A SPORTS charity in Nottingham is launching a new project in a bid get people more active and help them stop smoking.
Beginning in April special exercise sessions tailored to smokers will be taking place at the Portland Leisure Centre in The Meadows.
The sessions have been organised by Notts County FC Football in the Community – which runs as a charity – and places are still available for anyone wanting to take part.
The project, called Put It Out, will be delivered to smokers who want to kick the habit, and increase their physical activity levels.
Currently 27 per cent - around 83,000 people - in the city are smokers compared to a smoking rate of 21 per cent nationally.
The exercise sessions are to be run in conjunction with Nottingham CityCare Partnership which runs the New Leaf stop smoking service in the city.
Put It Out will be delivered free of charge on a weekly basis on Wednesday evenings, and the project has been designed to ensure people from all backgrounds can take part.
Indu Hari, Health Improvement Manager at Nottingham CityCare Partnership, said: "We want to use our expertise at helping people to stop smoking and try different models of delivery to see if they help more people to stop smoking.
"We want to measure how effective Put It Out is, as professional football is a great way of attracting a different target group and physical activity can help people to relax when they are experiencing stress."
Anyone who would like to take part in the exercise sessions should call 0115 955 7215.
