Everyone needs a little downtime, says Maxine Stead.
The owner of award-winning Alexandra House Spa has worked hard to build up her business – launching the spa in 2007 in premises at Edgerton before moving to a bigger property in Birkby in January last year.
But she knows the value of taking time out. “People need to be given permission to relax,” she says.
“We put ourselves under an awful lot of pressure to be busy all the time, but when you get to the end of your life, are you really going to say ‘I’m glad that my ironing basket was empty’?
“Our bodies and minds aren’t designed to take stress 24-7. We no longer allow ourselves some downtime – then we wonder why we get poorly. We need to get a bit of balance back into our lives.”
An escape from the stresses of life is just what Maxine aims to provides at Alexandra House. It’s an oasis of calm at the busy crossroads of Old Halifax Road, Spaines Road and Birkby Hall Road.
The spa is housed in a fine Victorian property which was once a doctor’s surgery – an appropriate use given Maxine’s own background working in clinical research.
Maxine moved into the premises 16 months ago after six months transforming it to provide a series of spacious treatment and relaxation rooms with soothing decor and a homely touch.
Outside, there’s a peaceful garden which Maxine describes as “a bit Mediterranean and a bit Zen” with a spectacular magnolia tree providing the centrepiece.
Maxine hasn’t finished there. Her next project is to develop the property’s barrel-roofed cellars into heat treatment rooms.
“We have kept a lot of the character of the property,” says Maxine, adding: “It’s about making people feel special. It’s about helping people feel good on the inside.
“You can come to the spa for an individual treatment and have a massage and go – or you can put on a robe and slippers and just relax and have some downtime.”
It’s not a career Maxine envisaged for herself growing up in Roberttown, atteding Heckmondwike Grammar School or later doing her A-Levels at Greenhead College.
“I was really interested in science,” she says. “Learning about being in business wasn’t an option. It was A-Levels, do your degree and work your way up the career ladder.”
Maxine studied pharmacy at Leeds University and went on to work in clinical research in the NHS.
She was involved in project managing government plans to set up a national cancer research network – co-ordinating between cancer charities, cancer doctors and nurses and the Department of Health.
“I loved that job,” she says. “It got to the point where it was so successful the government expanded it and set up an umbrella organisation.
“I moved into the new organisation, but things got very political and bureaucratic.
“No one would make a decision. We were discussing things at one meeting and coming back six months to find we were still discussing it.
“It was a complete contrast to the business world where I make a decision and even if it doesn’t work out at least I have made some progress.”
Maxine was on holiday in Bali when she hit on the idea of running a health spa.
“I just suddenly decided that’s what I was going to do,” she says. “I must have had the answer inside me, but I wasn’t listening – until I had switched off and I was outside my normal environment.
“I did some market research, went on a Business Link start-up course and wrote a business plan. I knew it was the right thing to do.
“There weren’t many spas at the time, it was quite a new concept and it was a challenge to sell the concept. Now it’s a little bit more mainstream.”
Maxine says: “I did a lot of business networking. I thought businesses were very competitive and wouldn’t want to help each other.
“I was surprised that business people in Calderdale and Kirklees were so friendly and supportive.
“I have collaborated with lots of people, I didn’t go into business thinking I would make lots of friends, but I have.”
Now the spa employs a 10-strong team of therapists, some of whom are former apprentices who qualified at the spa and are steeped in its ethos.
Says Maxine: “I hate it when you go into a shop and the assistant doesn’t even make eye contact with you.
“I want all my staff to make people feel valued. We get so many repeat customers because we care about them.”
Staff members undergo regular training to ensure they remain at the forefront of developments in the industry, with dedicated practitioners in specialist treatments such as Reiki – a Japanese technique in which the hands of a healer are said to release positive energy.
Maxine herself is a qualified master Reiki practitioner and has been working with Huddersfield University to research Reiki and how it can improve the quality of life for cancer patients by lowering their levels of anxiety, depression and fatigue.
Maxine will present the results of the research on June 10 at the Research Council for Complementary Medicine’s CAMSTRAND 2015 conference in London.
She says there is a real case for Reiki being added to the roster of complementary therapies made available via the NHS for cancer patients.
“There is increasing evidence about the power of the mind and body to heal itself,” she says. “Just because something cannot be explained doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.”
Maxine practises what she preaches – taking up yoga as well as working out in the gym. She also reads books on spirituality.
And she recognises the importance of achieving a work-life balance.
“A lot of people who come here from other parts of the north ask if I am going to open a spa in their town or city,” she says. “But I don’t want the stress.
“I had stress with my previous job and I changed my life round to tackle stress without resorting to medication.”
Role: Owner
Age: 44
Family: Partner Alan
Holidays: I like beach holidays. We are going to Greece this summer
Car: Audi A3
First job: I was a waitress at the New Inn at Roberttown. I enjoyed serving people their meals
Best thing about the job? Seeing people walk into the spa stressed and seeing them ‘floating’ out again!
Worst thing about the job? Paying the VAT!
Business tip: Do what you believe in and be true to yourself. A business has to be viable, but it also had to be true to you.
Work: Day spa offering treatments
ranging from massage to facials
Site: Halifax Old Road, Birkby
Phone: 01484 303786
Email: info@alexandrahouse.org.uk
