NEW MEMBERS of leisure centres across South Gloucestershire have been encouraging this Easter to donate chocolate eggs to charities and foodbanks in return for a reduced joining fee.

The Circadian Trust, which runs centres in Thornbury, Yate, Bradley Stoke, Kingswood and Longwell Green have collected 139 eggs from the charitable “Donate an Easter Egg” scheme and will be delivering them to charities including foodbanks in Thornbury, Yate and Chipping Sodbury, as well as North Bristol foodbank, Resound and The Juice Community Project in time for the Easter weekend.

Erica Cross, marketing manager at Circadian Trust said: “Food banks rely on donations to help local people in crisis and at Easter time it’s nice to be able to give a little something to families who wouldn’t normally have the pleasure of an Easter egg.

“We are delighted to be able to support other local charities and at the same time encourage more people to start a healthier, active lifestyle by joining our leisure centres.”

Jon Dobson, Manager at North Bristol food bank said: “We are really grateful to all the members from Active Leisure centres who donated to the Easter campaign.

“The sad reality is that many families rely on food banks to get by, and would never be able to consider treating themselves at Easter time. We are really pleased that thanks to the success of the campaign we will be able to make sure no child misses out this Easter.”