A MERRY make-over has transformed the Three Musketeers into the Three Kings - but they won't be offering Tony Blair any presents this Christmas.

Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the only present the Prime Minister will get from the Burnley threesome will be a piece of their minds!

The veterans, who have a combined age of 257, dubbed themselves the Three Musketeers earlier this year to protest against the council tax.

All residents at Dove Court residential home in Burnley, they underwent the Yuletide transformation as part of their ongoing campaign to highlight what they say is an unfair and crippling tax for young and old alike.

They launched their campaign under the names of Aramis, Athos and Porthos, so they would not have to reveal their real names. However they were earlier this year unmasked as Fred Wilson, 83, Harry McWhinney, 93, and Jim Large, 81 - and adopted the motto "All for one, and one for all!"

In their new guise the trio said they would like to visit Prime Minister Tony Blair but rather than bearing the usual gifts, they hope to present an alternative message. Harry said: "We wouldn't take the traditional presents that the Three Wise Men gave. We'd probably give him a piece of our minds instead.

"The campaign is going very well and we are still getting lots of letters of support so we will carry on with it into the New Year."

Last month the three campaigners took their duel with the Government to Burnley town centre where they urged shoppers to sign the petition.

The group were all born and bred in the town and met about two years ago in the residential home.

Like all pensioners in residential care homes, they are exempt from council tax charges, but that does not stop them sticking up for people who have to pay it.

Fred, who served as a bomber command pilot with the RAF and worked as a lecturer, said: "People young and old are contacting us and saying they are finding it difficult to pay.

"There must be a better way. We are not doing this for ourselves, we're doing it for younger people, including other pensioners. We have had a very good response to our campaign and we won't stop."

The trio is completed by Harry, who worked for 60 years in the town's cotton mills, and Jim, who worked at Bank Hall Colliery before joining the RAF.