A CHARITY drive that began five years ago as a soccer match between Breightmet taxi drivers and the local Labour club has grown into a huge effort uniting the whole community.

This year the fund-raising effort has included karaoke, raffles and a cricket match against the police.

The whole thing has raised £1,476, divided equally between the Bolton taxi drivers' outing for deprived children and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Main organiser Graham Pollitt, of Breightmet Taxis, said: "I've had tears in my eyes with the generosity of local people - often people who are hard up themselves."

The soccer match was again the highlight, with eight teams battling it out.

This year the competition was named the John Haddock Charity Shield after the big-hearted man who spent the last years of his life raising thousands of pounds for charity.

But the biggest money raiser was a karaoke and raffle night at Breightmet Labour Club which was sponsored by Charles Turner's paper mill and raised £748.

Another raffle at the club raised £516. Dozens of local people and businesses donated prizes ranging from free hair-dos to vouchers for the chippy.

One lucky couple, Mr and Mrs Sherman Richards, of Deepdale Road, Breightmet, won the top prize of a candle-lit dinner at the Moat House.

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