Ponteland gym members and community 'row' their support to St Oswald's Hospice

No1 Gym, which specialises in semi-personal training, began fundraising for St Oswald’s in 2020 and held a ‘Beach Day’ themed event and some other fundraising challenges within the gym for members to take part in. The Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to their planned activities as government restrictions forced the gym to close its doors several times over the last 18 months. Now the team are back open, they were eager to set a challenge that all of their members, trainers and wider community could be part of.

The challenge was to row 100 miles in under 12 hours on a rowing machine in the gym. As the machine resets after 30 seconds of inactivity, it was vital that there were enough willing participants to keep the rowing going all day, so staff called upon their members and local community to keep the rowing going all day.

James Milburn, Co-owner and Head trainer at No1 Gym said:

“St Oswald’s Hospice is a charity close to the hearts of many of our gym members either through working there as staff or having had loved ones cared for there. When we decided to start raising funds for a local charity, St Oswald’s seemed a worthy and obvious choice.

“It’s brilliant to be open again and able to welcome back our members, so we thought we’d set them a challenge and raise some funds for the hospice at the same time.”