MonLife celebrates first birthday of Active 60 programme

MonLife celebrates first birthday of Active 60 programme

This week marks the one-year anniversary of MonLife’s Active 60 programme, which is available for people aged 60 & over to become more physically active through in-person or online classes: including yoga, Pilates, tai-chi and gentle exercise.

Over the last year, MonLife’s Active 60 programme has proved a great success, providing members with not only a fitness programme, but positive mental wellbeing through connecting with others in the community. Active 60 members will be able to link their physical activity to MonLife’s My Wellness app via smart phones and watches creating a digital eco system where activity can be monitored by attending sessions. The most active members from each leisure centre will receive acknowledgement and fitness rewards from MonLife.

Abergavenny’s winner, Alex, started coming to the gym as he wanted to gain strength to push his wife’s wheelchair, finding that exercise improved his general well-being too. Chepstow’s winner, Eve, has been consistently attending swimming and fitness sessions, completing over 40 sessions since signing up.  Gordon, Monmouth’s winner, said he is very appreciative and is making great success with membership, donating MonLife’s t-shirts to a local group sending items to Ukraine. Similarly, Caldicot winner, Lynne, was over the moon with her prizes, and has found the team at Caldicot very supportive and helpful, benefiting her health and wellbeing.

The programme offers a variety of different fitness classes suitable for this age group to help encourage enjoyment through sport, as well as being a social space as people can meet others and chat. MonLife will join with other Welsh leisure providers to deliver its 60 Plus Fit4Life initiative, made possible thanks to funding from Sport Wales.

With over 150 members, MonLife have exciting plans to introduce new sessions for members which includes multi sports, dance, walking sport, walking netball and table tennis. The Sport Development team are looking for alternative exit routes for the programme into local community clubs, such as walking hockey, bowls, touch rugby and park runs, generating a wider variety of activity. This also give these members options to increase social outlets and improve health and well-being.

The first 8 weeks of membership is free for members, being funded by Sport, and £16.50 p/m afterwards.

For more information on how to sign up, click this link: Active 60 – Monlife

Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy

Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy

MonLife together with Monmouthshire Council are developing a Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy which is a strategic review of the delivery of our physical activity, leisure, wellbeing and sport service provision across Monmouthshire.

It is widely recognised, that strategically directed physical activity, leisure, wellbeing, sport services and facilities can have a significant and positive impact on helping communities:

• Connect
• Recover and reinvent from the pandemic;
• Provide positive experiences for children and young people;
• Improve health & wellbeing;
• Increase active environments.

This strategy will seek to help us set the future direction for MonLife Active by improving access to and developing future facilities for sport and physical activity whilst also ensuring we continue to meet our business aims of:

• Enriching people’s lives through participation and activity.
• Building strong communities in Monmouthshire.

The strategic review approach will follow the structure, set out below;

• Stage 1 – Outcomes – Developing shared local outcomes for Monmouthshire
• Stage 2 – Insight – Understand the community in Monmouthshire;
• Stage 3 – Interventions – Identify how the outcomes can be delivered sustainably;
• Stage 4 – Commitment – Secure investment and commitment to outcome delivery.

As part of this strategy process, it is important that we understand and consider the views of the community. We invite you to take part in a survey to help us understand the barriers that may prevent you from being physically active and how we can help overcome these.

You can complete our survey here:

WELSH LINK

ENGLISH LINK

National Fitness Day

This year will see the 10th Anniversary of National Fitness Day. Every year National Fitness Day highlights the importance of physical activity in helping us lead healthier lifestyles and this year’s focus aims to show that fitness is for EVERYONE. In a time where health and fitness is more important now than ever, we hope that you will join us and the nation in celebrating National Fitness day and making this year the best yet.

MonLife is proud to support this cause as we understand the importance and impact that fitness can have on a persons life; whether it be physical health, mental health or simply socialising. Our four leisure centre’s in Monmouth, Abergavenny, Caldicot and Chepstow all strive to be a welcoming fitness hub for our local communities to work on getting back to fitness, getting back on track and getting back to feeling healthy and great. As part of our celebration and to give our communities the inspiration to get back to fitness, we are offering FREE five day gym passes across our sites. Terms and Conditions do apply.

In order to enquire about a 5 day free pass at your local gym, then simply pop in and ask or contact your centre directly via the following contacts:

• Monmouth Leisure Centre: 01600 775135
• Abergavenny Leisure Centre: 01873 735360
• Caldicot Leisure Centre: 01291 426850
• Chepstow Leisure Centre: 01291 635745

In order to celebrate and build up to the big day, we have been using the hashtag #Fitness2Me as part of a campaign where people are invited to share what being physically active means to them. We want to encourage people from all walks of life, activity levels and interests to share what fitness means to them, it will inspire others to live happier and healthier lives through being active. So far we have had a great response from our members at our local centre’s…

We do however also want to highlight that National Fitness day is not limited to activities in your local gym or leisure centre. Alternatively, why not go for a nice walk at one of our Heritage sites? Below we have three different trails you can follow at Abergavenny Castle, Caldicot Castle and Old Station Tintern. These trails are there for your well-being and are a perfect way of getting fit and active! Take a look at our flip-book below to look at your local options and enjoy.

MonLife Active Tier 4 Lockdown

Following the announcement made by the First Minister at 5pm on Saturday 19 December, all MonLife Active Centres are closed as we enter into the Tier 4 Lockdown.

As you are aware following the Welsh Government announcement on 19^th December, all MonLife Leisure Centres are now closed while we await a further update from the First Minister at the end of January.  Therefore, we will not be taking any payment for your membership for the month of January.

Our staff, as well as the community, are our priority and we would like to thank you for the support that you have shown MonLife over these last few months.  We have received the most amazing feedback from our customers and we will look forward to welcoming you all back following the Welsh Government review in January.

Your health and wellbeing is very important to us and we continue to explore opportunities to ensure that you can carry on with your wellbeing journey at home.  We have a fantastic NEW product that will allow MonLife members to carry on training with their favourite instructors and participants they know from their homes with the NEW MonLife LIVE & ON DEMAND membership. This membership will give you an exciting Virtual Live group and personal fitness experience.  Please click HERE for further information.

To keep up to date, follow our social media accounts, like our Facebook Page, follow our Twitter account and subscribe to our Youtube Channel.  We also have a MonLife App – click HERE to download.

Our membership teams are happy to help with any questions you may have so please email monmemberships@monmouthshire.gov.uk or call 01633 644499.

Please take care and ensure that you follow the government guidelines at all times, click here for more information  Alert level 4 | GOV.WALES

Grassroots heroes – this one’s for you.

In March 2020 grassroots sport came to a standstill as the global pandemic hit Wales, but it’s at this toughest of times our grassroots clubs, coaches and volunteers became heroes and made Welsh sport really proud. Local clubs, groups and organisations quickly came together at the beginning of the national lockdown to help care for people in their community. You raised money for charities, delivered food parcels to NHS workers, distributed sport equipment to people’s homes and set up online quizzes to help people keep in touch with each other. That’s why, on the 16th December, we will be supporting the National Lottery in dedicating a whole campaign to you! We will dedicate our channels to your inspirational stories to thank you for your kindness and commitment to keeping the nation going, mentally and physically! If you know someone at your club or project who deserves a whole load of recognition on the 16th December – post your story to your social platform, tag us in the post and use the hashtags #ThanksToYou and #NationalLottery We will keep our eyes peeled and be sure to share your post so the whole [insert sport] family can be inspired. We can’t wait to hear how you’ve played your part.

CIL-Y-COED NETBALL CLUB IN SPOTLIGHT FOR KINDNESS

We have been blown away by the commitment, kindness and creativity of netball clubs up and down Wales over the past few months.

Faced with closed courts and lockdown restrictions, you have met these challenges with a positive, can-do attitude that makes Welsh Netball very proud.

This week, we are highlighting the work of Cil-y-Coed Netball Club in Monmouthshire as part of the National Lottery Dedicated To…campaign. A family-run club, Chloe is Head Coach and looks after the youth sides. Her Mum Jill is coach to the under 10s and Ladies team while sister Lauren pitches in when she can.

Of course, lockdown put an end to ordinary training sessions and get togethers but the club was quick to get creative and get online:

“We started with an Easter challenge. Each day for two weeks, members were set a challenge such as how many chest passes can you do in two minutes or how many figure of eights can you do through your legs. They were all a bit of fun but designed to maintain fitness. Our members would post their videos and photos on our social channels so there was a lot of camaraderie.

“Another time, we had a 15-day plan which would include fitness skills and ball skills. It was just something to keep people active and entertained. It helped maintain the sense of belonging at our club.”

When we reached May half term, we asked members to bake and decorate cakes with a netball theme. One member designed an entire netball game out of lego and animated it with stop motion. We have discovered our members have all sorts of skills!,” laughs Chloe.

Chloe may joke but the work undertaken to keep a club together with Zoom quizzes and online content takes time and is typical of netball clubs right across Wales.

The club recently received more than £1000 in National Lottery funding which has been spent on PPE, hand sanitisers, first aid kit and extra equipment so that coaches and players can avoid sharing and cross-contamination:

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to all National Lottery players because this funding will allow us to restart safely. It makes us feel more confident to come back and play because we know it will be within a safe environment. It wouldn’t be possible without the National Lottery.”

With the help of National Lottery funding, thousands of grassroots sports workers and volunteers from local clubs and organisations across the UK, have been be able to continue to help the nation to remain active, happy and motivated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, many of which are supporting the most vulnerable in our communities across the UK during the Coronavirus crisis.

MonLife Live & On Demand

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MonLife Live & On Demand

MonLife Active Offers An Exciting Live & On Demand Group & Personal Experience From Your Home. Sign Up Today And Get 6 Months for £29.99.

MonLife members can now train with their favourite instructors and participants they know from their homes with the NEW MonLife LIVE & ON DEMAND membership. This membership will give you an exciting Virtual and Live group and personal fitness experience The Live journey is designed to include social moments at the start and at the end of each class whilst focusing on your training. You will be able to track activities, monitor progress and generate results!

As with any activity performed with the Mywellness app the Live or On Demand classes will generate results that count towards the total daily movement and can be used to track progress over time. If you are wearing Heart Rate devices connected to the Mywellness mobile app, the measurement will be based on each member’s unique HR values.

Alternatively, users can join the class and the results will be based on the intensity set by instructors. We know that you want choice, different types of classes and different styles of instructors at the most convenient time for YOU. You will be able to choose your favourite activity and train at any time.

To register for MonLife Live & On Demand, click here!