Freedom Leisure is celebrating after its Hydro Warriors project at Tandridge Leisure Centre scooped the Community Service Provider Award at the annual Tandridge Business Awards, recognising the positive impact the programme has had on local people living with fibromyalgia.
The award is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved and highlights the power of partnership working, community collaboration and creating opportunities for people to become more active, regardless of the health challenges they face.
Hydro Warriors is a 40-week, community-led programme developed to support people living with fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that can cause widespread pain, fatigue and other symptoms that make everyday activities, including exercise, challenging.
What makes the project particularly special is that it was designed alongside local women living with the condition, known as the Fibro Warriors, ensuring the activities reflected their needs, experiences and abilities.
Working across four GP practices, the programme brought together a range of organisations with a shared ambition to make physical activity more accessible for people living with a condition that is often misunderstood and underrepresented.
Made possible through Sport England Movement funding, Freedom Leisure worked closely with Surrey County Council, Alliance for Better Care, East Surrey Rural Transport and Fibro Warriors to bring the programme to life.
At the heart of Hydro Warriors was a specially designed water-based activity programme, including targeted Aqua classes, providing a welcoming and supportive environment where participants could enjoy exercise at their own pace, build confidence and connect with others facing similar challenges.
These past 10 weeks have truly changed my life, meeting friends, learning so much. The class itself has shown that my body can still enjoy exercise.
Hydro Warrior Participant
It's feedback like this that shows just how powerful leisure can be in improving people's lives.
The project has also helped increase understanding of fibromyalgia and demonstrated how leisure facilities can adapt their activities to support people with more complex health needs. The success of Hydro Warriors is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when local organisations, healthcare providers and communities work together.
By listening to the people the programme was designed to support, and combining the knowledge and resources of different partners, Hydro Warriors has created a model that could be introduced in other communities and adapted to support people living with other long-term health conditions.
The project also reflects Freedom Leisure's wider commitment to building healthier communities, breaking down barriers to physical activity and helping more people experience the benefits of an active lifestyle.
I am just so proud! Following the programme's success, the focus is now on building its long-term future and exploring opportunities to reach even more people.This includes identifying additional funding to support previous participants living in more rural parts of the Tandridge district, where accessing suitable activities can be particularly challenging.There is also an ambition to share the learning from Hydro Warriors more widely, helping other leisure facilities develop similar programmes that respond to the needs of their local communities.
Juliet Mason
Winning the Community Service Provider Award is a wonderful recognition of the dedication, passion and teamwork that have made Hydro Warriors such a success. A huge congratulations to everyone involved in delivering the programme, particularly the Fibro Warriors themselves, whose experiences and ideas helped shape the project from the very beginning.