The worthy and the not so worthy

 A fit young thing working out in front of Verily Fitt’s inspirational poster at her gym

A husband and wife team who run Adam's Jewellers in Petersfield are set to holiday in Tanzania later this month, and will climb Kilimanjaro while they are there.

Verily Fitt (39) told reporters: "I'm incredibly fit; I row, use the stepper and go to the gym every day. I hear the chaps who come into the jewellers say ‘She's fit’, and did I mention that I'm still in my thirties?"

Verily's husband, Otto B. Fitt, has also been in training. "I take my dog for a walk on Butser Hill most days; that should see me all right,” he said.

"I know it's not as steep, not anywhere near as high and that it hardly constitutes as altitude training, but I'm sure I will be fine. I only start to wheeze as I get near to the top.

"If for some reason I struggle, Verily has said she will carry me the rest of the way. She's trained at the gym, and on the stepper and on a rowing machine and everything. She trains every day you know. She's properly fit."

The husband-and-wife team decided that while they were holidaying in Tanzania, they might as well raise some money for a very worthy cause, Research into Crohn's Disease. They have also decided to give half of the money they raise to Petersfield's The Big School (TBS).

We asked the pair why they were not giving all the money to the worthy cause.

Verily Fitt told us: "If you think I'm fit now you should have seen me when I was a student at TBS. I was forever winning prizes for sports events.

"All I lived for was going up and collecting prizes and I want our children to have that same opportunity, so we will be donating a selection of trophies to the school.

"When I say I will be donating, we are hoping for enough sponsorship to pay for the trophies obviously.

“By donating half of the money to a properly worthy cause we hope more people will actually sponsor us.

"Every evening when our children return home from school they walk down our hallway and pass all of the awards I won as a student. I want them to win a few awards of their own, then they shouldn’t have to feel so embarrassed.”

Airlift race drama - shoe lost!

Tragedy almost struck the popular annual Butser Air Ambulance race last weekend, when a well-heeled jogger ran in front of one of the competing choppers.

Spike Shoes, a 34-year-old running enthusiast, was caught up in the annual fundraiser when he went for his regular jog through Queen Elizabeth Country Park.

He said: “I had no idea there was such an event. One minute I was kneeling down to scrape a bit of dirt off my shiny new trainers and the next I was being bundled into a helicopter by interfering busybodies who aren’t even paid to do the job.

“Apparently they thought I was having a coronary but I was appalled. I paid nearly £200 for those Nike running shoes and they left one behind when we took off – I nearly had real heart attack when I realised what those idiots had done. The guy kept blathering on about saving my life. What about saving my bloody shoes?

“There’s no point saving me if I can only hop up to the top of the hill in future. I’m not made of money.”

A spokesman for the local voluntary air ambulance service said: “Tosser!”