A group of neighbours from Braeside in Seaton, made the best of the lockdown period by organising a socially distant keep fit class, for 30 minutes every day, to complete their daily exercise and keep everyone’s spirits up.

One of the ladies involved with the group is our very own Barbara Macleod, or ‘Babs’ as everyone here at Hospice at Home West Cumbria knows her. Babs has worked for hospice in the fundraising and finance teams for nearly 11 years, and has also been an amazing supporter of our events and fundraising activities in her spare time. Here Babs tells us how the Braeside Keep Fitter’s began and how they decided to support Hospice at Home West Cumbria.

“Little did we know that at the start of lockdown, a note popped through our letterboxes by Joy Montgomery, asking if we would like to be a part of a 30 minute work-out on the estate, would become part of our daily routine and still be going 12 weeks later!

With an amplifier supplied by my husband Ray, and led by a driven and energetic Joy, some 14 neighbours later – we were good to go, and Braeside Keep Fitter’s began.

With working for hospice, I can’t help but think of ways to incorporate supporting the charity when there is something I am getting involved with, and so I suggested to the group that we all buy t-shirts from hospice, and we decided on the superhero themed ones from the KAPOW! event which is unfortunately not able to go ahead this year.

All our keep fit group bought them, plus many of the other neighbours not taking part bought a branded hospice t-shirt. Another member of our group, Dot Best, is a retired Hospice at Home West Cumbria nurse and everyone agreed it was a local and very worthy cause.

Our daily work-out has been great for everyone’s mental health, as some of the neighbours live alone and others are working from home which can feel quite isolating.

We’ve had such a laugh and we all feel as though we have made 14 friends as well as being neighbours. Most of us on the estate have been here for over 30 years, with just a couple of new comers joining us. We range from early our early 30’s (I wish) to our late 70’s (not quite) and we cannot thank Joy enough for setting all this up.

The other ladies in our group are; Sandra Dodgson, Joan Hoarsley, Val Graham, Jan Cook, Joan Fenwick, Susan Young, Margery Laws, Marilyn Boyd, Brenda Scurr, Louise Armstrong,  Margaret Whitehead, Marlene Davidson and Sarah McAdam, congratulations to Sarah  who joined in on a few sessions and has since had a baby girl!”

Thank you to all the lovely ladies listed above from everyone at Hospice at Home West Cumbria.

Have you been supporting us in your community? We’d love to hear from you! Please contact the Fundraising Team on info@hhwc.org.uk