BANDS and music fans joined forces to create a parody version of Sir Bob Geldof and Bono's Band Aid — Bland Aid.

Singers from Bolton and across Greater Manchester recorded Bland Aid (Fleece the World) in just two hours, changing the lyrics of the original 1984 charity track.

Bernard Corri, who lives in Farnworth, wrote the song and teamed up with his friend Dave O'Rourke, from The Moods, to record the track.

It is performed by bands and singers including Death To The Strange, Kingdom Lost, The Moods and Taser Puppets.

The song has attracted more than 43,900 hits on YouTube and features lyrics including 'At Christmas time, grab the spotlight and put our shades on', 'Do they know it's pantomime at all?' and "here's to you Sir Bob and your millions, here's to you Apple and your billions'.

Mr Corri, aged 54, said: "We were laughing when the Band Aid thing came out and I said, we should change the words.

"The whole idea of the song is to point out to people that there are homeless and hungry people on our own streets who need our help first, although, of course we have complete sympathy with the plight of those who are suffering from the Ebola outbreak.

"People should let the likes of Bob and Bono stop indulging in tax avoidance and dip into their own very, very deep pockets to help in West Africa, and concentrate on helping people or charities in their own area who have fallen on hard times."

Earlier this week, Sir Bob Geldof launched a fresh round of Band Aid 30 fundraising to tackle Ebola as CD copies of the chart-topping single went on sale.

The revamped version of Do They Know It's Christmas — featuring acts such as One Direction and Chris Martin — has already been to number one following its release as a download last month.

Bland Aid was recorded in two hours, at rehearsal rooms in Miles Platting, Manchester, with more than 20 people involved.

Mr Corri said: "I think you can see just how much fun it was to record simply by watching it.

"The sheer amount of interest in our video and requests to make a sound recording available for downloading has been great."

The track will soon be available for MP3 download in exchange for a charity donation on the group's Facebook page, to the homeless and Dogs For The Disabled (DFD).

Mr Corri said: "The DFD charity is our own little pet charity for providing trained dogs to assist disabled people or kids — like my stepdaughter Sophie — with severe learning difficulties."

There will also be a charity concert at The Crescent pub in Salford on December 21, featuring all the bands involved and with a special re-enactment of the song for the finale.

Profits will go to the charities directly and members of Bland Aid will deliver pizzas, sandwiches and drinks to homeless people in Bolton and Manchester.

For more information: search Bland Aid on Facebook.