Around 40 members of the Senior Physical Activity and Adapted Sports (SPAAS) programme gathered with instructors at the Maple Leaf Pub on Canada Way for their annual post-Christmas celebration.
The programme, run by the University of Worcester, is open to all ages and includes a variety of adapted sports such as walking football, netball, and basketball.
Members can also participate in the Fall Safe Programme, which aims to reduce the likelihood and impact of falls.
Carole Driscoll, a group member, said: “I started going to the gym, and the Fall Safe Programme, and it has been so good for my core strength.”
She added: “Everyone we’ve met here is friendly, and we’ve all got something in common; we want to keep ourselves fit, strong, and well.”
Another member, Lynne Box, said: “It’s great.
“It gets me doing exercise and the falls programme is wonderful.
“I do walking netball and my husband does walking football, so we take full advantage of everything we can on the SPAAS programme.”
She added: “You get to meet new people; I’ve met a whole new group of friends through netball and we all go for coffee afterwards.”
Marc Scriven, director of strength and conditioning at the University of Worcester, oversees the sessions.
He said: “I’ve calculated that we’ve had more than 47,000 individual visits to the SPAAS programme over the 16 years we’ve been running it, and this annual celebration is always very special for us.
“As you can see, people who join the programme become part of a really close-knit community of friends, and moments like this remind us that the benefits of being active go far beyond improving your physical health.”
He added: “We’re a big group, but we’re always welcoming new members, and January is a great time for people to think about improving their physical fitness.”
To find out more about the programme, visit the university’s website or email spaas@worc.ac.uk.