Warm-hearted Gym members donated an eggcellent 200 Easter eggs to a food bank in Didcot.

Members of the recently opened Pure Gym took part in an Easter egg appeal and donated approximately 200 Easter eggs to the Didcot Food Bank.

The Easter egg appeal was in partnership with the Didcot fundraising group, Play2Give, which was founded by Andy Baker in 2007.

As the gym only opened in November 2019, this was the first time Play2Give had partnered with Pure Gym.

Mr Baker, founder of Play2Give said: “It was amazing, in the first couple of days eggs started coming in and we ended up with five clear bags full of them. I know me and Hollie (Pure Gym manager) were really pleased and the generosity of everyone, it was brilliant.”

Tesco Express in Didcot also donated to the appeal. The supermarket sent 38 eggs which is around £48 worth of Easter eggs to the food bank.

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The Easter eggs were delivered last Friday to the food bank, which is based at the town’s Baptist Church, by Andy Baker and gym manager, Hollie Randall, using the social distance rules set out by the government.

The appeal was originally going to aim to collect Easter eggs to donate to the children at Oxford Children’s Hospital, however complications arose due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the restrictions in place to stop the spread.

Instead Pure Gym and Play2Give felt the Didcot Food Bank was a great cause to donate their five sacks full of Easter eggs to.

Mr Baker said: “Didcot food bank seemed a natural alternative choice to benefit under the circumstances.”

He added: “It took us a month and a half to collect the eggs. We had to cut it a bit short because of coronavirus. But gym members really got involved-it’s something we will definitely do again next year.”

Last November, Mr Baker cut the ribbon to the new Pure Gym and now after their Easter egg appeal collaboration hopes to continue fundraising together over the coming years.

Play2Give was founded in September 2007 and since more than £220,000 has been raised and donated to various local charities.

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The fundraising organisation has raised money for the Oxford Children’s Hospital through events and through their Christmas gift giving appeal, which is known as Sleigh2Give.

The Didcot based fundraising organisation was named the Charity of the Year at the Thames Valley Business and Community Awards ceremony held in Reading in January.

The founder of Paly2Give Andy Baker has been fundraising for 18 years. He was originally inspired to donate and fundraise for the Oxford Children’s Hospital after he was inspired by the childhood treatment, he received at the Oxford hospital after being born with a brain injury.

Play2Give host many fundraising events throughout the year such as football tournaments, summer fairs and fun runs.

Many of Play2Gives fundraising events have been postponed. To find out about more great fundraising events like the Easter egg appeal visit: http://www.play2give.org.uk/