Health clubs looking to encourage older members to cross the threshold and become members could do worse than hire a fitness fanatic veteran to lead exercise classes.

It could even throw a club into limelight and generate some media interest.

Recently, the media has highlighted numerous cases where pensioners working out can inspire or encourage others to follow suit.

Ida Wasserman, aged 102, from Florida, US, became the celebrity of BBC Three's Are you Fitter Than a Pensioner? when she showed off her intense workout to four unhealthy Brits.

Elsewhere, Elena Tracevscki, who lives in Bucharest, Romania, has - at the age of 105 - become Europe's oldest gym teacher, according to the The Express.

Closer to home, Gordon Smith, 88, from Barnsley, became the star of the Yorkshire Post when it was revealed that, having learned to swim in the local canal, he still takes the plunge nearly every day and has been a member of the Royton Leisure Centre for almost three decades.