Salisbury gym backing Work Out to Help Out petition
The movement has gained thousands of signatures over the last couple of weeks
Last updated 2nd Feb 2021
The manager of a gym in Salisbury is supporting a petition to create a 'Work Out to Help Out' scheme and is calling on the government to make the industry one of the first to reopen after lockdown.
Gary Sheppard from Parkwood Health and Fitness says it's vital for both the business and their members to get the centre reopened.
Earlier this month, Liz Terry MBE started a petition to get the government to recognise the importance of gyms, health clubs, leisure centres and swimming pools in empowering people to look after their health.
It's also asking them to make a similar scheme to 'Eat Out to Help Out', which was implemented in August last year to help the hospitality industry.
So far, over 35,000 people have signed it.
Gary told Greatest Hits Radio:
"This is something I support 100%, I think the logic behind the scheme is that gyms, in regard to the track and trace, we proved that we were safe, we proved that we could operate responsibly in an incredibly clean and socially distanced environment, we went above and beyond to make sure that was the case and our members really got behind it, really stuck to the rules and did everything we asked of them and I just think we're in a position where we want to able to serve our communities safely and we want the government to acknowledge the role that we play in health and fitness.
I think from a business point of view top to bottom the company has commitments to staff and we want those individuals in jobs and get them back doing what they love but also from a personal perspective we feel we are a community, we have thousands of members who use us, who have stood by the rules and done everything asked of them, if we can safely bring those people back we can see their faces, we can continue to serve them and look after them in an appropriate and controlled environment, we miss what we love doing and we miss the building doing what it's supposed to do."
It's the third time that gyms and leisure centres have had to close during a national lockdown.
During these times, many companies have stopped charging their members, including Parkwood.
Gary says that it would be wrong for any business to not be slightly concerned about the future:
"From a business perspective it has obviously been extremely difficult and extremely challenging as we cannot trade but in good faith we want to do right by our members so we're not taking any membership fees from them but as a business we still have overheads our premises alone still has commercial rent and that's not protected by any scheme so large amounts of money are leaving our bank account every month but we look forward to being open and getting our communities back."
There has been no confirmation on when this national lockdown will end.