YOGA could be coming to the King George V Park (KGV) this year, as Melksham Town Council has supported plans to start sessions each Sunday, from May to September.
Councillors discussed the proposal at a community development committee meeting held last month. The sessions would be part of Park Yoga, a charity which provides free accessible community yoga sessions around the UK.
The sessions will run for five months and will be open to adults and children. Classes would be free to all participants, although Park Yoga does solicit donations from participants. Melksham Town Council will fund the cost of the yoga instructor for £70 per session, totalling £1,400 for one year.
Chair of the meeting cllr Saffi Rabey said, “Where it’s worked well is where the town council has pushed it and made a thing of it. I know it’s £1,400 and I know it’s a bit of money, but for the community engagement, personally I would love to do it and I’d love to go. It’s a Sunday morning in the park. Their numbers drop when the weather’s bad, but people still turn up and people still go.”
Cllr Charlie Stokes asked whether starting the sessions would steal business away from other yoga teachers in the town.
“Having tried to find yoga classes recently, they are all during the day,” said cllr Rabey. “If you work, they are actually really hard to find. The fact that this is a Sunday morning is really accessible, easy for people to walk there or even [drive to]. It goes hand in hand with parkrun.”
The cost of £1,400, which will be paid out of the town council’s Community Project Fund, is more expensive than other local councils, including Chippenham and Devizes, pay for Park Yoga.
However, committee clerk, Andrew Meacham said, “Having spoken to people at Chippenham and Devizes, it is more a case that if you do it for a second year, then there’s more negotiation and leeway available.”
Making it clear that providing yoga in the park is a town council initiative, cllr Jennie Westbrook said, “Can we make sure that it is Park Yoga and Melksham Town Council. It needs to be promoted that it’s our thing. I think that’s really important, that it’s something very visible that we can be seen to be supporting.”
Town councillors voted in support of the recommendation, agreeing the cost was good value for money.
