Kyogle’s new community gym officially opened on Saturday, with more than 300 people attending the event.
The gym was opened by The Biggest Loser’s Shannan Ponton, and featured a welcome to country by elder Patsy Nagas, and speech by Janelle Saffin MP. The day also featured a video of members of the community speaking about the gym and what it would mean to Kyogle, as well as demonstrations of classes by local trainers, Sharron Wieland and Kellie Handford.
We gave out 130 free lunches, and more than 200 sample bags, and counted more than 319 people.
Other local special guests included Carol Graham, who taught boxing at the site of the new gym for 20 years, and who opened the doors on the day, as well as Olympian boxer Athol McQueen, who presented Shannan Ponton with an honorary life membership of the gym in thanks for his support.
The event was also well-supported by local businesses, with lucky door prizes supplied by Toonumbar Waters Retreat, Iron Pot Food Company, Elizabeth T Fashion, Scarborough Shoes, Tom’s Music Shop, Plum Vintage, Kyogle Country Store, and Bambu Wholefoods.
We are really impressed by the support from local businesses for the gym. Almost every shop in town helped to advertise the day. We’d like to especially acknowledge Steve Durrant and Earth Bistro who provided the healthy and delicious lunches, as well as McDade and Family, Tom’s Music, Mitre 10, and Kyogle Building Supplies, who all helped source supplies and equipment.
The Kyogle Community Gym is managed with the guidance of the gym advisory group, which includes Sandy Cooke, Glenys Driver, Cassie Farrah, Neville McFadyen, Kylie Thomas, Jo and Peter Twomey, and Sharron Wieland. This group have done an incredible amount of work to get the gym up and running with a fairly short lead-in time. They’re a great example of how a few committed and skilled people can really rise to a challenge, and contribute to a great cause.
The gym’s instructor, Sharron Wieland, is completing health and fitness assessments during the next two weeks, and classes and sessions begin in two weeks, on Monday, 8 August.
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