Simon Gwynne
Centre Manager | Hereford Leisure Pool
'I have always been interested in sports and decided to follow a career in Leisure when I left school. I managed to first get a job in Leisure whilst doing a Leisure Management Degree. I was doing a work placement at Ross Swimming Pool and was offered a job after 2 weeks of the 6 weeks placement.
I then continued to work as a casual lifeguard, kids camp host and swimming instructor as I finished my degree. When I had done that I managed to secure a full time lifeguard post as well as relief duty manager at the Leisure Pool. I managed somehow to juggle this all with my football on both Saturday and Sundays and spent the next year doing as many jobs within the Centre as I could.
Doing the relief duty manager position helped to cement my belief that management was a route I wanted to go down and luckily for me I became a full time duty manager in 1997. I managed to get a good understanding over the next 18 months of hands on experience of managing teams and being involved in making key decisions. Then I suppose came my 'big break'. 2 managers jobs came up at Ledbury Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre. Funnily enough a friend from college also applied and we both ended up with a job a piece. I got the Pool and he got the Leisure Centre.
The next 2 years gave me the opportunity to really start to get to grips with the intricacies of management. I managed the pool for 13 months before being seconded to Ross Swimming Pool to manage there as the organisation went through some changes structurally into what is now Halo Leisure'.
Then Hereford Leisure Pool came up. I wasn't sure that I was quite ready but thought I should have a go, as much as anything to get experience of what the expectations were at interviewing at that level of job. I will never forget getting the call to be offered the job, to then say, ‘let me think about it and will call you back'. I remember family telling me what great opportunity this was and asking why I even had to think about it ... I already knew I wanted it but I think I needed the 20 minutes or so before I called back to get my head round how big a chance this was.
And here I am... still manager of Hereford Leisure Pool and have been now since February 2003. There have been lots of changes, lots of ups and a few downs, but I can honestly say I love my job and the people I work with.
