The village that loses together to win

You’d think having a weigh-in at a butcher’s shop, surrounded by tempting produce, wouldn’t help dieting.

Well you’d be wrong.

A year after one of their friends appeared as a leader on Operation Transformation, 17 villagers are still on the dieting trail.

They meet weekly in Jimmy Power’s butchers in Castletownroche, Co Cork, where they jump on the scales.

It may not sound a lot, but the dieters have shed a combined 45kg.

Jimmy uses some of his produce to emphasis what that amounts to.

“That’s four and a half bags of the 10kg of the potatoes I have on sale, or nearly four legs of lamb, which weight about 12kg each,” he said.

It’s over a year since the village’s postmistress, Grace Batterberry took, part in the RTÉ programme and she’s proud that her friends have continued to back the healthy lifestyle choice.

Retired publican John Batterberry, 67, leads rather a sedentary life running the local taxi company, but when it comes to losing the pounds, he’s up there with the best.

“I’ve lost five stone,” he said looking at the meat counter. “The sausages are out and I only eat lean meat now.”

His sister Susan lost a stone but, more importantly, gave up the cigarettes as part of a healthier lifestyle. “I’m putting a bit back on, but still, being able to give them up was great,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jimmy’s lost 11kg. “It’s tough because I love food, and especially when you’re working with food all the time,” he said.

His wife, Frances, said that when Grace started on the show, a group of 47 supported her during the eight-week programme.

What’s left is a diehard group that meets every week for the weigh-in.

“When everybody comes to get weighed, they pay €2 each. We save that money and use it for fund social outings every so often,” said Frances.

“There’s no doubt this is going to keep going for quite some time with us.”