The Friends of Bailey Park in Abergavenny have bagged £10,000 towards their Fitness Zone project as part of a nationwide carrier bag charge refund organised by Tesco.

The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help Initiative, which saw grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000, all raised from the 5p bag levy, being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

The schemes were voted for, using tokens dished out at the checkout, by eight million shoppers in stores across the country.

The Friends’ project is to create an outdoor gym next to the children’s playground in the park, so that parents can keep an eye on the kids - while keeping fit.

It’s not just for parents, of course. The gym equipment is for anyone from 14 years of age upwards, ranging from complete beginners to experienced athletes.

Using the latest smartphone technology QR codes on each of the individual units can be scanned by users’ smartphones. Video footage is shown of the exercises that can be done on each element and the techniques to be used in executing them - thus providing fitness enthusiasts with their own personal trainer, free of charge!

Friends’ chair Shirley Barnfield said they were thrilled to bits with the award and wanted to thank local people for their support and Tesco for showing an interest in and investing in a project that future generations could be proud of and enjoy.

“We’re following the lead of other countries where fitness centres in open spaces are really popular.

“It’s one of our biggest and most ambitious projects and it would have taken us years to raise that amount of money,” she said.

“We need to raise a bit more to reach our full target - probably through a table top sale at the market hall - but we’re aiming to have the Fitness Zone up and running in time for the school holidays in the summer.”