Rebecca Gough From salsa, to gardening to cycling, a new programme of events across Thetford will encourage people to become healthier in a fun and motivating way. The Thetford Healthy Town programme is designed to leave a legacy of healthier residents by encouraging them to take more exercise and eat healthily.

Rebecca Gough

From salsa, to gardening to cycling, a new programme of events across Thetford will encourage people to become healthier in a fun and motivating way.

The Thetford Healthy Town programme is designed to leave a legacy of healthier residents by encouraging them to take more exercise and eat healthily.

And details of a plethora of new schemes have now been released. People will have the chance to take up dancing, learn how to cook, cycle to work or garden their way to fitness.

A range of projects will be launched over the next few months, centred around healthy food, healthy living and healthy travel and will include events and activities by established schemes as well as new additions to the programme.

The �1.8m healthy living project, which is funded until March 2011 and was launched in September last year, comes after Thetford was named as one of nine towns and cities in the UK to be awarded healthy town status.

The scheme aims to improve the lives of the 30,000 residents in Thetford where in some wards the life expectancy is five years lower than the east of England average.

Thetford Healthy Living programme manager, Tony Trotman, said: “We want Thetford to be known as a town where healthy lifestyles are at the heart of what people, communities and businesses do.

“There are a wealth of exciting projects and initiatives now underway in the town, and our aim is to work with these for the benefit of all concerned.”

Kick starting the initiative will be the launch of a bike recycling project in King Street in Thetford on Saturday , between 10am and 2pm.

Run by Keystone Development Trust, the project involves collecting old bikes, refurbishing them and selling them at a reduced price to the public and to businesses in Thetford for their employees.

On February 16, between 10am and 2pm at the Redcastle Furze Youth Caf�, there will also be an open taster event teaching 14 to 30-year-olds how to cook nutritious food.

For those looking for something more active, there are a series of dance classes, a running club, healthy living courses and taster sport sessions, amongst others.

For full details of activities go to the Healthy Living website at www.thetfordhealthytown.co.uk.