Features
From Brookie to Bootcamp – actress Paula wins top fitness instructor award
2 years ago
It’s no surprise fitness instructor Paula Lamb puts her class through their paces to music from stage musicals like Hairspray, or runs Burlesque and Broadway Bootcamps from her Waterloo base, for when sheās not challenging students in her tough training sessions, she can be found treading the boards on stage.
As Paula Frances, she was Diana Corkhill in Brookside, and she continues to work as an actress – sheās appearing at The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn in Desperate Scousewives 2 this month.
But now sheās also topping the bill in the fitness world too, and has just been named North West Community Fitness Instructor 2021.
āAnd Iām beyond chuffed,ā she says. āIām grateful and so honoured. I never thought a little one-woman band would be even in the running for such an honour.
āBut itās a community award and my classes are not just about the physical, but about the mental and spiritual side too. Itās about providing a space where people feel they belong, where theyāre accepted and supported – we are like a family.ā
Paula, 52, is well known for her role in Brookside in which he played the troubled and abused wife of PC āRod the Plodā Corkhill between 1990-1993.
But less well known is her fitness role – which sheās starred in from the age of 12!
āMy mum and dad opened a gym, City Health Studio in County Road, Walton, in 1982, and my dad took me there,ā she says. āThere was a lady who took a fitness class and one night she didnāt turn up and I asked my dad if I could take it. (It was only a 10-minute class).
āHe agreed – and members said āwe love the new girlā!
āMy dad gave me a job a couple of nights a week and, at 14, I did a course for aerobics teachers.
āEven through my Brookie years, 1990-1993, I continued to teach fitness and I always have.ā
It was after she had children though – Alexandra is 23 and Callum is 21 – that fitness took a more leading role in Paulaās life.
āI decided to take a year off when Alexandra was born and then for Callum,ā she explains, āand it ended up being seven. I started working again and did a national tour of The Naked Truth with Lisa Riley which I loved, but I found it unbearable being away from the kids.
āEven though I came home at weekends I hated being away, so I asked to leave the show.ā
Paula goes on: āWhen I was 35 I decided to renew all my qualifications so I went to Liverpool Community College to do dance, aerobics, Pilates and other things, and then I went to university to study Health, Nutrition and Fitness – I got a First Class degree! – and I started bootcamp in Waterloo 12 years ago.ā
She runs her company, Corefit, from Old Christ Church in Waterloo, and Paula has built up a capacity 300 clients.
She delivers a range of classes including Boxing to the Beat (which she created) and private training sessions.
During Covid she started online training two days before the official lockdown, having been advised where things were heading (āI have a lot of teachers and nurses who train with meā): āMy husband, Brian, helped me with all the technical stuff but I took to it like a duck to water – as did all my members. I have got my own YouTube channel, and now I do classes online and in person, and it gives everyone options.
āOld Christ Church is so big, Iām able to accommodate 40 people even 2.5 metres apart which is great and Iām delighted to say not one person passed covid on in any of my classes. Iām proud of that, and that we could get back to exercise safely.ā
The award has prompted further pride!
āWhen they said my name I was stunned, there are some amazing instructors, but I feel really privilegedā¦and flattered.
āIt is a community award, and we have been – and are – a community, weāre there for each other. Itās hard to ask for help, we all know that, but here we can. Weāve had women who have brought kids up on their own, their marriage has failed, and they meet someone here who is in similar circumstances, and they end up supporting each other and going on holiday together, or they go for drinks together – and thatās what community is all about.
āItās more than exercise – itās somewhere safe where people can feel like they belong and are not judged.ā
Paula adds: āI still love to act – and do – and I love fitness. But being in class is like being on stage – itās not everyone who can stand at the front of 50 people and do the class, do exercise – and have fun.
āI get my stage performance hit from that – and my members laugh and say, āshe thinks sheās not actingā, but itās great and they indulge me.
āWe all have a great time – and thatās what itās about. We had t-shirts made which said āwe are stronger togetherā, because we are. And the award backs all of that up.ā
* Paula is appearing at The Brindley Theatre in Runcorn in Desperate Scousewives 2 on November 24 and 25 and you can book tickets here.