Sport and leisure offer for older residents grows thanks to new partnership

Wokingham Borough Council is pleased to announce it will be working in partnership with Places Leisure to run a wider range of exercise classes for older residents from March.

Existing SHINE classes will be transferred to the council’s leisure provider Places Leisure, which has successfully managed the borough’s six leisure centres since 2018.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, SHINE had 75 classes per week, but there is now less than half as many (33) due to challenges around instructor recruitment and a reduction in the number of active members.

The council has therefore taken the decision to join forces with Places Leisure to give residents the chance to enjoy a wider variety of classes and get better value for money in the process.

SHINE classes are currently £5.60 for a single session and £46 for a block of ten. Places Leisure will offer both memberships and pay as you go options this will start from £4.85 per class for concessions for residents aged 65 and over, and concessionary (over 65s) Premium memberships – also available, starting at £40 per month. As part of this scheme there will be no joining fee for those moving from the SHINE programme. Those aged 55 to 64 will pay for a non-concessionary Premium membership, starting from £44 per month, but still get better value for money.

Full membership options

Pay as you go options

Not only will a membership provide classes tailored to older people, but there will also be more than 220 classes per week across six centres to choose from.

SHINE members currently get access to four swim sessions a week, but with the new arrangement they would have access to all-lane swim, family swim, Just Swim, disability and aquafit classes at the three leisure centres with pools. This would give access from 6am and 4pm, as well as 6pm to 10.30pm, depending on timetabled sessions.

There will also be a better gym offer, with 108 hours available for gym use per week, per site available across the six sites compared to the five sessions a week that is currently on offer.

In addition to SHINE classes moving over to Places Leisure, some will be transferred and delivered through the Active Ageing programme to bridge the gap between older adults’ provision and the long-term health conditions classes to target physical activity and social isolation.

In some cases, classes have been cancelled due to low attendance, but members will be directed to alternatives where similar activities are available from the same or a nearby venue. Where a new venue is to be implemented, the distance from the original to the new location will be within 1.5 miles.

The Places Leisure partnership will complement the services already provided by the council, such as Just Swim for older adults. These run at:

• Bulmershe Leisure Centre, Woodley, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12noon to 1pm
• Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, Lower Earley, Mondays and Fridays, 2pm to 3pm
• Wokingham Leisure Centre, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2pm to 3pm

There are also free-swimming sessions for residents aged 60 and over at Wokingham Leisure Centre, which are held from 8am to 9am on Mondays and 2pm to 3pm on Thursdays. At Loddon Valley there are free swim sessions available for over 60s on Wednesdays from 9am to 9.45am and Fridays from 2pm to 2.45pm. At Bulmershe, free over 60s swim sessions run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 12noon to 1pm.

Current concession memberships allow the addition of up to four juniors to be added to your membership. For an additional monthly fee of £3 per month per junior, they will be able to access children and junior activities.

Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure, said: “Our partnership with Places Leisure gives us confidence that integrating SHINE with their existing concessionary offer will be of huge benefit to residents. Not only will they pay less, but they will also get a lot more choice about how they can exercise across the six leisure centres in the borough.

“The council has invested £52.9 million since 2019 across a range of facilities to help develop healthy communities and promote physical activity. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Places Leisure as we continue to offer residents every chance possible to lead happy and healthy lives.”

Existing SHINE members with outstanding credit will be contacted to arrange refunds. Once classes are finished, any credits that remain will be refunded via the booking system.

Places Leisure not only operates the borough’s leisure centres, but it has also been running the BXGFit boxing gym at Peach Place in Wokingham since October.

It also runs Forever Active, a programme of low impact sports and exercise classes for older adults to look after their health and reduce social isolation. This includes tennis, badminton and aerobics, which costs £3.90 per session for members and non-members.

Tony Penge, contract manager for Places Leisure, said: “We are extremely excited to extend our partnership with Wokingham Borough Council and add these additional exercise classes to the current programme we deliver. We look forward to the current SHINE customers being part of our pledge to create active places and healthy people for communities to thrive.”

Anyone who has existing credits can contact the council’s sport and leisure team to arrange for refunds to be processed. This can be done whether you are planning to join as a Places Leisure member immediately, or if you would prefer to wait for the SHINE classes to stop running in March.

If you have any questions, you can call (0118) 974 3728 or email: shine@wokingham.gov.uk