10 Year Anniversary
This March active4less celebrates 10 years since opening. The club has changed and improved dramatically over the last decade, but it has never lost its relaxed, friendly atmosphere. The club was started by a group of friends, all of whom are still actively involved in the business today. In the last 18 months the club has undergone a huge refurbishment, with new studios and equipment. However this is not the last of the improvements and our members will be pleased to hear that further enhancements are planned for later in the year.
Active4less has been a pioneer and was one of the first clubs in the country to exploit the opportunities created by the internet and developments in web technology. Our current website is very different from the bland, static site that we first launched over 8 years ago. Our own personal trainer, Alan Cook, has been responsible for the wonderful site that we benefit from today. Online joining and booking facilities that we could not have dreamed of 10 years ago, have now allowed us to reduce our operating costs and lower our membership rates.
We now have a larger, more active membership than at any time in our history and the atmosphere at the club is buzzing throughout the day. Many of the staff at the club have been with us for many years and have developed a great rapport with the members. All the staff recently completed a number of exercise training days and following this they will be teaching some exciting new classes. Our current group training programme is over 5 times as large as our programme 10 years ago but still includes some of the instructors who started out with us! With over 100 group sessions, our programme is one of the most diverse and exciting available.
Looking back at everything we have achieved over the last 10 years fills me with pride, but I also wonder how we ever managed it. Today the health of the nation is of increasing concern and the challenge to promote healthier lifestyles remains. Obesity continues to increase despite numerous Government initiatives; advances in technology continue to impact on our activity levels and an aging society places a greater financial burden on all of us to deal with these issues. Despite this, people are increasingly more aware of the importance of health and want to remain active throughout their lives. All of this is possible with the right balance of knowledge, effort and luck.
At active4less we are excited about the next decade and the opportunities it will present. Personally I believe we need to continue to educate our members about the benefits of the exercise and encourage people to look for more fun and challenging ways to stay active, which also fit our ever-changing lifestyles. To this end we have a new weekly educational seminar programme starting soon. This will provide advice and support from our staff on a regular basis and will improve the knowledge and understanding of both our staff and members.
Thank you to all of our members and staff who have supported the club over the last decade. Bring on the next one, we’re ready!
All my best and thank you
Declan