The first rule of Fit Club is that you DO talk about Fit Club, and with successful results shared by two Anglesey slimmer’s groups, they’re eager to spread the word.

Holyhead and Beaumaris leisure centres have been running weekly Community Fit clubs since January, thanks to £1,000 of National Lottery funding, through the Sports Council for Wales’ Community Chest initiative. For £5 a week, participants receive a weigh-in followed by a healthy lifestyle workshop and two inclusive activity sessions at the centre. They then build a personal record of their progress towards agreed goals, building confidence, knowledge and skills. The Community Fit Club is a sustainable weight loss club which places specific emphasis on physical activity to accompany practical healthy eating and lifestyle support to achieve a safe and long term weight loss.

The Beaumaris Community Fit Club attracted 29 members, who have attended 156 sessions over 18 weeks, with a combined weight loss of 5stone 7lbs. Sixteen participants enrolled on the Holyhead scheme, taking part in fitness, swimming and aerobics sessions with a resulting combined weight loss of 48lb. The Holyhead Fit Club is expected to continue due to popular demand, doubling as an exit route for the new Fit for Life scheme and from this month will offer Aquafit as an activity option.

Organisers hope that these Fit Club programmes could significantly contribute towards increasing attendances at leisure centres and improving the health of the local community on Anglesey.

Karen Owen, Beaumaris Leisure Centre Manager said: "Reducing obesity and increasing participation in physical activity are key outcomes sought by the Welsh Assembly Government. The Community Fit Club has been about getting people fit, thinking about a healthy diet and combining that with physical exercise. We have got a lot of retired people in this corner of the island and Anglesey, at one stage, had some of the highest figures for heart disease in Wales. We are based right next to the health centre and we do work with them and they recommend people to us."

Since the inception of the Sports Council for Wales’ Community Chest scheme in 1999, communities across the length and breadth of Wales have been investing heavily in sports and physical activity projects.

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling, said:

"Community Chest has been and continues to be a huge success and is very popular throughout Anglesey. The increase in funding and the greater scope of the scheme will increase its effectiveness.

"Panels based in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales hold the purse strings and have delegated authority to award grants to worthwhile projects. We want to hear of bright ideas and projects that will get more people in Anglesey more active, more often."

As a result of the popularity and undoubted success of the scheme, the Sports Council for Wales is raising the level of grant. Organisations keen to develop sport and physical activity in Wales can now receive up to £1000 for a qualifying project over a 12 month period.

The scope of the scheme has also been widened. Grants have traditionally been awarded to sports clubs and sporting bodies. Now most organisations seeking to develop physical activity and sporting projects will be eligible for an award.

The Community Chest has recently been infiltrating additional areas of work such as the voluntary sector (e.g. Voluntary Youth Clubs, Women’s Institute) and the workplace, as well as continuing to support projects in the health and education arenas. So while funding the local football club might get the younger members of the community moving, backing a walking group will encourage more adults to get active.