The Good Gym

The Good Gym makes it easy for people to combine exercise with doing good in their local community. 

Website: www.thegoodgym.org

The Good Gym unlocks volunteering potential by channelling the energy that people spend on exercising and turning it into positive social action.  In fact, it has two very simple aims: to increase volunteering in the local community whilst creating an additional motivation to exercise and keep fit without a treadmill in sight!

Originally it was set up to connect elderly and isolated local residents with a runner on a mission: to get fit, do something useful and to provide a healthy piece of social interaction.  

Once the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks have been done, and the teams have been paired up, the relationship between them can develop on its own.  The initial commitment is for a runner to make one run a week, but it is left open for the pair to decide if they want to increase the duration and the length of the visits.

The Good Gym also organises regular group runs. The aim is to perform physical tasks that need to be done in the local area for community and public sector organisations.

Currently The Good Gym operates locally in Tower Hamlets involving 150 members.

The award: The Good Gym has been awarded £50,000 to expand the existing Good Gym pilot across a number of east London Boroughs through a partnership with the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Contacts

• Ivo Gormley, Clore Social Fellow 2012
• Emma Frost, Director, Good Gym, Senior Communities and Business manager at OPLC

Ivo Gormley:
"We're excited to have NESTA's support - this will enable us to develop the infrastructure to support the Good Gym to expand and develop over the next few years and help many more people get fit and put their energy into improving their communities."