Photo: Sebastian Quigley
Our Vice President and Events Team Chair, Margaret Peggie, reviews ‘A League for a Lifetime’, a day of celebrations created to mark the 95th anniversary of FLexercise.
As the great doors to Friends House opened on to the Euston Road at 9:30am on Saturday 11th October 2025 the sunlight poured in and revealed a long queue waiting outside. Our wonderful registration team, Andrea, Paul and Nigel, swung into action giving everyone a warm welcome, checking tickets, handing out programmes and wrist bands. We were off! The day which the Events Team had been planning for so long was actually going to happen.
In 2018 we were battle-scarred by the ‘beast from the east’ which decimated the Malvern event. Two years after that, in March 2020, an even more ambitious event marking the FLexercise 90th anniversary was due to be held in Bath. That was cancelled just days before it should have happened because of Covid. It was a leap of faith to even think of trying again, but we did and it proved to be third time lucky!
We organised the day to let everyone join classes, enjoy the story of FLexercise from its 1930 origins, and connect with new and old friends. My hope that people would mingle was well-founded – they did and thoroughly enjoyed it. The event succeeded thanks to the support of our teachers, participants, volunteers, team, performers, trustees, guests, friends, families, and about 500 attendees in total. Thank you all for your support and for making it such a memorable day.
Friends House was an ideal venue with lots of spacious corridors and an outside courtyard where people could gather and chat. We had classes in the main auditorium, The Light, where people could watch as well as take part. The other classes were in two adjacent large halls. Thanks to the wonderful teachers and their expert, great classes. Jane Duff (England), Grace Gilchrist (Scotland), Fiona Hobden (Ireland), Heather Jordan (England), Tracy Leleu (Wales), Chris O’Rourke (Wales) Sarah Price (England), Caroline Quigley (England).
At 3:00 pm everyone came together in The Light to hear the story of how Molly Bagot Stack turned her dream of transforming women’s lives through the power of exercise and movement into a reality. My job was to narrate the story which I had enjoyed writing. It was illustrated by photos, videos and exercise and movement items. The main features were:
Vision: a movement sequence inspired by Molly’s dream
A clip from Pathe News: Thousands of women performing the basic exercises in Wembley Stadium in 1939
Principles in Action: 75 women performing a medley of those same exercises in 2025
Just Swinging Along: swinging movements blended with exercise – grace and expression
A message on film from Saba Douglas Hamilton in Kenya, our President and Molly’s granddaughter
Pelvic Mobility: a Peggy and Joan St. Lo classic example of precision and performance
Tribute to teachers Pam Scott Watson and Rosemary Barber
What a Feeling: fun exercise to great music
Tribute to Nina North from New Zealand, who read out a message from her fellow teachers on the other side of the world
A video of congratulations on 95 years from FLexercise in South Africa
Winterspell: music inspired movement
Physical Moves: up-to-date, challenging exercise to music
Absolutely Everybody: Performers came back on to the floor and the Events Team came on to the stage for the finale. We encouraged the audience to join in as much as they could. They did well but needed to do better so it was performed all over again and brought the house down. Absolutely Everybody was Absolutely Fabulous.
No sooner started than it was over and time to say thank you and goodbye. Many of us gathered again for the Gala Dinner at a nearby hotel which rounded off the day beautifully. Good food, good company, a lot of chat and laughter – a great end to a wonderful day.
The Events team have thoroughly enjoyed the messages of congratulations which have poured in following the weekend. They made all the hard work of planning and preparation worthwhile.
Film and photos
A film will be available once it’s been edited to make sure of no copyright infringements etc. We will let you know soon how to access it. A great many photos were taken and we are looking at the most efficient way to make the best of these available.
The Events team
Karen Erasmus, Natalie Green, Sue King, Carolyn Kingdon, Margaret McAllister, Margaret Peggie (Chair), Caroline Quigley, Lucinda Rowles (Organiser).