MEET the managers hoping to inspire their teams to success when the British Transplant Games come to Bolton in August.

Janice Taylor, Zoe Dixon and Denise Roberts are all managers of North West teams and were welcomed to the Reebok Stadium by Mayor of Bolton Cllr Colin Shaw.

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games will see 1,000 athletes who have successfully received transplants competing in a wide range of events across the borough between August 7 and 10.

Each competitor will belong to a team and Janice Taylor, team manager of Wythenshawe Adults, said she is already working on building her team.

She said: “I am always on the lookout for people to sign up.

“I will be approaching anyone who has had a transplant at Wythenshawe to see if they want to take part.

“The good thing is people can be as competitive as they want — some take it very seriously, whereas others are there to celebrate the fact that they are alive and that is the ethos of the whole games.”

The 55-year-old runs Wythenshawe Hospital’s New Start charity which provides financial assistance to the heart and lung transplant programme.

She added: “When the charity was first set up in 1986, the government wasn’t convinced about the programme so New Start actually paid for the first 50 transplants that were done here.”

Ms Taylor also backed The Bolton News campaign, which is urging people to Sign Up To Save Lives.

The campaign aims to get 5,000 people to sign up to the NHS organ donor register.

Another team manager hoping for success in Bolton in August is Denise Roberts, aged 49, from Prestwich who will be taking charge of the Manchester Children’s Team.

She said: “My day job is a nurse specialising in transplants so I see first-hand the difference a transplant makes and we follow the children through and after the process.”

The Manchester children’s team will feature team members as young as two up to the age of 18 who have undergone either kidney or bone marrow transplants.

Mrs Roberts added: “It’s not about winning, it’s about celebrating the gift of life and being able to compete with others who have been through something similar.”