The Dukeries Leisure Centre in Ollerton is the first of three leisure centres across Newark and Sherwood District to benefit from a refurbished fitness suite.

It is part of an Active4Today ongoing refurbishment programme. The district council is supporting the programme by providing £700,000.

Coun Susan Crosby, portfolio holder for Health and Wellbeing at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Regular exercise is one of the best things residents can do to stay healthy and happy.

“Exercise has often been linked with good mental health as well as the physical benefits it brings. To me it makes sense for us, as a district council, to do everything we can to ensure access to wonderful facilities like these are available to our residents.”

This first refurbishment took a week at Dukeries Leisure Centre. The work has moved on to Blidworth Leisure Centre and will then switch to Newark Sports and Fitness Centre.

Coun Andy Freeman, chairman of the board of Active4Today, added: “As fitness trends change, technology also moves on at a fast pace and this new equipment is fully digital enabled, linking to the Life Fitness online coaching platform. This is a great addition for our customers.”

“Our customers are important to us, so we want to make sure that they experience as little inconvenience as possible whilst this impressive upgrade takes place, but we know when customers return, they’ll see that it’s been worth it. The fitness suites are going to be amazing!

“The works will only affect the fitness suites, so we hope that members will continue to use our swimming, fitness classes, off-peak racquet sports and blast fitness sessions to stay active. And, of course, our members can still use any of our leisure centres as part of their membership at Active4Today.”