Swimming Pool and new Gym

[karter]

Nice one James, good to have choice and variety in free weights. As dulwichbloke said above as long as they are not hogged for hours by the same people...

[Ann]

My son used the new gym for the first time today and he thought it was amazing and very reasonably priced with a leisure access card.

[James Barber]

Ann, great to hear your son also thinks its amazing improvement.

We promised in 2006 we'd renovate the centre. Its taken ?6.2M and several years - partly as its listed - to complete and I'm chuffed Labour have finished the job. And it now uses a fractino of the energy it used to.

Official reopening tihs Saturday at 10am. Do come along.

[slims]

james thank you very much.

[Frankito]

Sorry, what time is the official reopening? I keep forgetting..

[James Barber]

10am Frankito - I can't help being so excitied about our final 2006 manifesto promise being delivered.

[dulwichbloke]

I would congratulate you James, but it seems you have probably congratulated yourself enough already!

Maybe if the other manifesto promises had materialised, the Lib Dems wouldn't have lost control of the Council last year?

[James Barber]

Hi dulwichbloke,

All our 2006 mainfesto pledges for East Dulwich are now delivered (greater library opening hours, modern street lighting, fighting to keep the area remaining surburban in character, new secondary school and renovated DLC).

So not sure what you're talking about.

The grand reopening should be fun. Tessa Jowell, Cllr Veronica Ward and I have been asked to pop along earlier than the official 10am reopening in our gym kit for photos.

[dulwichbloke]

Hmm. I see you decided to reply to my last post about the Lib Dem's political record, but didn't bother responding to my earlier initial (constructive) post about the new gym and the weights situation. Was that a lower priority for you? I suppose it must have been. No worries (btw I did previously vote for the Lib Dems - I wasn't making a biased political point).

[James Barber]

Hi dulwichbloke,

As previously posted I've arranged for all the free weights to be put out and they go from 1kg-30kg?

What have I missed.

[JohnL]

In my gym experience people do tend to congregate (sometimes in groups) around free weights.

Maybe some rules about reserving benches with towels whilst using something else, about shouting encouragement too loudly and about weight clanging/dropping should be in force.

I'm thinking of joining as I only use my workplace gym at present - I do both cardio and weights - although rarely over 20kg.

I entered the competition too :)

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi dulwichbloke,

> As previously posted I've arranged for all the

> free weights to be put out and they go from

> 1kg-30kg?

> What have I missed.

[Only me!]

Having used the old version of the gym a couple of times a week for several years, I have to say that I am not aware of "reserving benches with towels"nor an anti-social level of "shouting encouragement" to an extent that inconvenienced others.

So I think that making rules about such things is probably unnecessary. The client?le of the old gym were, on the whole, reasonable sorts, who were there for a reason & just got on with it.

The fact that some train in pairs or small groups is not a bad thing ... I certainly train harder when paced by a partner & words of encouragement are genuinely helpful.

On the dropping of free weights & the uncontrolled release of machines however, I am with you though. Such actions are noisy, irksome & positively damaging (primarily to the floor.)These should be discouraged by whatever means prove effective. Signs maybe?

[dulwichbloke]

"What have I missed?" James - you missed the point of my posting - that's what you missed!

I was saying that I wasn't in favour of the heavier weights, for the reasons I stated and which I won't repeat. If you are interested (apparently not), you can just read my earlier posting.

[James Barber]

Sorry Dulwichbloke,

I don't feel that having a limit of 20kg with other heavier weights gathering dust in a cupboard would make sense. I'm sure these heavier 30kg weights wont result in any change of atmosphere. And if Fusion thought it would its advice to Southwark Council would have been different. IT is a very large gym. IF it was much smaller then I think your point could be valid.

Hope this explanation makes sense.

[JohnL]

going on my work gym (which does its job) - would be new here.

I'd have thought work gyms would be less macho - but not so :)

Only me! Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Having used the old version of the gym a couple of

> times a week for several years, I have to say that

> I am not aware of "reserving benches with

> towels"nor an anti-social level of "shouting

> encouragement" to an extent that inconvenienced

> others.

> So I think that making rules about such things is

> probably unnecessary. The client?le of the old gym

> were, on the whole, reasonable sorts, who were

> there for a reason & just got on with it.

> The fact that some train in pairs or small groups

> is not a bad thing ... I certainly train harder

> when paced by a partner & words of encouragement

> are genuinely helpful.

>

> On the dropping of free weights & the uncontrolled

> release of machines however, I am with you though.

> Such actions are noisy, irksome & positively

> damaging (primarily to the floor.)These should be

> discouraged by whatever means prove effective.

> Signs maybe?

[jaco24]

Ann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My son used the new gym for the first time today

> and he thought it was amazing and very reasonably

> priced with a leisure access card.

Can anyeone tell me if the gym is now open for use or is the offical date Saturday ?

Thanks

[James Barber]

I just wanted to express the thanks and gratitude of the East Dulwich councillors - Rosie, Jonathan and myself for the great job council officers and their extended internal and external team have done on the complete renovation of the Dulwich Leisure Centre.

Its been a complicated project due to listed planning consents, maximising what was kept open while the works were undertaken and a change of political administration.

The centre looks great. I'm sure it will now become an even more popular and much loved facility than ever before.

Thank you.

Attached a couple of pictures taken this morning a few minutes before the official gym reopening.

[PipD]

Leaving aside the dumbbell issue, what free weights do they have there? I've joined the Dulwich College gym but would be good to have somewhere to go on my days off or bank holidays when the college gym is closed. Also are there any kettlebells (a great combination of weights and CV if you haven't tried them, weight training is not all about grunting!)

[Supe]

free weights:))..Lets put it this way,if theres half decent guy who do squat and another who do pench bress thats all plates gone.That gym is clearly designed for women and elderly people. it's good for cardio training too, but thats about it.

[karter]

Well done to all and thanks James, the new revamped gym looks great, the creche offering is great value too, for babies 6 months and older. Nice one guys.

[Andyk]

Impressed with the new gym, well done to all involved. Less impressed that I rejoined at the weekend with a joining fee and I get a text from the gym yesterday offering me to join the gym with no joining fee...

[sequinstars]

I was very impressed with the gym at my first visit yesterday morning. It's lovely and spacious and extremely well equiped. I was a member of the Third Space in Soho for a couple of years before and I must say that the gym area in East Dulwich is much MUCH better and at ?70 a month cheaper for membership, it's totally worth joining!

Very happy!

[Hackblade]

James - I have just caught up with this thread after being away on holiday and wanted to say thanks for looking into the dumbbell issue.

I'm still not sure Fusion is the gym for me but I am grateful to you for taking the matter on and 30kg dumbbells are certainly better than 18kg ones. Monster Gym in Cheshunt has them up to 150kg but that's another story...

Fusion is a charity that works in partnership with the council. Presumably the council provided the funds for the refurb... are the profits shared?

[karter]

Still a pity they did not put in a sauna and steam room, any reason why they didn't James?

[sophiesofa]

If you entered the years free membership competition and get an answerphone message saying "you entered the competition please ring me on this number..." don't get excited like I did, you just get a 3 day free trial! The gym is good although there were little bits of blue tissues and bottle tops in the machine bottle well things and a few towels on weight machines which scared me away from that area. I didn't see what it was like before but it seems fine to me.