Leisure centre donates membership fees to charity

As we approach the second week of national social distancing measures, Grantham Meres Leisure Centre operator 1Life has announced that it will donate 25% of all membership fees to the mental health charity MIND during this pandemic.*

Despite having to temporarily close its doors to the community, 1Life is still doing all it can to help and support the community with health and fitness interventions.  

It has moved to offer its members the choice of how they manage their memberships, with payment freezes at zero cost provided as a default position and full payment and partial payments available as alternative options to move their membership to a digital solution. 

1Life is offering its members access to its online activity and coaching platform, which includes the global Les Mills (extended) On Demand Platform, which featuresover 800 unique workouts across 13 different programmes in 15 – 55-minute sessions. 

 Added to this is bespoke content for children to undertake PE, with the BORN TO MOVE programme for children as young as two years right up to 16.  This package also includes a subscription to True Coach, which offers access to personalised fitness and class programmes to stream at home, including advice, guidance and sessions delivered by the 1Life team.

Mark Braithwaite, Managing Director of 1Life said: “As you can imagine, we are saddened to see our much loved community leisure and sports centres close but we understand why this needs to happen and we support the Government and the NHS in their efforts. Just because our centres are closed, shouldn’t mean our members and communities can’t remain active.  We empathise with many people who will miss personal engagement and physical facilities, but we hope that our online solution will help keep you (and your family) active during these unprecedented times.”

Mark continues: “We have been taken aback by the local support from our members during this time, with many requesting to continue paying their full membership despite our doors being closed.  This is why we wanted to do what we could to pay this gesture forward and benefit a charity which does incredible things.  One in four people will suffer from a mental health issue this year.  MIND provides much needed advice and support for individuals and families struggling with mental health issues so it’s our pleasure to be supporting them during this time.”

For more information about 1Life leisure and sports centres please follow their Facebook pages for updates and announcements.  For information about how 1Life’s expert team can provide your readers / listeners with help and advice relating to health and fitness during this time please do get in touch. 

*1Life will donate 25% to MIND the mental health charity for those members wishing for membership payments to continue through the closure.