Wednesday 12 December 2007

Plymouth's new life centre

Time to get my controversial head on, do we really need a life centre in Plymouth and is it going to achieve it's proposed goals. My concern is that the life centre is just a vote winner for the council and as with other projects such as the Theatre Royal and the Pavillions the project will be badly managed and underfunded and probably demolished within a few years - oh what a cynic I am. The council are stating that the life centre will feature non traditional activities such as rock climbing and yet we already have theses facilities in the city.

Small business' such as mine provide such facilities on a daily basis with no funding or government help, it is so frustrating to see our council preparing to throw a huge amount of money at something that Plymouth does not need. I agree that we need improved swimming facilities but apart from that I do not understand the attraction of the life centre. It is more likely that the life centre will bankrupt small business and wonderful projects such as those that happen at the Barbican theatre.

Again, please excuse my cynicism but will the life centre be a centre of excellence or a centre of moderation for underpaid council staff with a lack of well paid fitness professionals? One of the reason people are happy to train with smaller centres is due to the personal touch that they experience. My last point is that the council are supposed to make decisions that benefit the people of Plymouth and I feel that with the life centre and other recent decisions this is simple not the case. I think I have made my point and should now get down of my soap box.

If you want to get fit and active the there are a vast array of activities happening right under your nose so get out there and look for them, As my husband always says the hardest part of getting fit is actually getting of your backside and turning up at a training session, the rest is easy. Here are a few links that may help you find the new activity you have been looking for:

The council's sports directory (last updated 2003!)
Imara ladies fitness.
Mountbatten watersports
Rock climbing on Dartmoor
Amateur Boxing
Pole dancing & Burlesque
Dance and Theatre
Plymouth YMCA- a list of all the YMCA classes from badminton to aerobics to volleyball.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x

1 comment:

MrsG said...

I suppose there is the counter-argument that this new centre may be so obvious, publicised and shiny-new that it will encourage people to check it out, and then perhaps they will end up trying some kind of physical activity they wouldn't have otherwise tried...
But maybe there should have been some investment in making sure that the other directories and resources were up-to-date and working before spending a bajillion pounds on another new development.