17 May Be Active in Birmingham!
Interesting article on a council scheme in the Midlands to get people into exercise. “Be Active” has been running since 2008 and some 360,000 people have signed up for it. This apparently equates to about 1/3 of the local population.
Across Birmingham, 29 leisure facilities have signed up to offer leisure services for free. Activities include swimming, gym, badminton and exercise classes. In fairness these sessions are only available during certain times, but some centres report this accounts for 70% of their opening hours.
Two things occur to me. Firstly, an “evaluation” has shown that for every £1 spent on the project £23 is saved in health expenditure. I would love to see the workings out for that one!
Secondly, although I think the concept is great, surely once people have experienced the benefit of being healthier for a few months shouldn’t they take some personal responsibility for their health and pay a subsidised rate thereafter for their activities.
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