GL1 Leisure Centre - Gloucester

We do MORE by reinvesting income to support everyone – that is why we are a charity/social enterprise! . Find out more about the work of charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts like ours delivering public leisure and culture at https://www.seriouslysocial.org.uk/

🛟THIS SATURDAY!🛟

Don’t forget that swimming lessons from 13th–19th June will include a special focus on water safety, helping our swimmers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe in and around water 🏊🏼‍♀️🏄🏽‍♂️.

To support these important lessons, all swimmers from Pre-School through to Stage 10 are asked to wear lightweight clothing over their swimwear (such as a t-shirt and shorts) during their lesson 🩳.

We are proud to support such a vital and life saving campaign 🌊⛱️.

⏳ 2 Days To Go

Launch Day is almost here!

Bookings are continuing to come in across the timetable and we're excited to welcome both familiar faces and lots of people trying something completely new.

If you've been thinking about booking, now is a great time to secure your place.

🔥 Latest Les Mills releases
🔥 FREE taster sessions
🔥 Gravity Reformer Pilates
🔥 Open to members and non-members
🔥 Friends and family welcome

Saturday morning is shaping up to be something special 🙌

What will you be trying first?

Supporting local employment and local economic growth is at the heart of what we do. Providing apprenticeships, volunteering opportunities, full-time and part-time employment charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts like ours are great places to work. . Find out more about our latest vacancies - https://www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/jobs/

🛟DROWNING PREVENTION WEEK🛟

We are proudly supporting Drowning Prevention Week here at Freedom Leisure 🏊‍♂️ Swimming lessons from 13th–19th June will include a special focus on water safety, helping our swimmers develop the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe in and around water.

To support these important lessons, all swimmers from Pre-School through to Stage 10 are asked to wear lightweight clothing over their swimwear (such as a t-shirt and shorts) during their lesson. 🩳

Water safety is a vital life skill, and we're proud to support our swimmers in building confidence, awareness, and safer habits around water.🏖️

If you have any questions, please speak to a member of our team. 💜

Helping people to live healthier, happier and more creative lives. We do MORE for everyone by re-investing money earned to support everyone of all ages and abilities.

Helping people to make that start, helping people recover following illness and preventing further illness, helping people physically and mentally

Gerry's story perfectly demonstrates why our Exercise on Referral Scheme at GL1 exists.

For many people living with long-term health conditions, mental health issues, recovering from illness, managing pain, or rebuilding confidence after a difficult period, taking that first step can feel overwhelming. Gerry's journey shows that progress doesn't have to start with anything big - it can start with a walk to the end of the drive, or through the doors of a leisure centre.

At GL1, our Exercise on Referral Scheme provides a safe, supportive and professionally guided pathway into physical activity. Working closely with healthcare professionals, we help people manage a wide range of conditions through tailored exercise programmes designed around individual needs, abilities and goals.

Like Gerry discovered, movement is about far more than physical health. It's about confidence, connection, independence and hope. Every day, we see people take those first small steps and gradually rediscover what they are capable of.

Because movement really is medicine.

Enquire today!
Email specialist Instructor, David, and start your health improvement journey:
https://www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/centres/gl1/contact-us/

Movement is Medicine - Gerry's Story:

In 2007, I stepped into retirement a year earlier than planned - not out of choice, but because my health gave me no alternative. Years of stress had taken their toll, and suddenly my world became very small.

For over a year, I couldn’t leave the house on my own. My husband was still working, so most days I was alone, confined within four walls. I felt isolated, stuck, and deeply depressed. Life, as I had known it, felt like it had slipped away.

But something inside me knew this couldn’t be the end of my story.

So I made a start - small, almost impossibly small.
I began by stepping outside the front door and walking a little way up the road. Some days, I couldn’t even make it to the end of the drive. I would turn back, exhausted. But I kept trying.

At home, I turned to gentle yoga sessions on my computer. Those moments became a lifeline - helping me reconnect with my body, giving me a sense of control and awareness I thought I had lost.

Then one day, I reached the post box at the top of the road. It might seem insignificant to others, but to me, it was everything. It was proof that progress was possible.

That small victory led to a big promise: before another year passed, I would join a gym.

Walking through those doors changed my life. Movement gave me energy again - but just as importantly, it gave me connection.
I was no longer alone.
I was part of something.
I was seeing people, sharing spaces, feeling human again.

When my husband retired in 2009, I persuaded him to join the bowls club with me. It was the perfect combination: gentle exercise and a strong sense of community - a double blessing.

From that point on, I never stopped moving.

The gym became part of my weekly rhythm. I walked to the shops, played bowls, and even took up netball umpiring for my daughter’s team. I did that for years - until my joints gently told me it was time to step back. Decades of ballet and sport had led to osteoarthritis, but even that couldn’t stop me.

Because I had learned something powerful: the more I moved, the more I could move.

Life carried on, with its ups and downs. My arthritis worsened over time, and I underwent several foot operations. But I refused to return to a place of being housebound. Movement became my medicine - keeping me independent, mobile, and positive.

Then came some of life’s hardest chapters. My husband suffered a stroke and later passed away. Within a short space of time, I also lost my mother and one of my brothers, while another was diagnosed with dementia. It was overwhelming - wave after wave of grief and stress.

And yet, through it all, I kept moving.

Most recently, I underwent a femoral artery repair. Just five days later, I was back at the gym. Not doing much - just a few careful minutes on the treadmill and cross trainer - but enough to keep the habit alive.
Because I know how hard it is to start again if you stop.

Today, I live with arthritis from my neck to my feet - but most people would never know.
That is not luck.
That is movement.
That is consistency.
That is resilience.

And it is also community.

Places like Blackbridge Community & Sports Hub are so much more than gyms. They are lifelines. They are spaces where people rediscover not just their physical strength, but their confidence, their purpose, and their connection to others. They remind us that we are never alone - and that it is never too late to begin again.

My message is simple, and I share it from the heart:

Keep moving.
However slowly. However gently. Just keep moving.

Because movement isn’t just about exercise - it’s about freedom, independence, and hope.

If my story helps even one person take that first step, then it has been worth sharing.

- Gerry
Blackbridge Charitable Community Benefit Society

Start your journey at Blackbridge Community and Sports Hub - we'll be with you every step of the way:
https://www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/centres/blackbridge-community-and-sports-hub/enquire-now-options/