Fitness First takes to the skies for the BHF

Staff and members at Fitness First have shown they are all heart by raising more than £81,000 for the BHF, the gym chain’s fundraising partner.

In the first year of the three year partnership, gym members have taken part in events including sky dives, our London to Paris Bike Ride and a static marathon run.

Daredevil Helen Cooke, 24, works at the Northampton branch of Fitness First. She raised more than £400 for the BHF by taking part in a sky dive.

Helen says: “I’d wanted to do a sky dive for a long time so when I saw the opportunity advertised in my gym I decided to go for it. The experience really was as amazing as I thought it would be and it was great to know I was raising money for a good cause at the same time.”

Douglas Rouse, Head of Corporate Partnerships at the British Heart Foundation said: “We are thrilled Fitness First has really risen to the challenge this year. With their enthusiastic fundraising they are playing an important role in helping raise awareness of heart disease as well as raising vital funds to fight it.”

Each of the 170 Fitness First clubs in the UK will continue to work closely with BHF over the next two years.

Find out more about Fitness First and the BHF and our other Charity of the Year partnerships.

Jogging for hearts

We've been overwhelmed by the success of this year’s Woburn Abbey Jog.

More than 500 joggers turned up to take part - that's double the number from last year.

We're hoping to raise £25,000 from this year’s jog and are well on target, but still need your help to reach the magic number - every penny really does make a difference.

Event Organiser, Robert Cox says: “A heartfelt thank you from everyone at the British Heart Foundation. Thanks to the money you raise the BHF will make even more progress with life-saving care in the community.”

To find out about our autumn and winter events near you, see our Event Finder on our main website.

Date announced for 2009 BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride

We thought you'd like to know that we've just announced the date for our 2009 BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride. It's Sunday 21 June.

We'll be publishing further details of how to register to enter the Ride - which is the largest charity cycle event of its kind in Europe - from mid-December this year.

The 54-mile event is our biggest fundraising event, raising over £3.9m in 2007. This year we're hoping the Ride will raise even more to help continue our lifesaving work.

Cyclists really took the event to heart this year, with all places selling out weeks beforehand. And since we became involved in 1980, over £42 million has been raised for us.

You can see photos from this year's Ride and also read comments from those who part. There are also TV news reports of the event on our BHF YouTube Channel

Did you take part in the Ride this year? Would you recommend it to others interested in taking part? Are you already looking forward to it? Let us know by posting your comments below!