A Keighley town centre exercise class for over 50s is gearing up to go it alone.

The group — which participates in gentle exercise set to music at Keighley’s Temple Row Centre — has been running for three years.

But group leader Jonathan Chapman said from April of next year it was likely to lose its funding.

NHS Bradford and Airedale has been providing £2,500 a year to cover instructor fees and venue hire.

But Mr Chapman said the organisation would be switching its funding emphasis to support weight loss initiatives. He stressed he did not want to criticise the NHS.

But he said the exercise group would have to come up with independent means of financing its activities. He said it currently had about 15 members, all of whom were elderly women.

He said it would need to find about £60 a week to keep going, which would mean members would have to start paying at least £3 per weekly session.

He added the group would also have to attract a few more people to bring its regular membership up to around 20. The classes take place on Thursdays, from 10.30am to noon, in Temple Row. Anyone wanting further information should contact the Temple Row Centre on 01535 606700.

At a session last month, members said the classes were of great benefit and they would miss them if they stopped.

Rita Firth said: “They help very much with things like balance and blood pressure. For the first time I’m now within the limits of what is ‘normal’ blood pressure”.

Gill Davies said: “A lot of people don’t want to exercise when they have health problems and they’re on their own. Here, those problems are taken into account and by exercising together people have been able to build up their confidence.”

She added that the Temple Row Centre’s location and the fact it had a lift, made the exercise classes appropriate for people with disabilities.

A spokesman for NHS Bradford and Airedale said: “We have funded this class for the past two years but this will no longer be the case in the next financial year.

“We are carrying out a review of all our exercise provision for people across the whole district to make sure that we have a full range of classes that best meet the needs of local people. We are pleased that the class is looking at other ways to continue.”