Covid + the move

Published: 10 August 2021

A year of big changes.

It’s been a rollercoaster year or so for all of us, and we’re really loving welcoming so many of you back to in-person Pilates classes. Along the way, we’ve made some big, important changes and the support you’ve given us has been amazing. Thanks for being with us through it all.

Pilates through the pandemic

Back in March 2020, as the pandemic took hold, lots of you told us you were worried about being indoors with other people in our classes. So, for everyone’s safety, we took the decision to close the studio before the national lockdown began.

It was a really hard decision to make because of the massive impact on our business and our instructors’ livelihoods. But, after taking a few weeks to gather our thoughts, we trialled a small number of Zoom classes. They were a huge success and with your support we went on to run 22 live Zoom classes a week, right through all three lockdowns. That meant an incredible amount to our instructors, and it’s been lovely to hear how much it meant to you too.

Our studio move

The pandemic also forced us to rethink where we’d be based when life returned to normal. Our Marlborough studio had been our home for more than 15 years, but between March 2020 and January 2021 it stood empty for all but six weeks. So, at the start of this year, we had to make the tough decision to close its doors in order to keep Pilates Plus going in the long term.

Luckily for us, we had somewhere else to go. In early 2020 (before we knew what was coming!) The Lilley Clinic had planned a move into a new space with a purpose-built Pilates studio. We were really excited to be moving the physiotherapy side of our business into an amazing new space and we’d planned to run Pilates classes from both locations.

In the depths of lockdown, such a big move definitely felt daunting, but with an empty space on our hands, at least we had time to make it our own. And now, as the world begins to open up again, it’s great to be able to welcome so many of you to our beautiful, big, airy new studio. Huge thanks to everyone who’s made the move from Marlborough with us, it really does mean a lot.

Working hard to keep you safe

Our in-person classes are going down really well once more and we’re really grateful to have such a large, modern studio that’s easy to keep ventilated and clean, helping to keep you – and all of our instructors – as safe as possible.

As life slowly gets back to normal, we’ll be sticking to our cleaning regimes, wearing masks as we move around the clinic and keeping our doors and windows open to help prevent the spread of Covid. We’re hoping it’ll help to keep the seasonal bugs at bay too!

For those of you who’d still like to do your Pilates over Zoom, we’re keeping those classes going – and we don’t have any plans to stop. We’re running around ten Zoom classes a week, so just book your place as normal.

Thanks again to all of you for your amazing support, we really appreciate it. However you join us, it’s always great to see you.

Kate.