Coalville's Hermitage Leisure Centre says it is celebrating a successful re-opening period after seeing many new and returning members through the doors.

Hermitage Leisure Centre in Whitwick - along with Hood Park Leisure Centre in Ashby - was able to reopen its gym and group exercise studios on July 25 after being closed for almost four months due to the UK wide lockdown.

The reopening measures, including one-way systems, enhanced cleaning regimes and structured sessions have been received with great positivity from members according to those running the leisure facility.

Everyone Active and North West Leicestershire District Council say they have worked in partnership to create safe environments allowing the centres to re-open, providing key health and wellbeing services to residents.

Numbers through the doors show that members were keen to get back in the centres, with over 80,000 visits reported since the reopening.

The team has also seen over 100 new fitness members joining across the two North West Leicestershire centres in the last month, while nearly 300 new swim pupils have joined the centres swim lesson scheme since the start of August.

As part of a phased reopening plan, the swimming pool facilities at Hood Park and Hermitage Leisure Centres re-opened for bookable lane swimming, swimming clubs and lessons.

A variety of measures have been introduced across the facilities.

These include booking in advance for sessions and fewer lessons within the pool at any one time, to allow for both children and swimming teachers to social distance.

More than 500 members have returned to the pool, with over 2,100 swimmers integrating back into the COVID secure swim lesson layouts.

For members who wish to continue working out at home, Everyone Active is offering access to its extensive digital fitness package for £9.99 a month.

The platform provides a number of home workouts from intense cardio to yoga.

Members will also receive access to training plans to help them stay on track until they feel comfortable heading into the centres again.

Duncan Gibb, Everyone Active's Contract Manager commented: "The response we've received from our members has been overwhelmingly positive and we're so pleased to see many new and returning members through our doors.

"Many of our activities including swimming lessons, fitness classes and squash have returned and we are looking to reintroduce more activities over the coming months, including additions to the fitness class programme.

"For those who are not comfortable visiting us just yet, our online packages are perfect for staying fit and healthy in the meantime."

Councillor Andrew Woodman, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at North West Leicestershire District Council, said: "The health and wellbeing of everyone in North West Leicestershire is of critical importance and we've worked closely with Everyone Active to ensure people can return to our district's leisure centres in a safe way.

"Thank you to all the staff and all the customers working so hard to follow those basics of social distancing and handwashing, which is allowing us all to have access to these facilities while keeping the local virus rate down."