Ten thousand pounds has been raised by pilates classes held at Lee Mill for St Luke’s Hospice where members of the community don’t have to pay for their lessons.

Classes run every Tuesday and are free of charge but voluntary donations have proved a great way to raise significant funds for St Luke’s.

Wendy Jamieson started the class because she wanted to do something to make pilates classes more accessible to everyone in her area. Wendy then came up with a plan that not only benefits those who want to get fit but also as a brilliant way of raising funds for St Luke’s hospice.

Classes have grown from just one class with four people to two classes with forty people all run at the Western Inn at Lee Mill. The function room is generously donated free of charge by the landlady Louise Hutchings.

Last year and through voluntary donations the classes raised a brilliant five thousand pounds but this year they have done even better, having just reached their ten thousand pound target. The function room is free of charge for the classes and is generously donated by the landlady, Louisa Hutchings.

Wendy originally got the plan together with Louisa in 2015 and since then has never looked back. As an existing supporter of St Luke’s Wendy decided to try to raise some funds for the charity, inviting people to make voluntary donations to the charity instead of charging them for the classes and it’s proved to be a great success.

Jo Woodcock, a friend of Wendy’s also attends the class and brings along ‘Unis’, a black labrador. Both Jo and Wendy are local ambassadors for guide dogs so love having Unis in the class especially as she joins in with some of the exercises. Apparently Unis is particularly adept at the ‘downward dog’ and ‘cat stretch.’

Wendy told us “Every penny raised goes towards the charity so onwards and upwards, our next goal is twenty thousand pounds.”