I’m often asked where I get my passion for fitness. The answer is easy – it’s part of me, thanks to my wonderful mum.
In the late 1960s mum joined a pioneering group of women who had started the Women’s League of Health and Beauty in the 1930s – WLHB.
Run by women for women to facilitate fitness at a time when it wasn’t considered ‘lady like’, the classes had a pianist and were often held in a church hall. This was way before Zumba or Jane Fonda!
Mum taught WLHB classes in London as well as in Stroud, she also went to exhibitions and competitions and eventually became a trustee. Throughout her 6o years she regularly went to classes, remaining physically fit and strong well into her 80s.
In later life pretty well everyone that she met commented on how elegant she was. She put this elegance down to her core strength, which gave her a stunning posture.
But more importantly, it meant that she could do the same activities as much younger people, whether that was running around after grandchildren, playing tennis or swimming.
So, you could say that exercise and fitness runs through my blood. I care passionately about maintaining strength and fitness throughout life and get huge satisfaction from helping others develop a fitness regime so they too can get the most out of their lives now, as well as in the future.
It’s no surprise that research shows that parents who exercise regularly have kids that exercise too.
Thanks for being my inspiration, mum!
More about WLHB
The Women’s League of Health and Beauty was pioneered in 1930 by Mary Bagot Stack to energise and strengthen the whole body. She believed that the body works best when posture and alignment are correctly placed..
Mary’s inspirational vision quickly caught on. Within seven years, 166,000 women had joined the WLHB. Mary died in 1935 but her movement thrived thanks to the devotion she inspired in her daughter Prunella and friends Peggy and Joan St. Lo who carried on her work, establishing 50 centres across the country during the Second World War.
Eight decades later, the Women’s League of Health & Beauty became the Fitness League in 1999 and became a founder partner of the Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership (EMDP) in 2006.