A team of fitness enthusiasts have gone the extra mile to raise tens of thousands for a hospice charity.

The loyal supporters, led by personal trainer Kevin Marshall, started their fundraising drive five years ago and have since raised £36,165.

Through the organisation Positive Steps, which he founded in 2011, Kevin and his team have organised and completed various challenges and events around East Anglia to raise money for St Nicholas Hospice Care.

He said: 'I chose to start raising funds for the hospice because I believe that everyone deserves to die with dignity and that is what the hospice does.

'Positive Steps really wouldn't have been able to raise the funds it has without the support of the whole team. I couldn't do it without them.'

Kevin has been working with his team for several years and together they visited the hospice to learn what difference the money from Positive Steps has made.

Charlie De-Moore, the hospice's events fundraiser, said: 'The support the team has given us over the years has been truly fantastic.

'The money they have raised helps us continue to care for those across our community in the final chapters of their lives making a huge difference to countless families across the area.'

Positive Steps was initially started as a personal training service in Bury St Edmunds but has since branched out to specialise in Nordic walking and putting on events around East Anglia including the Bury to Clare Challenge and the Festive Forest Challenge.

Kevin said: 'I think at our first Festive Forest Challenge we must have had around 50 people and we raised £900.

'Last year we had more than 300 people do the challenge and we already have people signing up for the next Bury to Clare in May.'

The £36,165 figures doesn't include funds raised by individual Positive Steps members so in reality the figure is likely to be much higher.

Registration is now open for the next challenge, an 18-mile walk or run over the countryside of West Suffolk on Sunday May 13.

To register visit positivestepspt.co.uk