Beth studied Sport & Exercise with us from 2017 to 2019. After leaving College, she went on to study Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Leeds Beckett University for three years and qualified as a Personal Trainer, before going on to work at a number of gyms and becoming an Area Manager across a number of different sites.

She opened her first gym, Lift Club at Harrogate West Business Park in 2023 at the age of just 23, and has since invested £250,000 to move to bigger premises with state-of-the-art facilities. Beth’s mission is to make gym training inclusive, enjoyable, progressive and empowering and she says she is putting her “heart and soul” into the new venture. Beth currently employs an eight-strong workforce at the Thirkill Park premises in Pannal.

Beth credits York College with igniting her interest in pursuing a fitness and well-being career pathway. She explains: “When I left school, I didn’t feel that I was built for the traditional A Level route. I didn’t have a real enthusiasm for any of the subjects and my biggest passion was always sport and exercise. I also had really supportive parents who were happy for me to follow that path. York College offered me what I wanted to do and, living in Leeds, wasn’t too far away.” 

She adds: “I really enjoyed the breadth of what was on offer on the course and the subjects that were covered. There were so many different aspects to it and it was so varied. It wasn’t too niche and that helped me discover that my passion was nutrition and performance and the course allowed me to specialise on that afterwards at university.”