TG Gym wellness festival 2309

MORE than £2,000 was raised for the refurbishment of a village swimming pool at a wellness festival on Saturday.

The festival marked the third anniversary of TG Gym & Wellness, off Reading Road, which was created by former Olympic rower Toby Garbett.

A raffle was held to raise money for Sonning Common Swimming Pool, which is undergoing a £60,000 refurb.

A schedule of free health and fitness classes was held over the day, open to both gym members and the public.

The morning also featured a barbecue, bouncy castle and kids’ activities to encourage people to bring their children along.

Mr Garbett said over the past three years, the gym had gone from being a “dilapidated” building, to a “community hub”.

He said: “When I took the gym over three years ago, it was a dilapidated building and about to be closed down.

“I was a personal trainer, renting the space and the lady who ran it was just going to leave after covid. I thought it would be shame if this space wasn’t going to be used, so I took it on with the support of the council. Now it’s like a massive community hub for people with wellness businesses in here, so people who can’t afford the high street, they can work here.”

Mr Garbett said that the gym runs 30 classes each week. “I started off with zero members but we’ve now had people in that three-year period who have gone on to win Olympic gold medals, so that’s been a nice transition.”

Sophie Snowden, who teaches at Sonning Common Primary School and is a member of the gym, said she was “grateful” for the support.

She said: “Our pool at Sonning Common is a community facility, so it’s used by children in the school as well as children and adults in our local community. It was at a stage where it needed major renovation and we needed to fundraise for this renovation.

“We have done lots of projects at school to support the funding and have crowdfunded some money and now we’re in phase two of our fundraising to do the changing rooms and redo the showers.

“It just felt like the perfect place to be able to tie it all in and I’m so grateful to Toby for everything that he has pulled together and for wanting to support the local pool.”

Local businesses including Moomi Botanicals, Amoka Dalo and the Laughing Lark held stalls inside the gym to take advantage of the footfall.