A CHURCH hall is to be leased for use as a fitness studio that will provide funds for the upkeep of an historic, listed building. 

The future of the 1950s built Cavill Hall, at St Mary’s Priory Church in Chepstow, had been uncertain as it had struggled to find regular users and there were fears money would have to be spent on upgrading the building. 

However it has now agreed to lease the hall for use as a “HITsona” fitness studio and Monmouthshire County Council has granted change of use planning permission for assembly and leisure use. 

Sona is an Irish word for ‘happy’ and Hitsona is described as an international fitness movement providing “ordinary people with the opportunity to experience the transformative benefits of exercise within a secure, inclusive and enjoyable environment”. 

The hall will be used as a small studio with instructor led 25 minute classes of high-intensity cardio and strength exercises, with a capacity of 10 people per class. 

Classes will run for about 16 hours a week from Monday to Saturday though the specific timetable will be structured around members with likely operating hours from 6.30am to 9pm. 

Music will only be at background level and there won’t any heavy weights being dropped as “state-of-the-art, patented” resistance based exercise machines are used.  

No external changes are proposed to the hall with the exception of fixing three windows that face north and west closest to the neighbouring properties while a bike rack will be placed in the covered porch. 

Voluntary group Chepstow Priory Friends which aims to increase the use of the Priory Church as a centre for the community and raise funds for works, including repairs to the tower steps and an “obsolete” clock has said it and the church “do not feel they have the resources, either in time or finance, to continue to offer the hall as an occasional community space”. 

The Friends previously considered alternative uses of the hall, including selling it for housing but said the proposed fitness studio offers an opportunity to provide the church with an income stream. 

It has also said the applicant is keen to engage with the Friends and local charities and users would be able to enjoy the proximity of the church which is open every day, and which could be used to relax after a session if they wished.

As the fitness studio doesn’t require heating there will be no need for major refurbishment of the hall to make it more energy efficient which in the past led to calls for it to be sold. 

St Mary’s Priory Church is a grade one listed building which has stood on its current site since 1077 and parts are contemporary with the Norman Chepstow Castle and the Cavill Hall sits in its grounds and is named after George I H Cavill, church arden at St Mary’s from 1960 to 1977.