As an unhealthy and overweight sixty-year-old with stiff joints and a smoker’s wheeze, I was surprised to receive an invitation to visit the Fitness Zone at South Kent College in Shorncliffe Road. The visit to the Shorncliffe Road Campus was a first since I trained as a Chef on the site between 1962 and 1965 and was surprised at the changes. The campus is a mix of Edwardian and modern architecture that is bright and inviting and not as I recall grim and unwelcoming, or was that the lecturers.The Fitness Zone is housed in a modern building to the far side of the campus and was a little difficult to find though once found I discovered a reasonable sized gym packed with modern high tech equipment and people between the ages of 19 to 80. What was refreshing was the lack of muscle-bound grunters and groaners throwing weights around and posing in front of mirrors.
I went up the town on Saturday early to catch one or two people before they became too busy to stop and talk, I was going to have a bacon roll and a tea, but as usual, the catering van was closed so spent several minutes having a chat with the chap on the computer stall. It was baking hot so stood in the shade of a tree, within a short time I was sweating profusely and was extremely hot.
