Helene McKay-Gill, who has retired after 30 years as a fitness instructor, believes the secret to a good life is exercise.

“I never believed in 1979 ladies would actually attend and I would meet and work with hundreds of women and children in the past 30 years.

“What a privileged three decades I have spent in the fitness industry — 27 years teaching and training five other instructors; and in the three years I did not teach I was still registered and assisted other instructors with music, study, routines and endless steps.”

When Helene started, women who attended classes were mostly in their 30s and 40s, then she taught over 50s, and has had many in their 70s, her oldest last year being 86-years-old.

“Some have been with me for 20 years, becoming like mothers and aunties — they are very special women,” she said.

“I am reminded of the demonstrations we performed — in the rotunda in the park, in the Kadina football clubrooms for a women’s luncheon, having 103 people on the rec centre stadium floor when visitors joined us from Adelaide; and bringing smiles to the elderly and frail at local aged care facilities.”

Helene filled guest speaker requests from lifestyle groups, schools, was a TAFE lecturer, and conducted Dance Fit for two years with 30 students at the Bute Primary School.

She has held classes at Snowtown, Bute, Paskeville, Alford and Port Broughton.

“I heard many times, ‘You keep the fitness girls wanting to come back’ — but how faithful and dedicated they have been.

“I have never arrived at a class and had no one turn up and never had a class of less than 10 people, it is admirable and a credit to the ladies and their dedication.

“To be responsible for preparing a motivational lesson each week for 40 weeks a year puts some pressure on a teacher, and there were times when I felt the pressure, especially when I was sad and weary,” Helene said.

“It has been a journey amongst friends, we have carried one another through good times and bad, and I know it would have been lonelier without them.”

Taking a back row seat

Helene says she will now be in the back row at lessons, taking it all in from a different perspective.

“I will miss preparing and researching lessons for a while, I will miss my weekly surprising friendships, I will miss the old dance steps and routines, our laughter and frivolity and how I will miss being bossy!

“I found my niche in life and I feel most fortunate, it has been a privilege to be a teacher amongst such friends, together we have learned the secret to a good life is exercise, to remain active, to be passionate about whatever you do in life.”

With catch cries like, ‘Let’s get our hearts excited and our pulses pumping’ and ‘Let me hear your laughter’, Helene’s students always got in the mood.

“I have had 30 years of fun and fitness, of laughter and of being able to inspire,” she said.

“And we all became friends — how golden is that?”