AN Eccleston-based company will be aiming to chew up the opposition in the national finals of a website contest next month.

The Bubblegum Club is on a short-list of six and will be up against stiff competition from the world wide web.

The company which operates from above a launderette on The Green, Eccleston, was the brainchild of Dave Iddon, 39.

"The Bubblegum Club is a fan club dedicated to a range of greeting cards produced by Carton Cards in Dewsbury," explained Dave who used to work as a freelance artist/writer for Carlton Cards.

The Bubblegum card range he was working on was attracting so much fan mail, he decided to set up the firm with his wife Georgina and their family friend, Helen Warburton last November.

Dave said: "The club received its name from the characters in the cards which have a distinctive bubble shape to them."

Although the fan club itself has been a great success with nearly 1,500 members joining in the first few months, it is the website which has taken Dave by surprise.

He said: "We are currently attracting around four-and-a-half million hits per month with visitors from all over the world - including the USA, Australia, South America, Asia and all over mainland Europe."

The site, www.bubblegumclub.com, was set up to keep club members up to date with the latest Bubblegum developments, but has now taken on a life of it's own.

It receives on average over 170,000 hits a day and Dave and his team make a special effort to try and return all emails sent to them.

The Bubblegum Club has been shortlisted in the UK Youth and Kids category of the Yell.com industry awards.

Take a look at the site...