Eating disorder survivor: Running club set up by ex-Ipswich Town footballers 'changed my life'

  • ITV News Anglia's Andy Ward went along to see the club in action

A woman who was treated for a severe eating disorder has credited a new community running club set up by two professional footballers with helping to turn her life around.

Chloe Taylor, 26, was first diagnosed with the condition in 2017 and recently spent time in a psychiatric unit.

After she was discharged, she decided to join The Harmonious Wellness Club in Ipswich - a club run by ex-Ipswich Town teammates Luke Chambers and Emyr Huws.

The club was first launched in November last year with the aim of tackling mental health and combatting loneliness, and now has hundreds of members.

"Last year I was quite unwell. I had to go into a psychiatric unit, I was really poorly," Miss Taylor said.

"I was scared that I wasn't going to live a normal life again. I've become so sociable, I feel so much more confident in how I look and how I feel and everything in my life has just improved since I joined the group so I'm so thankful to everyone."

Emyr Huws (left) and Luke Chambers (right) set the club up last year. Credit: ITV News Anglia

The club started off with just a handful of members, but is now so popular that it stages regular early-morning runs as well as weekly track nights.

Former Ipswich captain Chambers, who played more than 300 games for Town before finishing his career at neighbours Colchester United, admitted the success of the club had "exceeded expectations".

"I make sure I speak to every single person and my message to everyone is: 'Look, try and speak to someone you've never spoken to before.' Whether that's at 6.30am on a Monday morning or a track event on a Wednesday evening, but what is important is that we consistently give those messages but also act in that way," he said.

"There's no agenda here, there's no egos - it's literally genuinely people caring about other people and I feel that brings out the best in people and helps people along on what ever journeys and struggles they've got."

The running club now has hundreds of members. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Chambers played alongside Huws at both Ipswich and Colchester, before Huws decided to call time on his playing career in December last year at the age of 30.

The former Welsh International said the club had given him a "new purpose in life."

He said: "To have like-minded individuals turn up on bleak mornings, it inspires you and it gives you hope, faith - things to look forward to, people to interact with.

"It's opened my eyes completely. I've got best friends I would never have met, and friends from walks of life I wouldn't have come across otherwise."

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