OUR STORY

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Whilst Spencer was working in the health and fitness industry and Nancy in the local maternity unit in Wallingford they were dreaming of doing our own thing. So, in a recession and against advice they decided turning an old 17th century barn into a gym in the village where they lived would be a good idea. With a young family of 3 boys in tow they took the plunge opening the Barn on 19th November 2011.

After running a few classes at the local Scout Hut, Cholsey Primary School hall and Spin on the mezzanine with just 6 bikes we opened our very own studio in the summer of 2012. Initially starting with just 16 classes a week.

2013 saw the first of a number of 24 hour class-a-thons we have done over the years. We have raised more than £40,000 in the process for some amazing local (and not so local) charities.

As the members were growing so was the number of classes, the amount of equipment and the size of the car park.

We thought after 4 years we should up our game a bit and have some professional photos taken.

This photo shows how well that went! But it's always been about the team and we've been blessed to have (and have had) an amazing bunch of dedicated and knowledgable people over the years.

We proudly sponsored the local Cholsey Bluebirds football team. Over the years we have continued to support and sponsor many local events including CHOKO Beer Festival, The Thames Run and provided hundreds of vouchers for local raffles.

We celebrated making it to 5 years in style with a Barn party to remember.

Spencer ran 7 marathons in 7 days raising more than £4,000 for Children in Need.

The Barn also made the national papers by getting a mention in the Daily Telegraph for creating something a bit unique in a rural setting.

We opened the HiiT Hut functional training studio in Crowmarsh where we ran our HiiT 3 classes that proved to be very popular.

We also spent this year organising lots of fundraising events to raise money for the Nasio Trust. Events included a barn dance at the Barn, quiz nights and running 100 miles in under 24 hours.

In June 2019 a team of 16 Barn members flew out to Africa for 3 weeks. In that time we climbed Kilimanjaro, volunteered at the Nasio Trust and built a house for a local family. It was a life changing experience for all of us and we raised more than £30,000 for the Nasio Trust in the process.

Early 2020 we did the big switch! We switched the gym and studio and integrated the HiiT Hut into the Barn.

The rest of the year is best forgotton about as we were shut due to lockdowns!

After being closed on and off for more than a year we finally got to reopen. It was interesting keeping 2m apart, one way systems and sanitizing the hell out of everything but we did it!

We created a small outdoor gym space we called the Shed and is where we run our most popular class, Shed FiiT.

2022 was a bit of a weird one. People were starting to forget about Covid but we hadn't fully recovered. It was a year to keep our heads down, put a smile on our face and hope everything will be okay.

We started the year with a fun Gin & Spin evening and by the end of the year things were very much back on track with much more positivity about the future (must have been that gin).

With this in mind we went about planning a £250,000 investment.

The first part of the upgrade was to replace all the cardio equipment. We replaced it with the Matrix endurance series which is top of range and includes the amazing Touch console. We also added an extra treadmill, RowErg, SkiErg and curved runner.

Nominated for best fitness club in the National Business Awards.

The investment continued. We upgraded our Studio bikes and replaced all the strength equipment with the top of range Matrix ultra series. Later in the year we opened the Yard which is an outdoor strength gym.

Nancy was nominated and finished runner up for best fitness instructor at this years Muddy Stilettos awards.