SURPRISED shoppers were warned of the dangers of blood pressure and strokes at an event held at a local supermarket.

Altrincham Rotary Club's Stroke Awareness and Know Your Blood Pressure Day at Tesco Altrincham store saw the group teach passers by about the importance of understanding circulatory issues.

Over 100,000 people have strokes in the UK each year, which is one every five minutes.

But the rotary club says many people do not understand or think this will happen to them and is working with the Stroke Association to do everything to prevent people having strokes.

During the awareness day, nurses were on hand to take blood pressure readings and, out of 65 people who were checked, several were unaware they had high blood pressure and one was found to have low blood pressure.

They were advised to seek further help.

Rotary Club president Barry Besbrode said: "Know Your Blood Pressure day is a great campaign to make the public aware and Altrincham Rotary Club were pleased to be involved. People should regularly check their blood pressure so as to prevent strokes and save lives."

Over one million people have had their blood pressure checked through this system and both Trafford mayor Tom Ross and provost of Altrincham Ken Garrity supported the event and were on hand to distribute leaflets to make people aware of the extremely important cause.