A Swinton community gym is aiming to raise £3,000 to add more classes and become more accessible in 2025.
The 0161 Community Gym is made of two humble rooms and was opened by Joe Chlebik in January of this year.
The newly opened facility already faces challenges of the growing chain gyms across the country – hundreds walk in daily, and their existence has effectively supported many to lead a healthier lifestyle.
But in Swinton, the 0161 Community Gym is something unusual compared to the chain facilities. This cul-de-sac on Moorside Road is a rare taste of community and togetherness in a public space.
Realistically, this gym will never soar into roaring profits, but that is not the aim.
However, money is difficult to find for a place that puts any proceedings made directly back into the gym, and upgrading the space is not possible without either support from the council or donations.
Joe emphasised the importance of the gym since its opening, and what it means to the locals for a place like this to exist.
He explained: “It was [opened] to be able to offer a space for people to come and access fitness and sport for cheap, or for free if needs be.
“To have somewhere that is not just a gym but a community space as well where people can come and learn a new sport, carry on a sport they are already doing, do some fitness at a price and a place that is accessible to everyone.
“We have a lot of people that come every week and are really committed to it and you can see the change in them and how much of a difference it makes to some people that maybe don’t do any other sport or any other activities.
“It’s very flexible in terms of the work we do and it is vital in terms of how much people are struggling.”
The gym has boxing equipment such as gloves, padding, bags for boxing classes, and weights for strength training.
Joe wants to branch out, and add more equipment and classes, and added that he welcomes the opinions of those in Swinton and Salford.
“We are more than happy to speak to the local community and find out what people want,” Joe commented.
“If there’s something lacking or something people need, we’ll look to provide that. The whole point is that we’re here to support the people that live around here as well so if there is something that they want to offer or want to see, then we would be more than happy to facilitate it.
“We don’t do monthly membership at the moment. It might be something we look at doing in the future, but we offer kids classes for £3 and adults classes for a fiver.”
The classes offered by the gym include kids, adult, and family boxing, youth callisthenics and HIIT classes.
However, with extra funding and donations, 0161 Community Gym wants to offer a different range of classes heading into 2025.
“We’ve got a little bit of a space outside, we’d like to be able to do something with that which should be interesting.
“We wanted to put some more boxing bags inside, which just means that we can have more people in for the classes and then make the space more flexible in terms of what we want to do. It’s just about being able to offer and have more [such as] yoga and dance alongside boxing,” Joe added.
“To me, the space is massive, so if we can put things in place to make it as flexible as possible, then that obviously makes a big difference.”
Irrelevant of the level of refurbishment, Joe is insistent that the prices will remain low in an era of difficult cost of living.
“If people can’t afford it, we just do a kind of pay as you feel, pay as you can motto and ethos, because that is what we feel is right, and you know, times are difficult and times are tough.
“Anyone that wants to pay more, that’s also absolutely fine, we take donations but the point is that everyone can kind of access it, so we try and keep the classes as cheap as possible.”
However, with any business, Joe noted the struggle to be sustainable with the nature of the gym and urged that further donations be needed to improve the space.
“That’s difficult [staying open]. We look for grants and funding and donations, and from the new year, we’re going to reach out to local businesses and organisations,” Joe stated.
“If they can help us with smaller donations of twenty, fifty, hundred pounds a month, it means that we would then be able to offer out more classes, do more classes for free.
“If companies or organisations want to donate every month, we can offer those classes for free, and then it benefits the whole community as well.
“We’re offering fitness and support for people, not only for their physical health but for their mental health, and that in turn is better for everyone and all the people and places around it.”
Hear more from Joe below as he discusses the benefits of boxing for young people and plans for extra classes.
Those wishing to donate to 0161 Community Gym and improve the space can visit the fundraiser here.
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