Meet Hagley Road Village resident, Barry!

Barry Wilcox lives at Hagley Road Village in Birmingham and uses the Village gym regularly.

He says: “I’m up early and usually the first in the gym, at 8am. I like the cycling, the treadmill, the rowing machine and the weights.

“I didn’t use a gym until I moved to the Village in March this year. I’d watch television in the mornings instead. But now I’m a volunteer in the gym, I like going and I like the benefits I get from it. I can see that the flabby bits are going, I don’t get out of breath so much and I’m generally more active.

“I try to walk to town at least once a week and that takes me about 45 minutes.

“I’m eating more healthily too. I used to be a chauffeur, and eat convenience food. I’d grab a McDonald’s because I had to get something to eat quickly. Now I only have red meat once a week and I eat a lot of raw food like hummus with carrot dips and green peppers, and salad in the evening. I do still have the occasional treat, like a bacon sandwich on a Sunday morning or a glass of red wine when we go to bingo.

“I feel healthy. There isn’t anything I can’t do.

“Old age really hasn’t hit me.”