Gentle Exercise celebrates it’s one year anniversary in style!
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Back in January 2022 off the back of the COVID-19 pandemic it became apparent that social isolation, poor mental health and physical wellbeing problems were escalating within the Wyre borough. Through tackling inequalities funding from Wyre Council, Fleetwood Town Community Trust launched an official partnership with Jules Brooks at Fitness 50. Through this collaboration we were able to develop our Adult Health & Wellbeing offer, and launched a Gentle Exercise class for over 18s which would aim to target some of the issues that were a direct effect as a result of the pandemic and help to meet the growing demands for Adult health & wellbeing within our local community.
Throughout the course of the past year we have worked closely with local partners, GPs, and social prescribers to provide an opportunity for people to improve and sustain their physical and mental wellbeing. Due to a strong partnership approach, we have reaped the rewards having engaged with over 160 participants through just this one class, from something that started out as a four to six week trial!
Not only have we sustained regular participants to the group but attract new participants week on week. What is the key to our success? Prominent levels of engagement, collaborative working, a strong a sense of community and inclusivity as our class welcomes people of all abilities and ages in a non-judgemental environment where exercise and fun is at the heart of it.
There has been on average 43 participants join us weekly and after the turn of the new year we have welcomed up to 60 participants for just one class alone. Due to the significant increase in demand, we have decided to celebrate the group’s growth and success and add another Gentle Exercise class to our provision! This is thanks to a continuation of funding from the national lottery community fund and Sarah our Be active stay healthy coordinator, which will secure the groups future going forward.
Meet couple Lynda and Peter who have been attending the class for almost a year. They spoke to us about the positive impact the class has had on them during this time and mentioned “before attending the class we were both very lethargic after lockdown, we used to do lots of walking but our legs had no strength in them, we had stopped mixing with people and needed something to kickstart change, since joining the class we have found that our overall mobility has definitely improved, we can go for our walks again, we feel fitter in general and even our stomach muscles feel stronger.”
When asked what some of the highlights are they exclaimed “we love the music that gets played, sometimes you feel as though you’re dancing and later you definitely realise you have done a work-out! Meeting new people and making friends being able to socialise on our rest breaks – it has given us a purpose to get up and get moving outside the house.”
Joanne who joined us more recently at the back end of last year has also described some of the benefits she has gained since joining the class. She exclaimed “before joining the group I did some walking but no real upper body exercise following a fall in summer of 2021. It has made a huge improvement in my general health & mobility – especially my upper body to my left arm which had limited movement due to a shoulder impingement, my shoulder is now 80% more mobile than it was before I joined, I’m now able to lift my arm above my head which I was unable to do before I started the class.” Some of the highlights for Joanne included “inclusion, friendliness, variation of exercises each week and being able to go at my own pace.”
Jules who leads the class on a weekly basis added some of her own feedback stating, “when Emma asked me to run this class at the beginning of the year the idea was to give it a trial run of 4-6 weeks, one year on and its become so much more than a gentle exercise class! We have engaged with well over 150 different people in that time, from teens to 80 plus years old. We have created a mini community of lots of different abilities who all feel comfortable within our group, we laugh a lot, it’s never dull and it’s great to see new friendships growing not just in the group but outside it too. I have personally witnessed some huge gains in confidence, mobility and balance from the majority of attendees and there have also been remarks about how it is improving peoples mental health as well as their stamina levels – long may the success continue!”
Emma who coordinates the programme for FTCT has also described what it’s been like to see the group grow from strength to strength “I would’ve never anticipated just how much this group would grow when we first decided to launch it back in January. It’s fantastic to see the impact it has had on our local community and how it has given an olive branch to so many, Jules is fantastic to work with and it’s stuff like this that makes the job extremely rewarding knowing that you are providing people with a group that can benefit their health and wellbeing.”
Our Gentle Exercise class takes place every Wednesday with our new class starting at 12.45 – 1.30pm and our original class taking place 1.45 – 2.30pm at Cleveleys park Church, West Dr, Cleveleys, Thornton-Cleveleys FY5 2BL and is FREE.
For more information contact emma.hickson@fleetwoodtownfc.com or head over to Fitness 50 Facebook page!
