Originally published in the Newbury Weekly News ‘New Year, New You’ supplement – 11th January 2024
Have you made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more or to meet new people? Maybe your loved ones, doctor or health professional have encouraged you to be more active.
Starting a new activity can be daunting at the best of times, even more so if you’ve been housebound for any reason, have a health condition or have simply become sedentary.
A warm welcome
At MOVEability, we understand taking that first step is the hardest, which is why we put extra effort into making our classes so welcoming. The emphasis is on having fun, with encouragement to go entirely at your own pace.
There are many reasons why people decide to join exercise classes at this time of year. Whatever your reason, you will always be given a warm welcome at our classes, which, as you will discover, are so much more than exercise.
The spice of life
Our classes are for ALL ages and abilities – one of the reasons our classes are so popular is our multi-generational, mixed-ability cohort. They say variety is the spice of life, and it certainly makes for engaging chats over the cuppa we offer at the end of every class.
Hear from our regulars
Many of our regulars say that as well as improving their physical health, our classes have enhanced their quality of life in so many other ways, including improved mood, higher self-esteem, forming new friendships and the ability to do more in daily life. Here are a few comments from class participants:
- “My hands are a little arthritic, and the stretching exercises have made a difference.”
- “I enjoy the exercise to music, the happy, friendly atmosphere and chat after class.”
- “I feel less isolated.”
- “I feel I can do more ‘jobs’ around the house and have more energy.”
- “The swelling in my legs and ankles has gone right down since joining your class.”
Many more can be found on our website testimonial page.
In feedback collected recently from our village hall classes, 95% said our classes improved their physical and emotional health and
helped them to stay socially connected and make new friends – so it came as little surprise that they have been referred to as a
‘social gathering with purpose’!
Our social impact and purpose
As a Social Enterprise, our social impact and purpose is to enhance lives; such feedback reinforces the need for our classes, driving us to continue building and growing MOVEability and its classes. We collaborate with charities such as Connecting Communities in Berkshire, Get Berkshire Active, Age UK Berkshire and Social Enterprise UK, enabling us to seek grants and funding to keep our classes affordable.
All classes are ‘pay as you go’, meaning you only ever pay when you attend, so there is no financial pressure if you cannot make it for any reason.
Give a class a try for FREE
We run weekly classes in Chieveley, Hermitage, Thatcham and online and are planning new classes in the local area for 2024. You can subscribe to our mailing list on our website for updates. We also run a local specialist class for people with Parkinson’s in conjunction with Parkinson’s UK, as well as a class on behalf of u3a.
Looking to try something new? Come along and try one of our classes for FREE. Find out what classes we have coming up.
