A HUSBAND and wife will be raising pounds by losing pounds this month. Andy and Lisa Whiting, of Shrivenham, are taking part in separate activities to raise money for charity.

Andy, an army sergeant based at The Defence Academy at Shrivenham, will be carrying out an all-day spin session at the Sainsbury’s in Bridgmead.

“It’s going to be tough but I’m confident that I’ll be able to do it,” said 42-year-old Andy. “I’m going to be starting at around eight in the morning and going through until 10 in the evening.”

“I’ve been doing loads of training and getting myself in a positive frame of mind.

“I’ve bought myself a spin bike so have been at home watching sports on TV as I’ve been training.”

Andy will raising money for CALM, the Swindon based charity that supports children diagnosed with cancer.

He has had great support from the Army and there will be buckets in the store for people to donate on the day.

“They are a charity that do such great work,” said Andy.

“We had a group of children come to the Army museum to look at the tanks and I said then that I’d raise some money for them.

“When I was looking for something to do I found out that Sainsbury’s also support CALM so I approached them and they said I could do the spin session in store.”

His wife Lisa leads several Slimming World groups and both are raising money to be divided between CALM and Fat Boys, a charity run by Wiltshire Police helping terminally ill children.

The groups, each with more than 40 members, will be taking part in a sponsored slim and have six weeks to complete the challenge.

“When we decided to raise money I asked my groups which charities they wanted to help,” said Lisa, 43. “In one class there was a policeman who explained all the good work that Fat Boys do.

“In my other class there was someone who had lost a child and said that CALM were brilliant so we decided to help them as well.”

The slimming groups are just over three weeks into the challenge and Lisa believes everyone is benefiting.

“This really is a win-win event. “Everyone is achieving their initial aim of losing weight and raising money for two fantastic causes.”