Visitors to Acklam Green Centre’s WIFI Café, Café Connect can enjoy some mouthwatering offers in the run up to Easter. 

Café Connect is offering a hot cross bun and a cup of tea for £1.40 and Easter themed cupcakes for 60p on 8^th to 12^th and 15^th to 18^th April.  All items are available to eat in or take away.

In addition to the Easter specials, Café Connect offers the public a range of breakfast items and lunch options including sandwiches, jacket potatoes, salad boxes, toasties and paninis.

Café Connect is open to members of the public and those using the centre’s facilities Monday to Friday with breakfast available 9am to 11.30am and lunch available 11.30am until 2.30pm. With free WIFI available throughout, Café Connect is ideal for informal meetings or to enjoy a coffee stop while out and about meeting clients.  

A number of new fitness classes are now up and running at the Acklam Green Centre.

A new mixed ability Pilates class now runs each Wednesday evening 6.30pm to 7.30pm at the Acklam Green Centre ran by Rachel Chapman Sports Therapy and Pilates. The class is aimed at people of all abilities and costs £5 per week to attend on a pay as you go basis.  Pilates is known to have many benefits for participants including improved flexibility, increased strength, improved posture and reduced stress. 

Rachel Chapman, who is running the new class, graduated from Teesside University with a degree in Sports Therapy and is a member of the Society of Sports Therapists.  She is also a Certified APPI (Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute) Pilates Matwork Instructor. She said: “Having done Pilates for many years and taught it for the last five, I have experienced some of its many benefits ranging from improved flexibility, reduced lower back pain and increased strength.  Pilates can be adapted to suit all ages and abilities and anyone who comes along and wants to work on something specific can just let me know as all of my classes are tailored to suit everyone.”

In addition, a new Zumba class is due to start at the Acklam Green Centre next Month.  Zumba With Rach is due to start in centre on Tuesday 2nd April at 6.30pm to 7.30pm.  The first two sessions are priced at £3.50 with the normal sessions price being £4.50 (or £40 for 10 sessions up front).  Week two of the class will take place on Thursday 11^th April as a one off.

The two classes have started up in response to customers from the centre and local residents completing a survey about physical activity and what they would like to see on offer at the centre. Many of the respondents said they would like to see Pilates and Zumba classes on the timetable. 

New Junior Yoga and Clubbercise classes are set to commence at the Acklam Green Centre in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for more information.

For more information about Rachel Chapman Sports Therapy contact 07946 324 080.

For more information about Zumba With Rach contact 07443 369959

If you’re thinking about running a fitness class or activity from the Acklam Green Centre contact 01642 811120 or email: info@acklam-green-centre.com and for the Resource Centre contact 01642 255001 or email: info@the-resource-centre.com

The Acklam Green Centre and Resource Centre have recently welcomed a new member of staff who will provide more opportunities for people within the local community to get active.

In his role as Activity Officer, 24-year-old Ollie Hodgson is tasked with engaging with people from the local community and sports and activity providers to enhance the provision for inactive residents, with the aim of reducing poor health, social isolation and loneliness.  The role is funded by the Tees Valley Community Foundation’s Getting the Inactive Active grants programme, in partnership with Sport England and the National Lottery.

Ollie, who lives in Middlesbrough close to the communities he’s working among, has already began consulting with local-residents to determine what activities they would be most interested in and sourcing providers to bridge the gap. New Pilates and Zumba classes have already started up at the Acklam Green Centre as a result of the feedback.  Additionally, Ollie will recruit two volunteers from the local community to support the project and he will help to support and mentor them with associated Streetwise Sport Activator training. 

The Acklam Green Centre and the Resource Centre offer a range of rooms and sports pitches ideally suited to sports and physical activities. Ollie and the two volunteers will help promote activities and ensure activity groups become sustainable within the facilities owned by Actes Trust.

Ollie, a Sports Management graduate from Northumbria University who also works as a supply teacher, has a track record in organising successful sporting events having organised activities for schools in Darlington and a charity sportsman’s dinner in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust and he is looking forward to building upon this experience in his new role.  Ollie is himself a keen sportsman and plays for Darlington Mowden Park R.F.C where he has also worked in a marketing capacity.

Ollie commented: “I’m really pleased to have secured the role with Actes, working with the Acklam Green Centre and Resource Centre, as it offers me the chance to build on and apply the sports management experience I gained at university. Sports and fitness is something I’m really passionate about and I am looking forward to bringing new activities to the centres for residents to take part in and become more active.”

Donna Smith, facilities manager at Actes, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Ollie to the team. The role provides a unique opportunity for us to tackle issues of inactivity within the local community by offering people the chance to take part in the types of activities they enjoy the most.  It also allows us to make the most of the facilities on offer both at the Acklam Green Centre and the Resource Centre, including our large activity halls and sports pitches.”

If you are interested in running an activity at the Acklam Green Centre or Resource Centre or would like to have a say on the type of activities on offer, please contact Ollie Hodgson on Tel: 07708 984936 or email: ollie.hodgson@actes.co.uk