What do Otley and the more sun-kissed parts of the European continent now have in common?

The answer, thanks to a suggestion by two local schoolboys, is a free, outdoor gym that allows people to give their legs, biceps and other muscles a workout under the open sky.

Wharfemeadows Park may not be guaranteed the same hours of sunshine, or months of dry weather, that the likes of southern France, Italy and Spain – where such facilities have been common at pool-sides and in parks for some years – can boast.

But the impressive range of exercise equipment that has just been installed there should encourage more people, perhaps put off by the sometimes claustrophobic (not to mention expensive) nature of indoor gyms, to ‘have a go’ at getting fitter – even in murkier conditions.

Such a facility can only be a genuine asset to the community, and the Town Council – along with Green Leeds and Leeds City Council who both backed the project – should be heartily congratulated for enabling it through its Voice Your Choice scheme.

Plaudits also, of course, have to go to pupils Max Houghton and George Thompson for coming up with the idea in the first place of giving residents of all ages a chance to get fit, for free, in the open air.

Let’s hope the gym is well used and looked after, whatever Yorkshire’s weather throws at it.