Fitness club off to Royal Albert Hall

Fitness club members from Norfolk will take the stage at the Royal Albert Hall alongside international performers to mark the 80th anniversary of a long-running exercise network.

Fitness club members from Norfolk will take the stage at the Royal Albert Hall alongside international performers to mark the 80th anniversary of a long-running exercise network.

Twenty-four women who attend Fitness League classes in Holme Hale, near Swaffham, and Hempton, near Fakenham, have been rehearsing for months to dance at the prestigious London venue.

The display on Saturday will also include members from New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

It marks the anniversary of the Fitness League, formally known as the Women's League of Health and Beauty, which was founded by Mary Bagot Stack in 1930.

The organisation, whose motto is Movement is Life, aims to combine fitness and posture exercises with dance movements to build strength, stamina and energy - as well as inspiring friendship and fun among its members.

Area Fitness League teacher Val Barnes, who runs classes for all ages at Hempton, Holme Hale and Sedgeford, said: 'It is very, very exciting and quite overwhelming.

'They have worked extremely hard for a long time, and this will be the fruit of all the hard work. It is celebrating 80 years of the Fitness League, and there are not many fitness groups who can say they've been around that long. It is an amazing organisation.'