Burgess Hill's Bargin Basement Outdoor Gym

Hooray! Burgess Hill finally has some outdoor exercise equipment years after Haywards Heath got some. Putting the pressure on the District Council clearly has worked and naturally we here at Burgess Hill Uncovered should take a huge chunk of the credit. Don't thank us though. No really, dont!

Lets have a look at what we've been given....



The Council opted to use The Great Outdoor Gym Company as the supplier. Their equipment can also be found in Victoria Park, Haywards Heath along with older equipment that the council had previously purchased from Fresh-Air Fitness.

The Council have placed 5 pieces of exercise equipment in St Johns Park, included is a facility to work your upperbody with a chest press and a lat pull down.

There is also an exercise bike and a mini treadmill for your cardio workouts.



All very reasonable so far, then we come to this......



Tai Chi Spinning Disks (wtf!!!!) and some bars to do Dips. The Council have succeeded in purchasing two of the most pointless pieces of equipment possible.

The Dip bars work the same set of muscles as the chest press/lat pull down machine - only you need a huge amount of existing upperbody strength to be able to carry out the exercise.

The Tai Chi Spinning Disks have no physical benefit at all. All it provides is the photo opportunity for people to pretend they're club DJ's!...



Disappointed by the equipment selected by the council, a visit to the Great Outdoor Gym Company's website was made to see what the Council could have chosen:
http://www.tgogc.com/buyagym/products/show-all-products.html
Oddly enough not a single piece of the equipment in St Johns Park appears on the website, how can that be?

Awesome Detective Work By Burgess Hill Uncovered Exposes The Council!
The reason that the equipment couldn't be found is not because it's so new its not on their website yet, it's quite the opposite.

What we have in St Johns Park is clearance stock that the Great Outdoor Gym Company have been trying to shift since September 2011!!!!Click here to view the stock clearance sale announcement

Buyers were told to hurry and make their purchases before it all runs out. 9 months later the sale was still running with the most unpopular pieces of equipment still available at a 40% discount.

Yes clever reader, you know where this is heading....

An email was sent to the Great Outdoor Gym Company requesting details of their current clearance stock. They sent a PDF file listing the equipment still available, dated 1st May 2012.
Now can you guess which items were still available?

Tai Chi Spinning Plates, Dip Bars and the Mini Treadmill. You can be sure that if MSDC ordered in say April that all the items found in St Johns Park were part of the clearance.

Now, if the council had uncovered a genuine bargin then they should be applauded. However, what we have is the equipment that the company hasn't been able to shift for 8 months. There's a reason why they don't offer the Dip Bars or the Tai Chi spinning plates in the 2012 range.... because they're crap!


Conclusion:
Once again the District Council have shown complete contempt for the people of Burgess Hill.

This should have been a report celebrating how the council have finally done something right for us, but no, there is always a catch. They decided that we were only deserving of bargin basement items that no one else wanted.

The council didn't even consult the people about putting in outdoor gym equipment, We should have had a say in the supplier, the equipment and where in the park it was positioned. Right by a public footpath in view of the Skate Park was deemed the perfect place for people to workout in peace. Great.

We can't even get a full body workout from what we've been given, unlike the equipment to be found in Victoria Park Haywards Heath.

There are funds available to have been able to purchase items from the better 2012 range. What do you think section 106 money is for?

Bentswood in Haywards Heath have equipment from the new range. Mandy Thomas-Atkin of Burgess Hill even went to the official opening. She's the Chairman of the District Council. Why didn't she or Pru Moore (Cabinet member for Leisure and Sustainability) ensure that we got the newer equipment and a better selection? Thank you for serving us so well ladies. NOT.

This whole situation is a bloody disgrace.


Did you find this news story useful? Please share it with your friends.

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
How do you feel about the council seeing fit to purchase us bargin basement items that no one else wanted? Would you have liked to have been consulted over the choice of equipment? Will you bother to use it? Do you fancy working out right next to a public footpath and the skate park? Let us know!