Wellingborough: Outdoor gym kit will 'change people's lives'

A community worker has secured a £22,000 grant for outdoor gym kit which he hopes will "change people's lives" on a troubled estate.

Kamlesh Parmar said he has been working for six years to get the equipment installed on the Hemmingwell estate in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

The area has been associated with gangs, drug dealing and knife crime.

Mr Parmar said he hopes "in the future people can get a career" from using the equipment.

The 40-year-old runs a calisthenics - bodyweight workouts - organisation which works on the Hemmingwell estate running class for adults and children.

He also mentors disadvantaged young people in the area including going into schools and children's homes and working with young offenders.

Mr Parmar said: "I see myself in a lot of these youngsters from when I was young.

"Giving them that positive role model and someone that they could relate to and look up to is really important because I would have liked to have had that when I was younger."

The equipment is currently being installed in the park on the estate and it is hoped it will be completed by the end of the month.

Mr Parmar believes the kit could help the job prospects of people on the estate.

"There's people travelling the world doing this sport and getting paid, becoming personal trainers or gym instructors.

"Calisthenics changed my life so I think it can change other people's lives," he said.

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