I wanted to add to my qualifications and trained as a fitness instructor, teaching everything from Dance Aerobics and Circuits, to Zumba and Body Conditioning. I specialised in Fit Ball, which I absolutely love teaching, and now offer one-to-one sessions. It’s a fantastic way to improve your core strength and tone up. This is what got me back into fitness after having my two children and I have a lot of faith in this type of fitness.

After having children I got interested in postnatal fitness, which then took me on another path – I qualified with a diploma in nutrition, the psychology of food and postnatal nutrition.

I am also very passionate about helping ladies get back into fitness after having babies, so I devised a class for mums to bring their babies along, called New Forest Fit Mums. This indoor/outdoor fitness class helps build up ladies gradually, so they can properly get back into fitness. It assists them and build their confidence, so they are ready to join in a ‘normal’ fitness class, without feeling out of place, due to any setbacks associated with child birth. I also offer them a weekly family recipe, nutritional advice and an optional weigh-in. It’s been successfully running now for a few years – and I love it!

A few years after I started my fitness business I decided to train as a Body Massage Therapist. I then went on to learn Sports Massage and Indian Head Massage and have now been treating people for the last 17 years. Using mainly Deep Tissue Massage, I treat clients with anything from knotted muscles, frozen shoulders and sciatica issues, to training for marathons and body MOTs to keep them mobile and able to continue working. I also offer advice for mobilisations and stretching, which I think is key to keeping those knots at bay.

I then decided to offer Baby Massage, as I thought it would complement my other services further. So, I trained a few years ago for this, and I now teach both one-to-one and group classes at my home.

In addition, I started off training to be a nanny, and worked for three years with a young family. Now I teach people from the age of 5 years up to 70 plus. I really love my job and get great satisfaction from helping people. I am also very fortunate to work with such lovely people, over such a vast age range – it is very fulfilling.