Ive been asked by a few of our members whats going on with the gym, if it will be open as usual over the summer etc so I thought Id explain the current situation here. Short version: The club will no longer be a part of Tower Hamlets Lifelong Learning after the last session this Saturday. I havent been told what will happen next or even who in the council is in charge of what will happen next. As it stands Ill be carrying on as I usually would in the holidays and Im sure Martin will be doing the same until we have news. As soon as I hear anything Ill post on this page to let you know. Heres the longer version: After a dodgy health & safety inspection earlier last year Me and Martin had to go to a few meetings with our heads of department to convince them that they shouldnt shut the place down. Although a further inspection showed that the place wasnt dangerous (one of the problems was a floor tile bubbling up - we put a bench over it. Another was flaky rendering on the brickwork outside!) a consequence of the meetings was that it became clear that the club was a poor fit for lifelong learning, the council dept it falls under, and that we should look at the possibility of becoming a charity or social enterprise and run the place ourselves instead. We put in a proposal to do this and had a couple more meetings with Tower hamlets Sports Development to sort out the details. The original plan was that the club open 08:00-12:00 and 17:00-21:00 on weekdays divided as equally as possible between weightlifting and powerlifting sessions. The four hours in the middle could be used by instructors to earn extra money by doing private work (PT, group/team sessions, whatever). As our wages would be dropping substantially, at least initially, the PT work would allow me to make up the shortfall and earn a wage. At the last committee meeting I went to Martin had decided that no private work should be allowed when the gym went over to the new management. Im not sure when this decision had been made but I wasnt privy to any discussions about it and it seemed to be a done deal already on the day of the meeting. I protested as this would mean I couldnt earn enough to live on and I would have to leave. I was overruled by the committee and the decision was made so I knew that when the committee took over the running of the gym Id have to find another job. I wasnt very happy about it (this is an understatement) and I explored the possibility of starting my own place but this fell through so Ive now put in a competing bid to run Bethnal Green WLC. I dont think Martin is very happy about this. Thats basically all I know. At some point the council will decide whether my proposal or Martins is best, or they might decide to close the place, or they might let someone completely different run it. Ive got no idea when this will happen or who makes these decisions. Regardless of whether its me or Martin who end up losing out, the worst outcome would be for the club to close. I think it would be worth emailing Simon Butler ([email protected]) to let him know how you feel about the place. Hes the sports development officer whos liaised with both myself and Martin and very much wants the club to stay open. Hopefully hell be involved in the decision making process and I cant see a few emails from our members doing any harm to his cause if he does find himself fighting our corner. Its a shame that me and Martin have fallen out and that we will no longer be working togther at Bethnal Green. I think I do a really good job as the weightlifting coach and I think Martin does a passably good job as the powerlifting coach. We have supported and produced champion lifters from both codes at BG for as long as theyve both coexisted and will continue to do so whoever is in charge. Thats it. No need to ask me about it any more, you know as much as I do. Giles
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 21:54:03 +0000
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