MORE than 100 women from a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds have come together to raise charity funds through an annual fitness event.
Every year NUR Fitness, a Middlesbrough group engaging women from the BME community in fitness, holds a celebration event to mark the achievements of the previous 12 months.
This year the group used the event to raise £940 to be split between local good causes the Trinity Holistic Centre and Cruse Bereavement.
Trinity, based at James Cook University Hospital promotes wellbeing in cancer patients and their families, while Cruse, based in central Middlesbrough, offers help and support to people who are bereaved.
Nur Fitness Manager Shazia Noor said: “Everybody can relate to the issues supported by these two charities and we all wanted to do something to help make a difference.
“It was also important to us to keep the money local – one of the nice things was there were so many local women but from different cultures all coming together to support the community.”
At a presentation event at the Bottle of Notes, representatives of the two charities and Nur Fitness were joined by Middlesbrough Council’s Public Health team.
Cllr Julia Rostron, Executive Member for Adult Health and Social Care, said: “We are proud to support Nur Fitness at their annual celebration event as they do fantastic work in our communities week in, week out.
“To engage so many people in fitness and a commitment to a healthier lifestyle is to be commended.
“We must also congratulate the more than 100 women on raising a record amount for local good causes this year.”
Heather McLean, from Trinity Holistic Centre, said: “It’s a really lovely pre-Christmas surprise and is enough to run our centre for a day-and-a-half which means seeing 150 extra people.”
Catherine Magor, from Cruse Bereavement, added: “We want to say thank you very much to Nur Fitness, this money will help us continue our good work.”