A FORMER TV executive who says exercise saved her life is now helping new mums get active.

Freshly qualified personal trainer Fiona Jackson is leading dozens of local women on open air buggy fit sessions in the Battery Park.

The mum-of-two told the Tele that she was inspired to set them up after she struggled to cope with grief following the death of her mum Lilias and then the birth of her first baby.

Now happily married to her husband Allan, she said that it could all have been so different if she hadn’t started getting fit.

Fiona, who lives in Branchton Road, said: “When my mum was diagnosed with cancer I nursed her to the end.

“I was overcome with grief and then I fell pregnant six months later with my son Finlay, now five.

“I felt so isolated and alone. I didn’t cope with my mum’s death at all and then on top of having a baby it was a difficult time.

“It was exercise that saved me. I started going to the gym, then I worked in them.

“ I met my husband Allan and we had our son Jonas. It is all so different.

“I decided I wanted to be a personal trainer to help other women and qualified earlier this year when I was heavily pregnant.”

Fiona is so thankful about her turnaround that she wanted to share it with others.

She added: “I can only work at night so instead of sitting about all day with a baby I thought, what could I do?

“I wanted to help other mums and Jonas is only 20 weeks, so it helps me as well.”

Before having her family Fiona worked as a floor manager and researcher with STV.

Over 10 years she worked her way up from the mail room to working on The Hour show.

She said: “I was working as a receptionist and applied for a job in the STV mail room and was soon picking things up.

“There were great opportunities to learn and I used to sit with John McKay after he’d finished reading the news.

“They were fantastic to me with mum and I tried to go back after giving birth to my other son Finlay but the hours were too long.”

After only two weeks Fiona’s buggy fit classes at Battery Park are bursting at the seams.

She said: “It is brilliant fun and helps mums get out in the fresh air, get healthy and happy.”

Fiona’s classes run on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10.30am at the Battery Park Pavilion.