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Fitness club on the hoof at farm

Eve Dugdale
1/ 3/2007

SOME may say they're horsing around, but getting fit while fund-raising is a serious task for Heather Bagley and friends.

As our Fight the Flab campaign picks up speed, a group of Stalybridge women are showing that fancy gym memberships and complicated diets aren't the only ways to get healthy.

The group, who are all different sizes, have chosen waterproofs and wellies over expensive trainers and trendy sports gear.

They have set up an 'extreme outdoor work-out' involving walking and circuit training sessions at Paddock Farm, off Harrop Edge.

Heather Bagley, 38, and her friends thought up the idea as a way to get fit and raise money for a good cause.

"My son Max has special needs and goes to St Paul's school in Royton. The school are trying to raise money for a special needs computer and I was thinking how I could help. I also wanted to lose some weight and so did some other women I knew," said Heather, whose sister-in-law owns the farm.

The women pay £3 a session with £20 of the total cost paying for a personal trainer and the rest going towards the computer fund.

"We just go up to the farm in our bog standard gear, whatever weather and have a laugh. It's a really good workout and being in the fresh air is so much better for you," said Heather.

The women range from age 21 to 55. A 71-year-old pal also joins them on the two-mile walks they do to warm up before setting up the menage with cones, tyres and horse jumps.

They have raised £132 already and are considering opening the workout to members of the public.