The owner of Hire Fitness believes his father’s attitude to health helped inspire him to set up a firm to help people stay fit within the comfort of their own home

Healthy body, healthy mind — the policy my late father, Charters Crawford adopted throughout his life as a hard working farmer who firmly believed that you don't deserve to get rewarded unless you are prepared to put in the time, effort and hard work.

As a maturing young man, my father was very much into healthy living and was a pioneer of the time, adopting many common farming tools and instruments and using them to improve his physical fitness and shape. For example he used the farm shop weight blocks as dumbbells, and he would always take the physical approach to many farming activities which could have been made easier by utilising tools or a tractor. He was a regular subscriber to the 1930s Health and Strength publication and went as far to submit a photograph which subsequently made the front cover.

In many ways my late father has been an inspiration to me for his no nonsense approach to life, the principles he lived by, the respect he showed to others and his approach to staying fit and looking good. Indeed, no more so in my recent endeavours to establish Hire Fitness (www.hirefitness.co.uk) in Northern Ireland.

A business devoted to hiring out fitness equipment for use at home is a new concept in Northern Ireland.

However it has now become a firmly established option in England and several other countries across the world for those wanting to remain trim and healthy but at their own convenience and within the comfort of their own home.

Having been very busy over the years as a senior executive and more recently as an interim management executive, I frequently find it very difficult to fit in gym time or simply enough physical exercise time.

Perhaps if my father was still alive today he may have frowned at people struggling to find time to look after their fitness and stay in trim, but I'm pretty sure he would have raised more than an eyebrow at the hustle and bustle of modern day living and lifestyles.