Is it fun, will it stay?

At 155 years old, the YMCA has to prove to the new council it's a young buck - with plenty of stamina, finds John Landrigan.
The swanky-looking health and fitness centre resembles a family restaurant. It has clean lines, bright colours and a recognisable, but newly spruced, logo.
Large posters adorn the outer walls, showing young people on bikes, a gymnast mid-stretch and middle-aged men playing indoor soccer.
As well as the traditional ropes and mats on the gymnasium floor, the sporting spectrum is now there for all to see and for passersby to be assured: "It's fun to stay at the YMCA."
The world-renowned fitness and recreation outfit, which began in London in 1855 - and New Zealand one year later - is diversifying, rebranding and repackaging.
"Mind Body and Spirit" has been the slogan since the Y's inception, but it has never been as boldly emblazoned as it is on the modern interior of the centre on Akoranga Drive in Northcote.
The old slogan, like the Y, has a glamorous new life, says outgoing YMCA chief executive for Auckland, John Fairhurst.
It now offers zumba, yoga, active senior classes (which are packed out) and muscle sculpt classes on top of its more traditional gymnastics and after-school activities.
Mr Fairhurst, who retires at the end of this year, says the Auckland branch has transformed from a small organisation to a major player in the leisure industry in his 13 years at the helm.
"When I came on board I was told the Y did not need treadmills. That people could just run around the gym a few times. We had treadmills the next day."
Mr Fairhurst has overseen:

• An increased annual turnover from $3 million to $19 million
• Eight Auckland centres becoming 16
• Visits increasing from one million to 3.5 million
• An upgrade of significantly rundown facilities
• Staff increasing from 300 to 750
• Purchase of a three-star hotel, City Lodge, launched a new fitness centre in Albert St (because of the Tepid Baths' temporary closure) and opened a new swim school in Glen Innes.

For someone who does not give interviews, Mr Fairhurst is comfortable and keen to talk about the Y.

He says $3.5 million is being spent on the Akoranga Drive centre and a further $1 million on the council-owned Lagoon Leisure and Fitness Centre in Panmure.

"We are a most-trusted brand. We offer a range of activities.

"I am leaving it in good shape," he says.

But you've got to wonder why an organisation established to help young working men follow a Christian path needs such a push now, and why this is possibly the first interview Mr Fairhurst has ever given. The Y competes with large private gyms, manages nine council-owned centres and will soon have to tender to remain in them and/or expand into new ones.

Eight months ago, one of those centres - the Tepid Baths - closed for a makeover.

The Y's contract at the baths ended and now it must queue for the right to return in 2012.

"The Tepid Baths were closed down and we opened the Albert St premises to pick up members. I'd like to think we will be going back to the Tepid Baths," says Mr Fairhurst.

By 2015, under the new Auckland Council, the YMCA will have to prove it is the best organisation to run each of the other eight centres.

Council leisure centres around Auckland are run by council staff, the YMCA, standalones Olympic Pools and Fitness in Newmarket and Onehunga Aquasport, and a company called Community Leisure Management, which has more than a dozen sites.

Mr Fairhurst waves a hand at the swanky new North Shore site and says the YMCA demonstrates to the council a readiness for more.

People, says Mr Fairhurst, go the the YMCA from the "womb to the tomb".

"We would like to be a part of the infrastructure of the super-city," he says. The sprightly Mr Fairhurst believes the council and the Y are a natural fit.

"Where do other businesses' surpluses go? All ours go back into the community. Not to stakeholders," he says.

The YMCA has been at the forefront of physical exercise, holiday camps and after-school programmes for a century and a half.

Few people know that the phrase "body building" was first used in 1881 by YMCA staff in Boston and, in Massachusetts, staff invented basketball in 1891 and volleyball in 1895. That same year, American professional football began at a YMCA in Pennsylvania. In 1909, Washington staff invented Father's Day.

Workers are adding the finishing touches at the Akoranga Drive centre. Mr Fairhurst can't help grinning at the result of his toil leading one of the oldest organisations in this country.

If there is one thing he regrets, it's that people still do not know enough about what the Y has to offer.