She's hoping her love of the wiggle-inducing plastic ring will catch on in a return of the fifties fad.

Sally, who appeared with her hoop in Cadbury's TV ad to re-launch the Wispa chocolate bar, is starting hula hoop exercise classes.

With the retro craze snowballing in popularity in the States, the 30-year-old from Southsea thinks hula hooping will take off on our shores as the perfect way to shed Christmas pounds.

She is launching classes at the John Pounds Centre in Portsea, giving people the chance to take up the activity, which stars such as pop singer Beyonce Knowles and Sandra Oh, of the TV series Grey's Anatomy have made popular in America.

Sally only started hula-hooping about 12 months ago and once she got the hang of it she became addicted.

'I just read something about hula hooping in a magazine last year and it sounded like good exercise, so I decided to give it a go,' she said.
'When I first started I just couldn't get the hang of it and was constantly dropping my hoop, but once you learn the technique, you just can't stop, it's really addictive.

'It's great fun too and works on parts of the body people will want to tone after Christmas, like their tummies.'

The weekly classes will be launched this month and the first, on January 14, will be free for anyone to come along and give it a go.
Sally, a human resources worker who lives in Methuen Road, Southsea, plans on walking the Race for Life while hula-hooping and is hoping to get a number of people from the classes to join her.

They will complete the 3.1-mile course in Southsea later this year twirling hoops around their hips and arms.

Mrs Cox said: 'I did the race last year running and walking with some family.'

The classes are open to males and females of all ages. For details, or to book a place, call Sally on 07787 950092