Should You Exercise In A Graveyard?

Is holding an exercise class in a graveyard "disrespectful and thoughtless."

23:08 14 August 2015

Did fitness club DaleyFitness went too far by holding a class exercise in a graveyard?

 

The fitness club, which is owned by former British Olympic athlete Daley Thompson has been criticised for holding part of an exercise class in a graveyard where a handful of people were doing burpees among headstones and memorials at Putney Old Burial Ground in south-west London.

 

One resident said that holding a class there was “disrespectful and thoughtless.”

 

Gavin Sunshine, chief executive of DaleyFitness, said: "If anyone feels we have disrespected the dead, we would like to apologise to the disrespected. We assumed - wrongly - that leisure activities go on in the park, so out of the blue we decided we'd finish one of our sessions, with 10 minutes remaining, in the sunshine."

 

Graveyards straddle the line between public and private areas. Although they are known as places to mourn and remember the dead, they are also often used as alternatives to parks.

 

A spokeswoman for the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) seem to think that there is nothing wrong with doing such activity as long as its not performed in a still-active cemetery where bereaved families deserve privacy and silence in which to mourn.