IT started when he was just four-years-old. Chorley-born spiritualist David Holt saw the spirit of a woman in his bedroom on regular occasions, which turned out to be his stepfather’s first wife who had died of a brain haemorrhage.

Now David is well-respected in the industry and is embarking on his first UK tour, giving out messages to those who have lost loved ones.

“I have been very fortunate to have seen spirit people from an early age. The most amazing aspect of being a medium for me was losing the fear of death completely, a journey I hope to share with you,” said David.

The medium spends time in the UK and America teaching on the subject of supernatural and has lined up three dates at various East Lancashire venues.

“I went to a spiritualist church with my parents when I was older. On the same day I had lost my keys and the medium picked me out of the crowd and said ‘young man don’t worry about the keys, they will turn up’. And they did. My friend found them in the town centre.”

As a medium David says his purpose is to show beyond all doubt that the human soul continues to live on after death.

“I have had several TV companies offer me jobs but I have turned them doesn’t because they didn’t represent the spirit world. I have been demonstrating one-to-one for the last 10 years and demand was so great that I decided to go into the spiritualist churches.”

David, who lives in Euxton with his wife Jane, also hosts table tilting seances, a practice dating back to the late 1800s. Audience participants sit around a table, place their hands on it and wait for rotations. The table was purportedly made to serve as a means of communicating with the spirits; the alphabet would be slowly called over and the table would tilt at the appropriate letter.

“I have a whole range of followers, from sceptics to believers, but I do believe anybody has got the potential to communicate with the spirit world. People are still looking for the ultimate evidence but the reason I started giving readings was to heal the grief and to give the best possible evidence to relatives that have lost loved ones.

“The character and personality that made your loved ones who they were in life is still very much alive and well in the world of spirit. One day when we make this inevitable journey ourselves, they will be there to greet you. There is nothing to fear in death, it is a very simple and natural part of life’s cycle and just another step in our progression to a higher level of consciousness.”

n David Holt, Friday, July 25, Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre, Box Office: 01254 380293, Friday, September 5, Darwen Library Theatre, Box Office: 01254 706 006 and Friday, October 17 The Muni, Colne, Box Office: 01282 661234.