but our full service offer helps customers with their business, financial planning, premises terms negotiation, the drafting of necessary planning applications for ‘change of use’, corporate branding and operational procedures.

“I don’t think anyone out there is going to be able to compete with our offer – once customers come to us and see what we’ve got, from concept to completion, they recognise that we’re going to give them the best start in business. Effectively, it’s a franchise offer without the franchise fee. You get the full service andour absolute commitment, but we don’t dip our fingers intoyour profits.”

As Indoor Play went to press, Luna was on the verge of completing its first installation, at a site that was due to open in early August. Interestingly for readers of this magazine, it is an indoor-play operator – Wonderworld in Falkirk – that has taken the plunge. “It is an extension of the soft-play business and we had no historical business relationship with Wonderworld. They came to us for our trampoline expertise,” Shaun says. “The building adjacent became available, enabling them to expand the business.”

There are half a dozen more operators in advanced discussions with Luna and three more orders in already, according to Shaun. “We have a very strong order book, but the potential order book is

even stronger,” he adds. “We’ve been in soft play for 20 years and throughout people have been saying ‘has it still got legs’. It’s hard to predict just how big trampoline centres will get, but there’s a long way to go yet.”

While there has been a growing trend in indoor play for smaller units, the trampoline sector is generally looking for units anything up to 60,000sqft. The bigger units allow Luna’s strengths to come to the fore, he says. “These are bigger settings and everything is on a bigger scale and there are a lot less people who can borrow half a million than a few thousand pounds. The strength of covenant becomes far more important and you will only progress if you

H


Secret Players

25

Did you feel children were safe playingthere and was there adequate security?Yes, there was a member of staff walkingaround the whole time we were theremaking sure everyone was safe.

Was the centre clean?Yes, very clean.

How helpful and attentive were the staff?They were friendly and helpful when weneeded to ask where the toilets were.

And how were the toilets? Were theyclean enough and did they have theright facilities for Molly? Yes the toilets were lovely, very clean andwith built-in toddler seats, which werefantastic.

What did you eat and drink and howwell did the menu cater for adults

and children?This was the only disappointing thingreally. There was a big menu on thewebsite for kids and adults that lookedreally good. However, when we visited,the cookers were not up and running yetso there were only sandwiches and rollson offer.

It is probably just a teething problemas the centre is new, but maybe thatcould have been mentioned on thewebsite as we were planning on havinghot food there for lunch.

Nevertheless, the chicken baguette for£3.75 and cup of tea I had were good andMolly had a lunchbox with a roll, PomBear crisps, a tube of yoghurt a FruitShoot and a fruit box which was quitegood value for £4.50.

What did Molly say? Did she enjoy theexperience?

She loved it. She didn’t want to leave andwhen I asked if she had fun she said “yes”.

Was the experience satisfying as aparent?Yes, it was lovely and even better as it wasquiet.

Did you find the centre value for money?It was very good value for money. It was£2.50 for Molly and £1 for me to get in.What was good was that the entry priceincluded tickets for the Wooloomooloowalk-through aviary, which has justopened too. Saying we were going to seethe birds was how I managed topersuade Molly to leave! Peak-timeprices are dearer but still quite reasonableat £5.50 for the over 3s, for example.

Will you return to this indoor play area?Yes, definitely.

RENCO NETS

For indoor andoutdoor play areas

For further details please contact Mick Hall

01469 575804e-mail: [email protected]

www.renco.co.uk

l Netting - knotted andknotless

l Anticlimb netting

l Rope nets and swings

l Rope and twineWe are the main supplier ofBraided Polyethylene andKnotless Polypropylenenetting, twine and all kindsof rope nets in FlameRetardant and Non FlameRetardant for indoor /outdoor play areas.

l Made to order

l Quick delivery

l Large stock of netting,twine and rope


Luna Trampolines team from left – Kevin, Shaun, Dave and Jeff

Secret Playersfeature


are either a big hitter or you are seen to be working with reputable, established people. Because we have been doingthis for our customers for so long, we bring far more to the table than the equipment.

“With us stood behind you, you are far more likely to get finance, to be able to secure premises and to secure necessary planning permission, all of which represent the main barriers to market entry.

Of course, there is still plenty of scope for other soft-play operators to get involved at different levels. “The systems that we are manufacturing are modular and scalable,” says Shaun. “So if an operator just has the space to put a small trampoline set in the corner of their centre – we can do that. They are very flexible and mobile so with people always looking for a USP to differentiate themselves, they offer all sorts of options.”

Luna believes the advent of trampoline parks is more likely to have an impact on the fitness sector than on indoor-play areas for children, says Shaun. “Typically these centres are for the over 5’s and some centres are even for the over 11’s. If you drew a Venn diagram there would be an overlap, but I don’t think this is a threat for the soft-play sector – it’s simply another complementary activity for people to do.”

In that area of overlap, there may be some competition for the birthday party spend, however “I think trampolines can become the popular birthday party activity that ice skating and bowling have been in the past.”

“I suppose the ideal combination would be for someone to start opening 50,000 sqft multi-activity centres that offer soft play, traditional fitness and trampolines. We’ll see if that happens, but obviously we wouldn’t mind too much!”

Less F&B pressureThe distinction between the spatial allocation in indoor-play and trampoline centres is still being calculated by operators in the UK, but already, there appears to be less pressure on the food and beverage offering for the trampoline operator. The dwell times in a soft-play centre are generally longer and the family-oriented element of the trampoline game means parents are more often participating, rather than sitting on the side-lines having a coffee.

People are less inclined to want to eat after a bounce and certainly not before they bounce, says Shaun. “It’s early days and people are still working it out but our impressions and our research suggest that will be the case.”

Return on investment is of course high on any new operator’s agenda. “Our research suggests that new operators could expect to return their capital investment very quickly – of course it’s about finding the right building, the right location and then getting the spatial allocation just right too. As an operator ourselves, we have spent years perfecting Astrabound, so we’re in a great position to offer qualified advice.

“We have long been very strong with the blue chip companies in the UK – Mothercare, JD Sports and The Garden Centre Group are some examples of our multi-outlet customer base. Our ability to retain blue chip clients such as these is evidence of the quality of product and service we have consistently delivered. Indeed, with one-off sales I don’t remember the last time we lost a pitch and quite often we’re the only people the customer talks to.”

“That would not be happening if the competition was able to offer product and service at the same level.”


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27

offer these packages, you probably haveflyers and website pages geared towardcorporate business, detailing how teambuilding is an essential part of acompany’s success. But do you practisewhat you preach?

There are so many centres that preachteam building to potential customers, butthey don’t actually provide team buildingfor their own staff. Team building andgroup outings can have an enormousimpact on staff chemistry. Organise staffevents or dinners once a month (or evenonce a quarter). If the budget is tight, youcan even host events at your own facility.Use a weekday night that wouldotherwise be slow, and close the site for astaff-only, bring-and-share dinner. Letyour employees socialize and play gamesfor free. You could even invite theirimmediate family to the event.

These group events for your staff can

be as simple or as intricate as you’d like, aslong as you make them happen. Youremployees will pay you back withgratitude and a whole lot of hard work.

The illusion of perfectionBirthday parties are very important eventsto both parents and the childrencelebrating the birthdays. The parentswant everything to go well because theyare paying good money to have theirparty at your facility. But what happenswhen something goes wrong? You createthe illusion of perfection.

Train your staff to put on a “face” ofperfection so that guests think all is well,even if something is amiss. For example, acommon issue that many facilities have todeal with is late arrival of the food. Butinstead of telling the parent that you’rebehind and apologising (which can create



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Robinson reflects on 45-year ride

David Robinson, reminisces on his career to date, as the founder and UK general manager of the In-Store Group International and World of Rides, one of the leading suppliers of children’s rides and games for 45 years this year

n-Store Amusements has been one of the UK’s leading operators of coin operated children’s rides in supermarket chains, shopping centres and holiday resorts since the 1960s, but in

the early years, I became very disenchanted with the poor after sales service and unimaginative design of the rides I was buying for my growing operation. So with a background in both design and engineering, it was not too long before I opened my first manufacturing base to produce our own range of rides.

From the outset, my operational experience gave me a good insight into what the children wanted, and also what was required in terms of child-appeal and reliability to make the business profitable, and as a result, the very first static children’s ride we manufactured, ‘The Big Red Fire Engine’, quickly became a firm favourite with children everywhere. Before long, other operators started beating a path to my door demanding to be able to buy them!

From there, we progressed into making a whole range of popular models, including what, at the time, we thought were the first battery operated rides. But whilst exhibiting these products at a number of international trade exhibitions, I met and struck up strong and lasting friendships with a number of similarly minded European based manufacturers, who unknown to me, were also producing children’s battery powered rides.

As a result of close co-operation with my European contemporaries, I was able to enhance my own range of battery powered cars and they also soon became a firm favourite with children everywhere, even though in hindsight, early battery technology was very limited and had a very short lifespan.

Leisurely paceGradually, through the late ‘60s and early ‘70s a significant change took place across all the leisure sectors, as higher wages and easier bank borrowing meant that family holidays boomed. Even shopping

became a dedicated leisure pursuit! Farm caravan sites grew into large holiday parks, local shopping parades grew into big out-of-town retail developments, and large department stores grew into giant shopping centres. As more and more people frequented them, each facility found that they needed to provide more amusements and entertainment in order to retain the public, and their spending power, within them.

As a company, we quickly realised that as our own market share was growing, so was the number of less reputable operators who were entering the business and buying their rides from dubious sources on the second-hand market. These people often steadfastly refused to put child safety before profitability and as an active member of the leading amusement industries trade organisation, the British Amusement Catering Trades Association (BACTA.), I applied to start a ride safety section. Along with a number of other leading amusement ride manufactures, as well as representatives from the HSE, I co-wrote what is now considered the Bible for non-fairground children’s rides - the snappily titled Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS) Children’s Ride Safety Guide.

This often misunderstood document by operators was the industry’s self-regulatory thorough safety check, to be carried out on all children’s rides to be used by the public not less than annually. Similar to a car MOT. It was to be self-regulated by BACTA, as the preferable alternative to strict regulatory laws being imposed on all equipment operators by the HSE, which had the potential to make operating virtually economically unviable.

At about this time, I was also joined in the business by my son Andrew, who although being brought up around rides all his life, had been sent away to work for some of the leading national amusement operators for a number of years, in order to broaden his knowledge and to gain more business experience elsewhere.


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This was also about the time that I decided to better use the experience and talents of my long-serving team of dedicated ‘Fungineers’, and concentrate more on manufacturing and less on operating. A number of our customers had begun to mention that they were finding it difficult to buy rides to fulfil their operating contracts, for fear that I would tender for the same contracts, thus giving myself an unfair advantage.

Indoor openingsIt wasn’t long after that indoor-play centres also began to open throughout the UK. They have always acted like a magnet for children, but the opening of more play centres for both education and entertainment, which we all now know as edutainment, was a relatively new niche family entertainment market that would see many grow and prosper, and regretfully, more than a few decline and fail. Often those failures were due to a lack of provision of secondary income streams, which were not always recognised as vital to help finance ever growing overheads.

Potential income generation is greatly reduced if the entry charge is the only form of revenue at play centres, as every visitor arrives with more than just their entry charge in their pockets. The enlightened realised quickly though that the addition of a few pay-to-play rides and games could increase the income level many times over, by merely increasing the spend per head. As the public’s pattern of leisure behaviour changed again towards going on shorter one-day or weekend breaks more often throughout an ever extending season, so the play-centre owner

needs to work much harder at becoming a destination of choice, or lose out to the ever increasing number of competitive

visitor attractions available to their customer base, such

as seaside

resorts, holiday parks, zoos, children’s museums, theme parks, farm parks and shopping centres etc…

Larger play centres, with the space to include facilities for older siblings and parents, will obviously benefit from the retained spend of families in their facilities, similar to selling ice cream in cinemas, but smaller play centres can also compete for a far larger share of this market by aiming at what young children like doing best of all… just having fun!

Research has shown that three to twelve year-old children are the biggest single influence in choosing a family’s day-out destination, as any parents will testify to, so providing a selection of secondary income pay-to-play children’s amusements in addition to the core business entry charge and the essential catering facilities, is a sure fire recipe for success. I can say that with the benefit of years of experience, however many play-centre owners still feel a profound sense of guilt about charging for any additional facilities that are not already included in the entry fee. But take it from me, this is misplaced guilt, as firstly, if the amusements are coin-operated then the customer is immediately given a free choice of their use, and secondly, if the children become bored and ask to leave the centre, then the family will simplyjump in their cars and drive further down the road to continuetheir spending somewhere competing with you that does offerthese facilities.

The larger play centre owners have unanimously already chosen to add pay-to-play rides and games to their facilities, and as a result have seen their repeat visits, footfall and secondary income streams from non-core income generators all rise substantially, without

increasing their need for expensive additional staff numbers.“For the record, battery operated rides are still the single most popular pay-to-play children’s rides ever produced, they

take up very little space, are free of any pollutants, hugely profitable, and can also easily be operated indoors - or outdoors when the weather becomes too hot in

the summer.

They also teach children many dexterity and motor skills, as well as increasing their general road safety awareness, for when they are away from the play centre.

Secret Playersfeature


Secret Players

Future plansThe UK’s play and party industry is now a huge part of the overall UK leisure industry and as play centres have had to develop and change in order to meet the ever growing public demands fornew experiences, so World of Rides has also had to continually design and produce new models to meet - and exceed - theirleisure expectations.

As well as already having the largest range of battery powered go-kart and super trike rides in the UK, World of Rides we can also

boast the largest range of ‘Child Only’ and ‘Parent & Child’ bumper cars and bumper boats.

I am still very encouraged by the level of enquiries from leading play-centre

owners for boating pools, in order to install bumper boats, which swiftly became one of the most popular after rides in the farm and holiday park sectors that are usingour easy-assembly aboveground pools.

With the influx of larger play-centre franchises supplying their

customers with so much more than core soft play, I predict that within

the next 10 years many of the leading UK play centres will gradually grow into

leading Family Entertainment Centres. The reasons for this are twofold. First, there is a need

to diversify to combat competition and second, operators have to give their customers more of what they want and satisfy their ever-growing craving for new and exciting leisure experiences on their doorsteps. To this end, World of Rides has recently pioneered the production of ‘Child Only’ JUNGLE baby animal rides, which have been a huge success since their release in January, and in order to build on this success, we are already taking orders for our newest range of JURASSIC baby dinosaur rides, which are now ready to purchase in time to meet the predicted huge demand from children during the school holidays.

We have also recently pioneered the production of the first all-one-price token change machine for kiddie rides, which also gives the option to introduce Redemption tickets to those centres that do not already have this popular facility available to them - as well as safeguarding their cash handling. We have been very pleased with the positive operator response that we have been receiving from our test sites and particularly that they have all confirmed that their incomes have accordingly risen quite considerably.

Our new Token Dispenser can be used in conjunction with any new or existing pay-to-play equipment, and only requires the additional purchase of the £1 tokens and replacement token coin-mechanisms. If chosen, the value of the redemption tickets can be set by the operator, which puts the power in their hands. Effective sourcing of safe and HSE-approved secondary income generating equipment is the key to staying ahead in this fast-changing industry, as leisure trends come and go with alarming speed, and with over four decades of experience in the manufacturing and operating of such equipment, there is always an abundance of free advice and assistance available from us at World of Rides.

As far as I’m concerned, the future is looking very bright for at least another 45 years, for both World of Rides and our customers. Our business has and always will be child’s play and we will certainly keep providing family FUN for everyone!

Dave Robinson (right) with son Andrew

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Report aims to

The Generation Inactive report published by ukactive in June may not have made specific reference to the indoor-play sector, but it nevertheless represents a line in the sand for the way influential figures in the UK are approaching the challenge of increasing activity amongst children. Here, we highlight the key points and protagonists

kickstartinactive kids

ecorated Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is the chair of the board of ukactive and expressed the organisation’s unwavering in its drive to “serve the interests

of children and young people from the very early years, pre and post-natal, through to teens”. She added: “Simply put, our call is that when it comes to health, no child will be left behind by condemning them to a life of inactivity.” Her introduction to the report suggested that over time, the ukactive net will spread far and wide to meet these goals. “To ensure we get more children, more active, more often, I will ensure that ukactive Kids works with a wide range of children’s activity stakeholders, government bodies, respected charities, the academic community and other dedicated partners. We will pool together knowledge and resources and set the wheels in motion for change. We look forward to working with the many committed organisations who share in the mission to improve the health of the nation’s children.”

However, Generation Inactive, as ukactive Kids’ inaugural publication, focused its attention fairly heavily on schools and what they can do to improve the health of this and future generations. It establishes, says Baroness Grey-Thompson, the state of the challenge ahead and highlights the enormity of the problem of childhood inactivity and lack of control the nation currently has of the situation. It explores the methods that primary schools and

primary academies in England use to track and monitor the activity and fitness levels of their pupils and finds that less than half the schools surveyed knew how much actual time children spent being physically active in PE when time spent changing etc. was excluded. The report sets out recommendations to get more physically active. It stresses the need for a better understanding of children’s activity and fitness levels so that targeted and evidence based action can be taken to improve children’s health. “At best, we are measuring solely the inputs into a system,” she says, “as opposed to having any regard for the outcome, even though the outcome we seek is a healthy childhood that sets young people up for a healthy life. It is the equivalent of measuring the impact of maths lessons by counting the number of hours in the timetable, rather than whether a child can count. “If a child is at risk of leaving school unable to read, special measures are taken to address it. If a child is at risk of leaving school unable to grasp the basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle, no effort is made to address this, condemning the NHS to pick up the bill and the inevitability of the end of a health service free at the point of need.”

Many readers will remember Lord Sebastian Coe’s statement in 2012 that today’s children are the “least active generation in history” and could be the first generation in existence to have a shorter life expectancy than that of their parents.

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The All Party Commission on physical activity, established in October 2013, has since stressed that there is a worrying lack of young children meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day and the need to ‘turn back this toxic tide of inactivity’.

The millennium cohort study, the first UK-wide study of children’s objectively measured physical activity found that only half of 7 year olds are meeting the CMO physical activity guidelines, with girls being significantly less likely to meet the daily guidelines (38%) than boys (63%). The study also revealed that half of all UK 7-year-olds are sedentary for 6.4 hours or more each day. The situation seems to get even worse as children enter their teens with just over one in 10 girls at age 14 currently meeting official guidelines for physical activity, half the number of boys at the same age.

From a long-term economic perspective, Generation Inactive will be a huge drain on public resources and will contribute to a situation that is simply not sustainable for the future of the UK’s National Health Service. The old “ticking time bomb” chestnut inevitably found its way into the report, but hackneyed or otherwise, it resonates as all political parties have pledged to maintain a NHS free at the point of need. The government’s 2014 Moving More, Living More publication cited that the estimated direct and indirect costs of inactivity in the UK total £20bn a year. This figure gains an even more startling context if you take into account that Simon Stevens, head of NHS England has stated that to save the National Health Service an extra £8billion a year is required by 2020.

An inactive person spends 37% more days in hospital and visits the doctor 5.5% more often than an active individual, says the report and inactive individuals are also more likely to suffer from depression, distress and dementia than physically active adults who have a 20-30% lower risk of being affected by such conditions.

“The cost of sustaining inactive Britons is an immense strain on the NHS and on chronically over-used local authority health and social care services,” says the report. “This is a stark warning that if we want to preserve the future of public healthcare in the UK we must prevent an inactive generation of children growing into inactive adults.”

Physical activity is a “miracle cure”, said the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges recently, and is able to treat, prevent and manage up to 20 different lifestyle conditions such as many cancers, diabetes and heart disease as well as support mental health and wellbeing and the prevention of the onset of dementia. Furthermore, an increasing body of evidence shows that young children who are

more physically active are more likely to achieve higher academic success, less likely to develop mental health problems, and less likely to start participating in risky lifestyle behaviours such as smoking than children who are more sedentary. Such varied benefits emphasise the importance of combating the rise of a generation inactive by ingraining an appreciation for physical activity in even the most disengaged youngsters.

This debate is not simply about fatness and obesity. The evidence in this area is clear: to address obesity we must promote portion control, enhance food quality and promote healthy snacking and incorporate an active lifestyle to maintain healthy weight and reinforce healthy habits and decisions. To turn the tide of inactivity which leads to twice as many premature deaths as obesity, we have to target it effectively in an evidenced based way, from the earliest possible point which starts during pregnancy but reaches its peak during school years. The Generation Inactive report comes out strongly in favour of the formal measurement of children’s fitness as long as it can be done in a fun, inspiring and engaging way. Just during school hours, the current national ambition is to achieve at least two hours per week of high quality PE and sport in school for all aged five to 16. This, however, has been a struggle for schools to achieve, despite the fact that it now has broad cross party support. The ambition is not bold enough, says ukactive. “We should aim higher and demand more. Rather the focus should be on ensuring that children are given all the necessary support possible in order to achieve the 60 minutes of daily activity recommended in the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines,” says the report. “This does not mean we wish to see 60 minutes of timetabled PE per day. Instead, we are calling for a focus on a “whole school approach” which is as interested in the means in which children travel to and from school, the manner in which they integrate activity as simple as standing in lessons, the development of more effective and structured use of play time opportunities, the provision of pre and post school activities. “The first step in turning the tide on Generation Inactive and ensuring that children of all backgrounds are given the opportunity to lead a healthy, happy lifestyle is to gain an understanding of which approaches work when it comes to getting kids active and the true extent of physical literacy in primary schools across the UK.”

Exercise in Disguise 1Darren Johnson,Eddie Catz

This document is almost entirely focused on schools, but schools – and teachers – do not have the time, the money or the facilities. Why don’t you use us? There are about 1,000 indoor play centres in the UK.

I coined the phrase Exercise in Disguise when we were working with Change4Life at the PPA. Children get two hours of activity at a play centre and they don’t even realise it. Rather than giving out money in grants to organisations, why not give us indoor-play operators the opportunity to reduce our rates through a voucher system similar to childcare vouchers? It would be an incentive for us as businesses to get more schools to come in to our centres more often. It is also at times when our centres are quieter and it wouldn’t be chipping into family time.

“Playing at a play centre is something everyone can take part in and have fun doing, even if they are not sporty. Vouchers could be redeemable at centres that were members of BALPPA so there would be an element of quality control.”

Exercise in Disguise 2Iain Westwater,Managing Director,Gambado:

The aim of our Challenge 2015 was to promote ‘exercise in disguise’ using a different and fun format including a pedometer challenge where the children could run, jump, swing and climb their way to the most steps in our large playframes. Children can play and develop in absolute safety at the sites; our main play equipment is made up of 3 levels of fun, which includes slides, tunnels, and obstacles to test agility, co-ordination, balance and motor skills. We approached schools in close proximity to each site and invited them to nominate their school to be involved. Twenty classes were chosen and invited to come and enjoy their local centre for 2 hours free of charge, which also included unlimited water and juice to ensure they rehydrated. The sessions were appropriate for Key Stage 1 and broken down into 15 minutes sign in and rules briefing, 1.5 hours Play and 15 minutes cool down, prize presentations and work sheet handout. The worksheet encouraged children to name parts of the body so it incorporated an educational aspect too. Each child was awarded a prize for taking part. It has been very successful campaign and we feel it is really important for the Gambado brand to be recognised as place children can be encouraged to stay fit and healthy as well has have fun.

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At present the National Child Measurement Programme does not include measurements of fitness. Unfit children who are in a normal BMI range are completely ignored, which is particularly dangerous if you consider that having a normal BMI but being unfit confers greater health risks than being overweight and fit, the report says. It adds that schools have a “golden opportunity” as they are prepared and set up for the National Child Measurement Programme checks to also to assess the fitness levels of children, by using tried and tested evidence-based approaches. It is absolutely critical that such a measure is introduced and done so in a way that is fun, inspiring and engaging for children and young people, concludes the report. This should be informed by the academic community but shaped by young people themselves. Any organisation that does not believe such an approach is possible lacks the belief in creativity and innovation that is needed to turn the tide of inactivity, says the hard-hitting report.

Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, Professor Emiritus of Child health, University College London, served as Children’s Commissioner for England from 2005-2010, so knows first-hand that the barriers to the essential daily physical activity needed to keep children healthy and happy seem far more pronounced for today’s children than they were for his own generation.

“February 2015 saw the release the Health Select Committee’s report looking into the impact of physical activity and diet on health. The report was clear on the fact that physical activity is worth discussing in its own right, and I hope we can move on at the top level to talk about how we actually begin the process of getting young people and the entire nation moving,” he says. The evidence base for children’s physical activity is in its infancy when compared to what is known about adult activity so if the formal tracking of physical activity and fitness is not common place within schools, as [the Generation Inactive] report suggests, we will not have a baseline to track which initiatives are most effective in halting the rise of generation inactive. “Protecting and ensuring the future health of our children has to be everybody’s business - families, communities, faiths, schools, voluntary organisations as well as local and national government. We cannot afford to continue to ignore the consequences of inactivity in childhood. This report is timely and deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness. Monitoring the impact of this report is crucially important.”


To download the ukactive Generation Inactive

report, visit: www.ukactive.com/home

Welcoming the report’s findings and recommendations, he comments: “… providing children with opportunities to be active throughout the day, before, during and after school, is key to engaging even the most disengaged children. “The way children’s physical activity is often viewed in this country also fails to help its promotion. All too often childhood physical activity is seen as a small factor in the wider obesity epidemic, which fails to acknowledge the numerous benefits and overwhelming importance of physical activity in its own right that lie outside of weight management alone.


Secret Players

27

was a television screen in the restaurantthat showed them what their kids weregetting up to in Fun Factory.

Was the centre clean?Yes the play zone was very clean, giventhat it was the end of the day.

Were the staff friendly, helpful andattentive?Yes they were lovely.

Were the toilets clean and did they havethe right facilities for your children?The toilets were not as clean as they couldhave been – but it was quite late in theday and busier than usual and so thesewere probably the reasons why. Thechildren’s toilets were convenientlysituated right next to Fun Factory so thelittle ones did not have to walk too farfrom the play zone to use the facilities.

Do you feel the centre’s menu cateredwell for both parents and kids?They had a good and reasonably pricedchildren’s menu at the adjoining BrewersFayre restaurant. The children found thedip that came with their starter a bit toospicy for their young taste buds but theythoroughly enjoyed their main courses.Daisy had spaghetti Bolognese and Elliotthad burger and chips. They both lovedtheir sundae desserts. The adult food wasbasic “pub grub” – tasty and good value.

What did the kids say at the end - didthey enjoy the experience?The kids said that they had a fabuloustime and, for once, the adults had arelatively relaxing meal out with the littleones.

Was the experience satisfying?Yes, it was such a relief to be able to go out

for a family meal somewhere where thekids were not bored.

Did you find the centre value for money?Yes, it was only £2 per child.

Will you return to this play area?It will definitely be worth driving a bitfurther afield in order to have a relaxingfamily meal out.

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Increase birthday smilesWe are the UK’s number one, nation-wide, family-pass scheme. We have over 320,000 members. We sell around 200 of our passes to families every day and one Kids Pass covers the entire household. We work with the majority of UK attractions as well as restaurants and cinemas: for example, Blackpool Pleasure Beach where our members enjoy kids-go-free.

How much does a family pay for a pass?Our annual pass retails at £59.99 or we also offer a free one-month trial followed by £3.00 per month. Families typically save £500-£1000 a year with Kids Pass.

How does it work for play-centre operators?It is totally free for indoor-play operators to sign up to. Just contact us by phone or email to register your attraction. We need an offer from the centre that is exclusive to Kids Pass members and we then promote this to them. Along with this we also require any terms and conditions. Following this we design a redemption certificate outlining theoffer and send that back to the centre for approval before promoting to our members.

The centres have full control of the offer and terms and conditions at all times.

Free pass toincrease profitsFamily-pass provider Kids Pass is already working with a significant number of indoor-play operators but believes there are more that could benefit from its free scheme by increasing footfallat their attractions year round. Indoor Play speaks to commercial director Andrew Kilmartin to getthe low down

What are the benefits for indoor-play centre operators?Kids Pass aims to increase footfall by making it more accessible and affordable for families who may not be able to visit without a discount available. We also hope to promote centres to people in the local area who may not be aware of the centre and so create new business, which in turn could become repeat customers.

We already work with a large number of play centres, such as Gambado, Partyman World of Play and Funsters, Magic Castle, that have seen a fantastic increase in redemptions since giving us an offer to promote.

One of our popular indoor-play centres has received 750 redemptions since the offer went live in January.

And for families?Everyone in the family can benefit from the Kids Pass. Our aim is to make days out and family time more affordable. We have 797 oganisations working with Kids Pass across the entire UK.

How effective can Kids Pass be in helping centres stay busy at otherwise quiet times of the year?We offer play centres the flexibility to change their offers or promotions depending on the season. We also feature play centres on newsletters and in social media during quieter periods to help promote any discounts available to ensure footfall is maintained.

kids pass


What the operator said:“We have worked with Kids Pass for over a year now and it’s going really well. We see a lot of redemptions – between 10 and 30 a month across the whole group – at Marsh Farm and the Partyman World Play Centres. We also like that it is completely free for us to register our offers. We usually register buy-one-get-one frees and school holidays are the most popular time for redemptions.”

James “Magic” Martin – creative marketer and memory-maker, Partyman World of Play

ccording to the Pensions Regulator (press release 28/01/2015: “Employers fined for failing to comply with pensions duties”), by December 2014, approximately 30,000

medium sized employers, (those with around 62 to 149 workers), had reached their deadline (staging date) and were therefore compelled to have arranged their scheme and completed their declaration of compliance. Most had done this but in the last three months of 2014, 166 Fixed Penalty Notices (£400 fines) were imposed and 1,139 compliance notices had been issued to employers. These compliance notices are usually an instruction to an employer to remedy a problem with their scheme but a significant number were to employers who had missed their deadline to submit their declaration immediately.

The regulator is also warning that persistent offenders risk more fines or further action if they do not comply with the regulations. It is clear now that doing nothing is not an option!

If anything has been learned over the last three years it is that planning is essential. Cost is a major factor in arranging any employee benefit and it has to be both beneficial for employer and employee alike. However, time is probably a more important and critical factor. You can work harder and be more productive to earn more to pay for these benefits but if you have not planned well enough to set up your scheme by your staging date you cannot claw back time to meet your deadline. Planning is key, from deciding how to set your scheme up, to informing your staff what the scheme will involve and to negotiating terms with and selecting the right pension provider. It all takes time.When setting up your scheme, the principles and initial stages are still the same: find out your staging date; identify your eligible jobholders, your non-eligible job holders and your entitled

Planning is essential to avoid

Nearly three years on since KNFM first brought you news of the government’s push to introduce compulsory workplace pensions, we went back to ask them how employers big and small are now adopting these new rules. Noel Smith lets us know

workers and start to communicate with them, telling them of their obligations under this new legislation. It is their pension probably more than yours and it is only fair that they know what they are going to have to do in good time to really get the best value from it.

You then need to work out the detail of your scheme: what is most cost effective basis of pensionable pay; how much are you prepared to pay as an employer; what will your employees have to pay; what is your scheme default investment fund; how will you collect employee contributions, and if your employee opts out will you still pay your employer’s contribution on their behalf? You also need to make sure that your payroll system is compatible with your scheme as quite often the software to run your scheme efficiently and cost effectively needs to dovetail with your payroll system. If it does, it makes your life a whole lot easier - otherwise it could become an administrative nightmare!

The last factor an employer needs to consider is record keeping. Not only do you have to register your scheme at the outset but you will also have to prepare and submit reports every three years to the regulator. Record keeping is key to running a cost effective, compliant pension scheme.

pensions headache

You then need to source your pension provider. Some major pension providers will not be offering auto-enrolment schemes because they claim there is not enough profit in it for them to get involved. Others have had to shut their doors to new schemes because their computer systems already cannot cope with the volume of work that they have to complete before an employer’s deadline. There are a few pension providers new to the UK that have set up specifically to take on auto enrolment pensions. These schemes are similar to the Government’s own NEST pension arrangement, in that they are simple streamlined schemes where everything is done on line and by email. They are very cost effective (for the employee) but the bulk of the work will be carried out by the employer. Therefore the administrative costs could become high and there will only be a telephone line back-up service to help you through the trickier parts of the installation and running ofyour scheme.

One important change to the legislation was introduced in April 2015 and that is that the charge on a scheme’s default investment fund is capped at just 0.75% per year. This is good news for your employees, but many pension providers are adding on extra employer costs to access the software needed to run the pension. In some instances this can be an additional cost to the employer of over £1,000 per year. You have to be very careful with these additional costs as they can spiral out of control and make your scheme unaffordable.

There is an easy way to discharge all of this liability and responsibility in setting up your scheme: contract the services of an authorised pension adviser. They will charge for this service and the cost may appear to be expensive but you need to weigh this up against the time that it will take you as an employer and the potential fines and sanctions if things don’t go to plan. A good adviser will have the tools, knowledge and experience to set the

scheme up quickly and efficiently, they will know which companies will probably be the best for your requirements and they will be able to talk to you and your staff about the scheme and what it should do for everyone concerned. More importantly they should be able to demonstrate that their actual value is worth morethan just saving you a few pounds on setting up and runningyour scheme. However, planning is still the key issue. All employers regardless of size, are going to have to go through this process. If not enough time is available to set up the scheme properly you could be added to the list of employers who have received a fine. The key to your success with your new pension scheme will be time. Give yourself enough time to get everything in place and it will be plain sailing!

Compiled by Noel Smith, DipFA MIFS,KNFM Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Telephone: 020 8663 9710

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Noel Smith – KNFM

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[email protected]

020 3370 0885

Fantastic Educational Resourcesfor Home Childcarers!

Visit eypdirect.co.uk today!

Earn as you spend with EYP Direct’sStepping Stones!

EYP Direct ad A4_Layout 1 06/07/2015 17:03 Page 1

rom EYFS linked resources to business stationery, from furniture to books and other publications, Alex says that there is plenty to enhance the pre-school offer at the typical soft-

play business at www.eypdirect.co.uk

What does EYP stand for?Many think EYP stands for Early Years Practitioner, maybe Early Years Professional or even Early Years Player, some may think it stands for Early Years Products. In reality though, EYP could stand for any of those things, but what you can be certain of is all of the products will be delivered direct to your centre, many of them by next-day courier delivery.

What’s different about EYP?We have had hundreds of conversations with early years practitioners to really discover what is wanted and needed by today’s children and those who look after and provide for them.

A wide range of products came top of that list, and affordability was right up there too, which we believe we have acted upon. We are huge believers in rewarding loyalty. With this in mind we have introduced a reward point system named Stepping Stones. Literally every time you shop you will be awarded Stepping Stones that you can then use as discounts off any products on the website.

In addition, a selection of the products, such as the fantastic World Cultures and Festival book for example, will only be available via EYP Direct, and any indoor-play centre looking to add value to its youngest customer base, as well as their parents, will find plenty of opportunity within our product mix.

How easy is it to order?We are confident that EYP Direct’s website is the easiest in the early years sector in regards to navigation, product information and ease of payment. To speed things up, childcarers will have the option of paying for their goods by credit/debit cards and by Paypal. This is

EYP – your stepping stone to successEYP Direct is a recently launched supplier to the early years and primary sectors with the aim of becoming a truly one-stop shop to the sector. We interview managing director Alex Meazzini, who says the products he has in stock are equally suitable for the indoor-play sector

something the sector is not used to, but it’s a perfect option when buying on your smartphones/tablets.

What about the speed of deliveryof products?We have partnered with DPD and the vast majority of our products will be despatched on a next-day signed delivery (if ordered before 12 noon).

DPD’s delivery service is what really attracted us in using them as our preferred delivery option. During the morning of due delivery, purchasers will be notified via email/SMS with a one-hour delivery window so you won’t have to wait in all day. What’s more you will be able to watch the progress of your delivery on a real-time map, all the way to a final 15 minute slot!

Please note though, some of the larger items will be despatched directly from our supplier.

Is your customer service level assured?As Morton Michel’s sister company, you can rest assured that customer service is a huge priority to us. The publisher of this magazine has also been for more than 50 years the UK’s leading childcare insurance specialist and is now the leading supplier of insurance into the UK soft-play industry.

And how often will the productrange change?We are continuously sourcing and adding new resources to our website, so make sure you come back on a regular basis to discover something new.

interview


Alex Meazzini – Director (EYP Direct)

To find out more about the products on offer pleasecontact [email protected] or visit: www.eypdirect.co.uk

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Date post:	12-Apr-2017
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Indoor Play Magazine - Issue 34 Aug/Sept 2015

Lifestyle