‘I will swim and your esteemed correspondent can ‘jump”

• YOUR correspondent Elaine Chambers (Time for a different sort of exercise class, February 8), puts forward her opinion that there are too many gyms in Swiss Cottage.

I swim at the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre five days a week and have done so for 15 years. It has maintained fitness to my pensioner’s body and I see many others benefiting from healthy exercise in the gym or pool there as well, not all of them pensioners.

We can see the upstairs gym from the pool (as close as I get to it) and we are all doing our best to remain healthy in our different ways. The swimming pool is well staffed and clean, serving a cross-section of all ages, and promotes a healthy lifestyle.

In the same issue of the newspaper there was a full-page article highlighting the achievements of the young swimmers who had been awarded a total of 55 gold, silver and bronze medals. These swimmers were from the Swiss Cottage Swimming Club and many of those swimmers also use the gym to balance out their fitness regime.

The company that runs this council-owned building, Better, is a charitable organisation and a social enterprise that employs thousands of staff throughout Britain and garners accolades for their welcoming and inclusive ethos. They are keeping people off the NHS waiting lists and provide a community hub for like-minded people.

Your correspondent states that we could “jump up and down while waiting for a bus” or jog in the parks. I’m not so sure that the nine months a year of British weather, and muddy boots on our many rainy days, would be as welcome as a warm and bright leisure centre.

I will swim and your esteemed correspondent can “jump”.

GRANT McCAHON, NW3