Real life: Having fun is the secret to keeping fit
As the violin starts playing,
I concentrate on my moves and make sure I’m careful to click my stick with my partner’s at the right time. I’m completely lost in the moment.
Two years ago, I’d never have been able to cope with this level of activity. I’d been overweight since my twenties and, while I wasn’t unhappy with how I looked, when my 50th birthday approached last year, I wanted to improve my health and fitness.
I joined a slimming club and shed more than 5st in one year, dropping from 16st 4lb to 10st 10lb by June 2016.
But I needed to find an exercise that would keep me on track and interested.
Eventually I found the answer – in my local pub The Bell! In late 2016, a Morris dancing group performed there at a beer festival and I thought it looked great fun.
‘I’d love to try it,’ I told the landlady Penny. So together with friends, we formed a small, all-female group of six, and we learned our craft through internet tutorials and videos on YouTube.
Our group, named ‘Hells Bells’, dress in a punky, fun way and our theme is ‘peacock’, so we’re usually in black, dark blue and green. Our first performance, at The Bell in January 2017, went down well.
Now we meet at least once a week to rehearse, and we have 15 members. The exercise isn’t too strenuous, but it’s enough to keep me on track.
And the best thing is, I’m having fun with friends. Who says exercise has to be a chore?