The plan was never to close the centre but with scaffolding and wood being stolen from the Muslim group who are renovating the former church building next door, we thought it prudent for our builders to store their tools and building materials in our main hall until was completed.
Unfortunately, over the last five months, and with workmen leaving our external door open to the elements as they worked, our main hall, training room, corridor and reception area had become covered in dust from the street and sand from the beach.
Constant use of the toilets also left them in a rather unhygienic state.
So, from January 3, we have been busy cleaning every surface in the centre to enable us to re-open this week. Our first class back is Tai Chi this Saturday.
Mhairi from Tai Chi Scotland rents our hall for her class which restarts this Saturday from 10am until 11am. Anyone wishing to attend can come along on the day – the first lesson is free of charge, thereafter only £5.
On Thursday, January 16, our Krav Maga class starts back.
(Image: Scottish Centre for Personal Safety) These classes combine combat fitness (a circuit involving kicking, punching, slapping, kneeing and elbowing punchbags and body opponent bags) followed by our self defence technique of the week.
Every eight weeks or so, we then bring in a padded attacker to attack you and hopefully the skills you have learned will stop his attack.
The class is on 6pm until 7pm and only costs £3. It is open to young people aged 5–18-years-old and adult females. Unfortunately, no males over the age of 18 are allowed.
United Spiritual Healers Scotland return to our training room on Saturday, February 8 from 2pm until 4pm, so if you are in need of some healing or want to learn more about spiritualism, please pop along and have a chat with them.
While our charity uses the centre from 9am-3pm during the week to help vulnerable people, our main hall and training room is available to rent outwith these hours for only £20 per hour (with a half hour either side for setup time thrown in free of charge).
The hall is two-thirds matted, so is ideal for martial arts and fitness classes or even dance classes that have a gymnastic element.
The other third of the hall is a gym including a large selection of free weights and kettlebells, cable crossover, leg press, stepper, elliptical trainer and Jacobs Ladder, to name but a few pieces of equipment. This too is available to rent for only £40 per hour which can include the presence of a qualified gym instructor to help you or a party of up to six people achieve their New Year fitness goals.
If anyone would like to book either our main hall or our training room, please contact me via email alan@scotcps.org.uk or on 07900 950599.
Next time, I’ll let you know about our new wellbeing café but until then, stay safe.