community , and our funders , partners and supporters . However , a huge amount of credit must go to our staff who have delivered incredible results , as well as managing a smooth transition of our activities into the Trust . I would like to pay tribute to the staff and their passion and dedication on behalf of myself and my fellow trustees .
Our sports development programmes built on the successes of 2014 and even grew by five per cent , which was a tremendous result . This was even more of an achievement coming , as it did , after 2014 , the year of the Commonwealth Games , when sport and participation had a hugely increased profile , funding and impetus . We were also delighted that attendances were up over 13 per cent in our sports venues , year on year , and over eight per cent up on the previous record year in 2011 / 12 .
Meanwhile , in our libraries , we attracted more over 1 million visitors , in person and on-line , for the first time . Our active library users are now almost one third of the East Renfrewshire population and almost 80 % of adults rated the services as Excellent or Good . ( Satisfaction amongst our young users was 99.1 %.) These are remarkable achievement and our staff have been fundamental to that success . Their hard work and dedication was recognised with a prestigious Edge Award , a national award recognising particularly excellent service and previously awarded to large municipal authorities such as Manchester and Glasgow . The rise in attendances and national recognition underline our determination for our library service to be seen as a national benchmark for excellence .
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners and supporters , especially our principal partner East Renfrewshire Council . In a relatively short period of time , the trust and council have forged a robust and constructive partnership and are developing an ambitious shared vision for sport , leisure and culture services in East Renfrewshire . The Council ’ s intention to invest to support and improve facilities is welcome and , coupled with the Trust ’ s determination to provide first-class services , will only benefit the people of East Renfrewshire .
Building budgets for the first year of a new organisation was always going to present a special challenge . The task was made even harder because there were so many variables , making forecasting even more of a challenge as we brought services together from different parts of the council , many of them after reorganisation and restructuring . Given that initial period of flux , our income was marginally , but perhaps unsurprisingly , lower than forecast – albeit by less than one per cent . This was , however , more than offset by launch funding provided by the Council in anticipation of these factors and our focus on , and efficient management of costs .
After a challenging but exhilarating first year , we are satisfied the Trust has been built on strong foundations and is capable of continuing our mission to become the bestperforming leisure trust in Scotland . The trustees are confident that we have in place the managers , staff , talent and determination to pursue the ambitious programme of modernisation , digitisation , and continuous improvement needed to achieve that goal .
The Trust moves into our second year with renewed confidence in our ability to improve the quality of our activities , enhance the experience of our customers , and build on the impressive growth in services delivered in our inaugural year .
Jim Wilson ERCL Chairman