A group helping heart attack victims get back on their feet is celebrating raising cash for new equipment.
Members of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit at the Sports Centre in Festival Place raised more than £1,000.
The cash will go towards buying a new rowing machine for the mezzanine level of the sport centre.
Eight volunteers spent the year holding fundraising events such as raffles, café afternoons and sponsored walks.
The classes take on patients who have been discharged from Basingstoke and North Hants hospital or the Alton Cardiac Rehab centre.
The one-hour sessions are led by one of four specialist instructors who use light exercise routines with weights, treadmills and rowing machines to help boost fitness.
Cardiac rehab instructor at the sports centre, Janice Roberts, said: “The classes are to help encourage fitness as well as being a social event.
“It is not all about fitness, people make friends, there is a social interaction which helps boost their confidence.”
For 70-year-old Norman Hughes, a retired civil service engineer from Kempshott, the classes helped him recover from a triple bypass in 1997.
He said: “The classes have really kept me going. When I had my bypass I was on my last legs.
“My wife said that went I went into the theatre I looked grey. Since coming out and starting rehabilitation I have become a different person.”
“When I went into Basingstoke I could not put six steps together. But I came out from a 10-week rehab course in Alton, started the classes and before long I was back to normal.
“I had never done exercise in my life until I came here. So considering that I am still going is down to this.”
The classes were started in June 1997. The rehab team work with the NHS to create a programme for each individual.
Mr Hughes said: “While the operation helps save your life, the rehab gets people back into the community. Beforehand, people would be cardiac cripples.
“This group helps get people out of their arm chairs. Otherwise they would be sitting there just waiting to pass on.”
For more information on the classes, call the Sports Centre on 01256 326331 .
