Stroke survivor Jackie Broadhurst has found a new lease on life after attending Active Nation classes for people with neurological conditions, held in a room at Chamberlain Leisure Centre in Weston Lane.
But since the facilities were moved to The Keys Swimming and Diving Complex in April, she said she has been forced to stop attending due to poor access to rooms, plagued by maintenance work and a lack of proper equipment.
read more: A Southampton woman and her disabled partner have been ordered to leave the home they’ve lived in for 20 years.
Jackie, 72, needs help from her husband, David, to walk. (Images: NQ, Jose Ramos)
“I feel like crying. This movement has given me purpose and positivity in life, but I’ve been stuck at home for the last nine weeks,” said the 72-year-old mother of three.
A former maths and English teacher, she has been disabled since suffering a stroke during surgery in 1997.
But last April, bored with nothing to do at home, Jackie enlisted the help of her husband David and attended a Forever Fit class at Weston Leisure Centre.
The pensioner, who struggles to move his right arm and leg, was at one point attending three times a week.
But when we moved to The Quays, all of that stopped.
She claimed that it was not that easy to get to the room where the classes were being held and that she had to go through an emergency exit to get there.
She added: “The room was quite small, it didn’t have all the appliances and the carpet looked like a pub carpet.”
To make matters worse, Jackie said she had been told by Active Nation that maintenance work was underway on the room, which made her lose all interest in going.
“I don’t understand why they were rushing to move the equipment when the classrooms weren’t even ready,” said a retired teacher.
“I haven’t attended classes for a long time and I’m not as positive as I used to be. Every time I call, I’m just told that I’m waiting for an engineer to fix it.”
An Active Nation spokesman said: “We consulted with users of the Shapemaker equipment, which was temporarily installed at Chamberlain Leisure Centre, before the equipment was ultimately moved to the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex.”
“The equipment is located within a fully accessible room that has been refurbished for the new purpose.
“The Keys Swimming and Diving Complex is accessible by a variety of transport options and is already seeing an increase in visitor numbers.
“The space at Chamberlain Leisure Centre has been repurposed as a gym following consultation with all members at the facility, with over 75% taking the time to respond and voting in favour of the move.”
