Winter 2020Castleton Health and Leisure Centre

Castleton Health and Leisure Centre has undergone a major rebrand – encompassing its complementary health and wellbeing services under new banners of fitness, well-being and empowerment – resulting in a fresh new look.

Following government guidelines, the well-used Edwardian baths closed its doors earlier this year on 19 March: reopening on 8 August. Whilst the country awaited the reopening of gyms and swimming pools, work went on behind the scenes at the 110-year-old baths.

Ordinarily, the leisure centre could not have afforded to close whilst repairs and improvements were carried out. However, the lockdown period proved to be perfect timing to drain the pool dry (after discovering a leak), sand and repaint it.

The former Castleton Baths re-opened its doors to the public under its new name – Castleton Health and Leisure Centre – in October 2017, after the pool’s long-term future was secured following a community asset transfer to local businessman Nick Crewe, who restored the baths to their former glory.

The work completed during lockdown also included a full repaint of the pool, converting all lights to eco-friendly LED bulbs, revamping the first-floor gallery to increase the viewing area for the public, renovating the ceilings in both changing rooms, refurbishing the pool steps, and bringing back five swimming lanes.

A one-way system is now in place, and hand sanitiser stations have been installed, with staff at the venue working with local swimming clubs to ensure the pool and its facilities were Covid-safe before reopening.

Facility manager Jo Potts previously won the ‘She Inspires’ award in 2019 for her contribution to fitness and well-being, after she featured in a book celebrating the centenary of women’s suffrage, ‘100 Women, 100 Stories’.

Jo featured in the book by Gulnaz Brennan for her contributions to holistic health and spirituality through the True Serenity and Enlightening businesses.

Jo said: “We’ve been offering ‘family pods’, to hire a quarter of the pool out at a time. We’ve also made the pool a little bit warmer than usual, so we’ve had lots of lockdown babies experiencing swimming for the first time!

“We’ve had some really great feedback, and we’re looking forward to keeping going, keeping people fit and helping boost morale that little bit more.”

The venue also offers a range of complementary health and wellbeing services, CHL Empowerment (formerly Enlightening) and CHL Well-being (formerly True Serenity), encompassing a full range of creative activities and alternative therapies such as massage, reiki, reiki training, Bowen Technique, reflexology, plus support for PTSD and mental health.

FloatFit is the newest fitness class at Castleton Health and Leisure Centre – and is fully Covid-safe, but what is it?

Created by AquaPhysical, FloatFit is a group exercise class with a twist – taking a classic 30-minute bodyweight workout and applying it to a special inflatable floating exercise mat called the AquaBase – yes, really! The boards at Castleton are distanced 2m apart, perfect for keeping fit at this challenging time.

You can choose between Balance, inspired by yoga and pilates, or high intensity interval training. There’s even a session for kids, called Grow.

Jo added: “FloatFit is an amazing core and cardio workout which is fun for any age group. No matter which class you choose, you’ll definitely reap the benefits without realising how hard you’re working.”