Always staying ahead of the innovation, The Harrogate sites within Active North Yorkshire have rolled out a diverse line-up of Les Mills programmes including LES MILLS STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT, LES MILLS SHAPES, LES MILLS FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH, LES MILLS PILATES, and soon LES MILLS CEREMONY.
With an average group exercise occupancy of 88%, these results highlight the strength of Active North Yorkshire, Harrogate and Knaresborough’s group training strategy. We spoke with Zoe Murray, Group Exercise Development Manager for the Harrogate sites, to learn more about the key drivers behind their success, the impact of their partnership, and how they continue to engage and inspire their members.
Why are you a partner with Les Mills and what brings you to the partnership?
At Active North Yorkshire, our group training offer is built around three core priorities: accessibility, variety, and wellbeing, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of our member communities.
A partnership with Les Mills was an obvious choice to ensure there is the opportunity to maximise on variety for our diverse community. The Les Mills partnership and the variety of programmes enable us to offer a wide range of workouts which elevate our additional group training offering.
The partnership has also supported professional development across the team. Instructors have benefited from upskilling through Les Mills qualifications, allowing them to broaden their teaching capabilities and deliver energising classes to members week after week.
What are some recent highlights or successes you have had in your club?
We started 2025 with a fantastic January launch event for the Les Mills quarterly new release across two of our sites – Harrogate & Knaresborough Leisure. They attracted existing and new members to try the new releases and participate in pop-up challenges, winning prizes along the way!
We followed this up with our recent Trip 40 launch at the end of March. Across the same sites, we challenged our members to utilise The Trip 40, to cycle to the home of Les Mills - New Zealand - a challenging 20,000 Kilometres!
We combined the distances travelled by each participant over a week until we reached our goal. Each cyclist received a Trip passport to record their individual distances. We had volunteer cyclists adding extra miles to the total on our bikes in our reception areas, as well as our Pedal for Parkinson ‘s group contributing a significant number of extra miles. One lucky cyclist with a completed passport was randomly selected and received a year’s free membership as a reward! It was a great challenge that engaged many people, not just our regular group cycle participants.
Away from our launch events, we continually consider how to put our people first. We have launched a successful mentoring scheme for our instructors, allowing peer-to-peer assessment and personal development.
Launching Les Mills Innovation Collection Programmes such as LES MILLS STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT, LES MILLS FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH, LES MILLS SHAPES, LES MILLS BORN TO MOVE, LES MILLS PILATES, LES MILLS THRIVE has helped to maintain our occupancy levels at a high level of engagement, with an average of 88%.
What makes your club special?
Like most places, our members make it! We have a strong sense of community not only around our clubs but also within our group training community. They are so willing to get involved, try new things and be challenged!
Our very active social accounts serve as a testament to the engagement of our members in our community, with constant interaction and encouragement about recent class experiences and new opportunities.
Additionally, we have highly dedicated and enthusiastic instructors. Our programmes are diverse to ensure accessibility for everyone, and the passion and commitment of our instructors ensure that our members keep coming back for more. Our front-of-house teams and operational staff play a crucial role in keeping our members informed and supported where needed, which helps – an engaged and interested team keeps the momentum going!
Looking inwards, we think it’s safe to say that we don’t rest on our laurels. We continually seek ways to keep our members engaged and introduce new activities that we believe best suit their needs.
What can other studios learn from you?
We wouldn’t want to suggest anything anyone can do like us specifically; all the amazing providers across the country will have things that work for them!
Like so many others, we pay keen attention to occupancy levels and timetable agility. We continually review and innovate when necessary.
We are constantly working with our team of instructors to keep them engaged in the evolution of our programmes and themselves. Regular team check-ins, training opportunities, mentoring schemes, team-building activities, and reviews all help to make the magic happen.
We don’t feel we do anything extraordinary. We believe that what works for our team, what works for our members, and what will keep people coming back for more is what we should focus on. We keep people moving, feeling great, and enjoying being active. Our partnership with Les Mills is a key cog in that magic machine.
