MUSIC and fitness are the twin passions of Swindon singer songwriter Charlie Bath.

The talented Charlie, 32, is combining both elements in her working life, as a personal trainer, fitness coach and sports massage therapist, as well as a singer and musician. She has a level three qualification in personal training and wants to help people create a fitness programme that works for them. Charlie is also a keen vegan and can advise on vegan nutrition.

“In 2015 I did sports massage training, and I was working in Old Town for a year. Now I’m working in GW Fitness in Cheney Manor,” Charlie said.

Charlie has lived in the Swindon area since she was a baby. She went to school in Lydiard Millicent and then to Wootton Bassett School, and was interested in music from an early age.

“I grew up listening to Motown and James Taylor and Stevie Wonder,” she said. “It had a massive impact on my music.

“When I was little, and my mum put me to bed, she said I would be sitting on the toilet singing songs to myself – not songs I head heard before but my own music. I was always creating music.

“I had a keyboard at age six, I started writing songs, and taking them to the headteacher to perform in assembly.”

Creativity ran in the family: “My sister is and amazing fine artist. Creativity was an outlet for me, for both of us. It helped me in finding a place in the world.”

After leaving school, Charlie started to study for A levels but says she did not fit in to the structure, so went on to do art and a music performance BTEC at Swindon College, where she began learning recording skills and how to improve her performance skills. She played piano and learnt the guitar and went on to study at Leeds College of Music, for a degree in music production.

“I loved that city,” she recalled. “Off the back of the course I released my first album, the only person who wrote and recorded their own album on that degree course. I was really ready to put myself out there.”

The album was called In Between Happy and Me, and Charlie says it reflected who was was at the time.

“I wrote, recorded and released it myself,” she said. “It was country-tinged but not overtly. It was very personal music.”

She said: “Creativity is something you have to be open to receiving. You have to turn up every day and be open to ideas coming. That’s something that I understand better now. At that time I could be very frustrated by it, not being consistently able to churn out songs. Now I only write when I have something to say.”

Charlie released her second album, The Good Fall, in 2012. It was co-produced with Simon Law, recorded onto tape and transferred to digital.

“In 2013 I worked in a retail job for a bit and played some show. I supported Katie Tunstall at the Sugar Hill Festival,” she said. “Then I had a break from music for a while. I moved to London and worked for a music merchandise company. It was the change I needed.”

The following year, Charlie travelled to India for a month and came back to Swindon. She worked at the GigRig and set up a collaboration with drum and bass DJ and producer Howard Newman. Now Mondays are music days for Charlie – as she balances her musical career with personal training. She is learning a catalogue of songs for another musician and will be backing him a new project.

“I’m going in on a different angle,” she said. “I’m enjoying not being centre stage.

She performed on Saturday at Swindon’s second Vegan Fest at the Victoria pub.

“I’m very interested in vegan food and nutrition. I used to be a gymnast as a kid and I like having fun with exercise.”

Charlie is also interested in psychology and life coaching and says she would like to help people with personal development and ways to get unstuck in their minds, by being creative and moving more. She is working with fellow personal trainer Lou Saunders creating fitness bootcamps and courses called New Fit Swindon. Listen to Charlie’s music on her Youtube channel and find out more about New Fit Swindon on Facebook.