A NEW 24 hour gym raised money to help the homeless on its opening day.

Shedded Fitness on Whitehill Industrial Estate, Royal Wootton Bassett held a raffle for its launch last month to support Threshold Housing Link, Swindon’s longest running homeless charity. Owners Emmaline Richards and Darren Beasley raised £287 for the charity and winners were drawn on a live Facebook stream.

Emmaline said: “The day was a huge success.

“The fact that we were opening our gym in winter played a massive part in our choice of charity. We organised a raffle and were struck by the generosity of the local community with donations of bottles of wine, a £100 luxury food hamper, as well as vouchers for beauty treatments, hairdressing, tattoos, vehicle maintenance and much more”.

Michael Keenan, chief development officer for Threshold, said: “What a fantastic gesture of Darren and Emmaline to dedicate their grand opening day to aid Swindon’s homeless. We are extremely grateful to them, along with their staff and customers.”