UK Enterprise 2020

108 | UK Enterprise Awards 2020 Attending fitness classes play a significant role in the lives of many. Whether it is to get active or remain active, exercise can have a positive impact to not only your physical health, but also your mental health. However, it can be a struggle to find a class where you feel supported, respected and valued as a member. One business ensuring that anyone who enters one of their classes are warmly welcomed, is Essex Health and Fitness. We profiled the Maldon, Essex based business to discover more about their award-wining service. Best Community Fitness Service 2020 - Maldon District Jul20430 For more than two decades, Essex Health and Fitness have been running community-based health and fitness classes, which include Pilates, Yoga, Zumba, Bootcamp and Back Care to name but a few. Today, the business strongly emphasises inclusivity, as they believe that everyone should have the opportunity to participate in high standard and affordable exercise. As such, the team do everything they possibly can to facilitate this for all the members of their community. Essex Health and Fitness caters to a diverse demographic, with their clients’ ages ranging from 16 all the way to 96, and their ability from athlete to rehabilitative. Their journey started back in 1994 when they began running one aerobics class from small village hall. Now, the team proudly run 21 classes across four community-based venues. Having taught classes in the Maldon District for twenty years, the team have gained a good reputation within the fitness industry and in particular the rehabilitation sector. The benefit of this commendable reputation is that they are regularly recommended to locals due to their loyal membership base. The loyalty found in their membership base come from the extraordinary level of service the team provide to everyone who enters the class. As previously mentioned, every class member feels valued, respected and supported from the moment they arrive at a session. Not only this, but the team are also on hand to answer any query. It is no secret to class members that the team invest a great deal back into teacher training, so all classes are delivered at an exceptional standard. At Essex Health and Fitness, the team play a significant role in the overall success of the business. With regular meetings, although now hosted through ZOOM, the team come together to share ideas and celebrate the achievements of the past term. Having started over 20 years ago, Essex Health and Fitness still have the original crew, with the exception of two members. This loyal and long-standing team consider each other as family than colleagues, but they are more than happy to welcome new members. The main qualities they look for are someone who is warm, welcoming personalities that have a passion for encouraging everybody to be active. The success Essex Health and Fitness have had throughout the years has most certainly been tremendous. The team believe the reason behind their success and why the business has been able to rapidly grow is thanks to the overwhelming support from the classes within the community of Maldon, Essex. The Essex Health and Fitness team are incredibly proud of their members and their achievements, as well as their dedication to be, and remain, fit and active. As the business continues to grow, team are on the search to find a venue where they could have a permanent place to host classes for their class members. However, due to the current climate, they are unable to host physical classes. Which is why they run an extensive programme of fitness classes online to keep their members active. Since COVID, Essex Health & Fitness have seen an increase in the number of people using online classes extensively. Fortunately for the award- winning business, the vast majority of their members were already following them online, with a little support from the technical team. With restrictions in the UK starting to ease, and things slowly going back to normal, Essex Health and Fitness is putting plans in place to ensure they are able to open and operate safely. When they do return to hosting physical classes, they will be with much smaller groups than before, and will only be able to run for 45 minutes at a time. This is to ensure that there is enough time to thoroughly clean before the next session begins. Whilst we all adapt to this new way of living during these uncertain times, one thing that remains certain is that Essex Health and Fitness is righteously deserving of the title Best Community Fitness Service 2020 - Maldon District, and we are excited to see what the future has in store for the team. Contact: Joani St Cliere Company: Essex Health and Fitness Web Address: www.essexhealthandfitness.co.uk