A PIONEERING centre which has helped to make thousands of Tameside residents more active is celebrating a milestone this month.
Active Tameside’s three-year vision was realised in March 2020 when Tameside Wellness Centre opened its doors in Denton.
Understood to be one of the first of its kind in the community leisure sector at the time, the centre on Lance Corporal Andrew Breeze Way has a “state-of-the-art” health and wellbeing hub with a rooftop gym, exercise space and sensory garden.
It has hosted 9,710 group exercise classes with over 210,000 participants, while 298,000 people have had swimming lessons and 66,700 children have taken part in school swimming sessions.
Operator Active Tameside celebrated the centre’s fifth anniversary last weekend by offering £5 bowling sessions and a five per cent discount off food, as well as other activities.
Among the centre’s highlights has been helping Denton man Paul Barraclough win a Member Achievement Award at the National Fitness Awards in 2023.
The father-of-five credited the centre in helping him lose an incredible 11 stone by going to the gym there up to four times a week, which reduced his medication for several health conditions from 20 tablets to just two a day.
Tameside Wellness Centre’s Area Manager says the team is delighted with the way the centre has “had such a positive impact on so many lives”.
Aidan Gilmore added: “It was our vision to go above and beyond a traditional leisure centre and create a space where people can exercise, relax and achieve wellbeing – somewhere they can leave behind the stresses of everyday life.
“A big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last five years, they’ve helped us to bring to life what started out as a new way of looking at the facilities and services we provide for the good of the community.”