Celebrities leap at chance to help Lads and Girls (From The Bolton News)

Celebrities leap at chance to help Lads and Girls

8:04am Thursday 3rd December 2009

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CELEBRITIES, sports stars and young people literally jumped at the chance to help raise money for Bolton Lads and Girls Club.

And the likes of boxer Amir Khan, comedian Dave Spikey and the BBC’s North West Tonight team found themselves in the frame as they leapt for the charity.

Glossy photographs capture the stars’ and young peoples’ “in-the-air” amusing poses.

They have been published in The Leap — a book featuring 160 photographs taken by club members and photography students studying for their MA at The University of Bolton.

The pictures are accompanied by a poem specially written by Ian McMillan, a poet, broadcaster and visiting professor at the university.

BBC North West presenter Gordon Burns, who leapt with weather girl Dianne Oxberry and co-presenter Ranvir Singh, said: “The idea is brilliant.

“I had never heard of anything like this before, and apart from me pulling every muscle in my body, we had enormous fun taking part, and if it raises money for the club then it is fantastic.”

Club member Lorna Walker, aged 15 said: “Creating this book has given us a chance to learn about photography, enterprise skills and enter the world of business whilst raising funds for the club”

The idea for the book came about when the club approached the university for help with a fundraising project which would also encourage young people to become interested in the arts, education and enterprise.

More than 1,200 photographs were taken and 160 were chosen in the 10-week project.

Ian Beesley, organiser and programme leader for the MA photography course, said: “The idea of people leaping for the cameras works in all sorts of ways. It is a great leveller and breaks down social barriers — have you seen a leaping policeman before? It was great fun and it resulted in a fantastic selection of positives images.”

Claire Phillips, fundraising events manager at the club, said: “It is the perfect stocking filler. Everyone who has seen the book smiles.The quality is really good because of the university’s help and the young people learned so much “The difficulty was getting hold of the celebrities but once we got in touch, they wanted to take part.”

The book costs £9.99, and is available from Bolton Lads and Girls Club, Waterstones Bolton, Central Library and Sweeten’s book store in Deansgate, Bolton.

It will be officially launched on Thursday, December 10, at the university at 5pm.

schaudhari@ theboltonnews.co.uk

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