For Waitrose "Partners" at their Regional Distribution Centre, Aylesford, Kent.

Waitrose is a major high street retailer with branches all over the UK. It is a division of the John Lewis Partnership and all employees are "Partners" in the business. With a workforce of seven hundred, Aylesford RDC is based on a 43 acre site close to the M20 and supports all of their Waitrose stores and outlets in the South East region.

Andy Heslop, one of Waitrose's Occupational Health Advisors, planned the 110 sq. metre gym which was opened by Sally Gunnell in April this year. Since then over two hundred and thirty Partners have signed up and regularly use the CV equipment, resistance machines and free weights. The Partners can also track gym users, by swiping their membership card at the door.

The gym has six volunteer Partners working in their free time who are committed to encouraging others to use the equipment safely. They run induction sessions for new members and keep the equipment maintained. Between them they have over fifty years of experience in the health and fitness industry and a variety of sports. Recently Andy and his team completed their Concept2 Indoor Rowing Instructor training, and with their new skills they can offer specific support during the induction session and provide programmes for gym users who are keen to use indoor rowing either as part of their CV warm up or for cross training. Some members are also keen to focus purely on indoor rowing and improving their performance.

When new Instructor Jon Moores is not working as a night supervisor he still finds time to follow his day job as a personal fitness trainer. A few years ago, before Helen Harding and Dave Samuels joined Waitrose they worked in several of Kent's sports centres.

After 18 months planning, the gym doors were open for business, and Andy decided he needed a goal and some motivation for his training. So with twelve other Partners in April, he signed up for the Tough Guy Nettle Warrior Challenge taking place in August. The team pushed each other in training and all bar two individuals completed the course.

The whole John Lewis philosophy is to promote personal growth and development as well as engaging the staff, so the gym is an exciting opportunity that's unique to the Aylesford RDC. The focus of the in-house gym project is to ensure that Partners can access and enjoy the new resource and through exercising, stay well. After the UK's successful Olympic bid, the John Lewis Partnership announced an innovative programme known as "Partners in Sport" (PinS). This multi-million pound programme offers funding to enable Partners to engage in sport, touch the spirit of London 2012 and generally lead a healthier lifestyle.

Future plans are to expand the facilities by moving to a larger space, purchase more C2 Rowers and a Wattbike. Andy wants to develop the activity and fitness programmes offered by the team to include supporting Partners to compete in C2 challenges, motivational awards and working with local GP's for Partner exercise referrals. Overall, the Concept2 Indoor Rower is just the right machine for raising health and fitness for Waitrose Partners - and this is just the beginning of the link between two great businesses!