TO help celebrate 70 years of the NHS and thanks its staff the Redditch Selfdefence Association is offering free classes to all NHS staff for a month.

The group, which provides self-defence training for men, women and children, has offered free training for uniformed services including fire and the police for the last five years.

Head of the association Pete Martin said: "We all appreciate the terrific work done by the NHS staff and this is a small way of saying thank you."

The group has also agreed with the police to run a joint knife amnesty campaign alongside Redditch police station to encourage people to give up knives in an environment away from the station.

The free classes for NHS staff start on August 1.

For more information, go to redditchselfdefence.co.uk.