A PENSIONER has raised nearly £1,000 for research into the condition which afflicts her grandson by working with a secondary school.

Christine Ogden, aged 73, visited Smithills School as part of her long-running to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy and the pupils responded by raising £932 through a non-uniform day.

Mrs Ogden, who lives in Smithills, has been campaigning for muscular dystrophy for 11 years and has now raised about £70,000.

Her grandson Alexander, aged 13, who lives in Scotland, developed the worst form of the condition called Duchenne when he was just 18 months old.

Muscular dystrophy affects the development of every single muscle in the body and 99.9 per cent of sufferers are boys.

In Bolton there are currently 98 boys with Duchenne and about 400 with any of the 56 dystrophies, according to Mrs Ogden.

Mrs Ogden visited the school as they staged a non-uniform day to raise cash for research.

She spoke to Year 11 and Year Seven students about the condition and oversaw various workshops and activities.

Mrs Ogden said: “I saw the school fundraising in Morrisons and I approached him to ask if they could do the same for dystrophy and they did.

“It was a fantastic day. It was amazing the different ideas they came up with.

“They had 10 minutes to deliver a BBC-style report on muscular dystrophy.

“I spoke to them earlier in the year about the condition and they had clearly listened and taken what I said on board. They were a credit.”