"You Decide" – the APHAx/Gym bid

This is the detailed description of the APHAx Community Gym bid for a share of the Participatory budget.,

The other two Audlem based applications come from ADAPT and ADCA – it is vital to have as many people as possible at Nantwich Civic Hall before 10am on 21 January, to listen to the presentations, and then vote.

The APHAx/Gym Application

The Public Hall's Annexe is due to be completed in September and an important part of the project is to provide a fully equipped gym on the first floor, alongside changing rooms and showers. When the gym opens for business we hope to have some dozen pieces of first rate fitness equipment in place from Day 1. These will include a treadmill, an upright cycle, machines for stamina work, a cross trainer and a rower. There will also be various resistance machines and some dumbbells for strength work. We estimate the cost of purchasing this equipment to be £14,000.

The APHAx team has applied for £3,200 from Cheshire East's Participatory Budget to allow us to buy the first two pieces – a treadmill and an upright cycle.

We as a nation we are becoming increasingly unhealthy. There was a recent report stating that this was true for an astonishing 80% of 40 to 60 year olds, mainly due to obesity or lack of exercise.

Audlem Medical Practice has "wholeheartedly" endorsed our project, and stated that "Audlem has never had this kind of facility and equipment and it would make a real difference to the residents of our rural community". In addition the health benefits "will aid recuperation from illness or injury going forward".

We know there is support for the idea of a local community-run gym. When a questionnaire was sent to 1,200 households in the area in 2014 asking for your views on the proposal to build an Annexe there was overwhelming support not only for the project but also for the gym. Of the 408 responses:

• 82% of people took part in sport or physical exercise – often or occasionally
• 27% of people went to the gym or to fitness classes
• 58% of people thought a local gym to be "Important" or "Very Important"
• The majority of the 408 who responded said they would have an interest in using the gym in the Annexe.

A successful, fully equipped gym in the centre of the village would not only improve the health and well being of our community, make our sports teams fitter and more successful (?) but also reduce the number of car journeys to the nearest similar facilities (at Market Drayton, Nantwich or Shavington).

We hope to start by getting as many people as we can into Nantwich on Saturday 21st and supporting this and all the Audlem bids.

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