Photo gallery: Funky Fitness Bowthorpe gets £10000 Big Lottery ...

Exercising with Charlie Chimp at Funky Fitness in Clover Hill. Photo: Bill Smith

Mark Shields Sunday, July 14, 2013 7:57 PM

A voluntary group which provides fun and affordable activities for families has been given a Big Lottery Fund boost.

Funky Fitness in Bowthorpe is taking three coachloads of its members and their families to Thetford Forest after receiving a grant of nearly £10,000.

Organisers say the group, founded just last September, will now be able to afford new equipment for its summer holiday activity programme for children of all ages.

Mother-of-three Beverley Rushbrook, one of the group who helped set up Funky Fitness, said: "We are really excited at receiving the grant, as it means all over the summer holidays we can provide low-cost activities for children and families."

Mrs Rushbrook, 32, of Harsnett Close, Bowthorpe, said: "It's for families and it's run by families. We are all volunteers and we wanted to make a difference by offering activities for families who may not be able to afford them otherwise."

Funky Fitness offers sports and games activities, dance, arts and crafts sessions for children and parents to do together, and also runs a befriending scheme with Age UK Norfolk.

Thanks to the grant, the group will take 110 children and parents to Thetford Forest this summer.

"It's a chance for families to get together and have a lovely day out without all the worry about costs," said Mrs Rushbrook.

The group meets between 10am and 11.30am every Thursday morning at Clover Hill Village Hall.

Its summer programme for 12 to 19-year-olds, which will run Monday and Thursday during the holidays, kicks off on July 29 with registration at 10am.