West Bromwich Arthritis Care Self Help Group

The group meets at Sandwell Hospital on the last Wednesday of each month, with a variety of guests welcomed throughout the year to entertain at the meetings.

The group also runs Tai-Chi classes three Tuesday evenings a month and hydrotherapy sessions on alternate Saturday afternoons.

Its members also get to socialise by taking trips together, including spring breaks and Christmas trips around the UK.

The group participated in the Cash For Your Community project last time around, getting £355 after members of the public collected more than 2,000 tokens to support them.

This year, any money the group gets will go towards hiring a professional physiotherapist to lead the fortnightly hydrotherapy sessions at Portway Leisure Centre.

Hydrotherapy classes allow people with arthritis to exercise without putting pressure on load bearing joints.

Group chairperson Margaret Haines said: "We need a physiotherapist to lead the exercises at the sessions but they are professional people and have to be paid.

"Taking part in the Cash For Your Community project would enable the group to work towards achieving this goal.

"We want to brighten up the lives of people living with a painful and debilitating condition."

Nearly 200,000 people are suffering from arthritis in the Black Country and Staffordshire at the moment, with 37,696 of those coming from Sandwell.