A PROJECT to improve the health of people in Pendle is hoping to attract even more participants in 2004.

The Healthy Communities project, set up three years ago, has already started a range of initiatives to encourage people to eat more healthily and take exercise.

New measures this year include the recent installation of gym equipment at the Silverman Hall, in Nelson; a Grow and Sow project for children to produce organic fruit and vegetables on allotments and new walks to encourage more people to use canals.

The project -- initially funded by the Pendle Leisure Trust, Pendle Partnership, Sure Start Bradley and Whitefield and the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust (PCT) -- aims to tackle health problems caused by poverty and social exclusion.

It has successfully secured funding from a range of bodies, such as the Children's Fund and the Countryside Agency, to give even more people the chance to boost their health.

Activities provided include exercise consultations, community exercise sessions, health awareness courses, dietary advice, smoking cessation services, organic gardening, first aid, drug awareness and accident prevention.

Many of the ideas are aimed at attracting groups who do not usually exercise, with sessions aimed specifically at Asian women now attracting about 400 participants each week.

Gary Hood, of Pendle Leisure Trust, said: "We started the Healthy Communities project because we wanted to get new people interested in exercise, especially people who wouldn't normally feel comfortable in traditional sports facilities.

"We hope that once they get started through the project they will graduate to other exercise facilities provided by Pendle Leisure."

The Healthy Communities project manager, Carol Harvey, has attracted praise from all quarters for her work .

Pendle Partnership programme manager, Anne Taylor, said: "Carol has made it a fantastic success and we are delighted by the number of people who have been helped. The project is making a big contribution to improve people's health in some of the most deprived areas of Pendle."

Nelson GP Dr Ikram Malik MBE, said: "Preventative health measures have the biggest impact on improving public health.

"The benefits to communities of the work that the project is doing will last a lifetime."