College fitness hub shut
Perth College UHI has shut the Academy of Sport and Wellbeing as a precaution against the coronavirus.
The facility, which houses the college gym, fitness studios, sports hall and the climbing centre, closed on Thursday (March 19).
The latest move comes after college chiefs decided earlier last week to suspend all face-to-face teaching in light of the growing pandemic.
Classes begun online via Perth UHI web sources from yesterday (March 23).
The ASW centre was to remain open as part of that announcement, however the ever changing circumstances have forced the closure of the Crieff Road facility.
A statement on the Perth College website on Thursday said:“We have been closely monitoring the situation with COVID-19 during these very challenging times.
“We have put in the necessary steps as the situation has developed to allow for normal business as best we can.
“The latest advice from the government is to avoid all pubs, clubs and theatres and introduce social distancing measures to reduce social interaction.
“With deepest regret, we have made the very difficult decision to close the ASW gym from Thursday, March 19 at 6pm.
“We apologise for the impact this will have on our customers, however at this stage we strongly believe this is the right thing to do.
“This decision we believe will keep people safe and allow us to get back to normal business as soon as possible.
“We will be freezing all direct debit memberships with immediate effect until further notice.
“Therefore there is no need to do anything at this time, we will simply re-activate your membership once we re-open.
“No payments will be taken from your account during this period. All upfront memberships will be extended as soon as the facility reopens.
“The ASW fitness team is working very hard in the background to create a platform to take a range of products online to help keep our customers engaged, active and positive during a difficult time for us all.
“Please look out for further information on this.
“We are here to support all our members and users and we will be picking up communication via e-mail throughout our closure, so please keep communicating with us.
“You can contact the gym and fitness manager (Mandy) directly throughout the closure via aswgymsupport.perth@uhi. ac.uk
“If you need to speak with us, please email and leave your contact number and we will call you back as soon as possible.
“We urge you all to stay safe, support each other and remain positive in the weeks to come.
“We will keep all our customers as up to date as we can via email and social media and look forward to welcoming you back as soon as it is safe to do so.”