REGULARS at a Great Harwood pub raised their glasses on St George's Day to the health of a local teenager who was injured in a car crash.

John and Rita Houghton of Baggy's Wine Bar, in Glebe Street, hold celebrations every year, and the £600 collected yesterday will be used to help fund treatment for Great Harwood teenager Andrew McMinn, who was critically injured 11 weeks ago when the car he was a passenger in hit a stone wall. Andrew, 19, of Blake Gardens, has been in a coma since the accident in Clayton-le-Moors and after eight weeks in Queens Park Hospital, Blackburn, he was transferred to Highbank rehabilitation unit in Bury.

The first 12 weeks of his treatment will be paid for by the NHS but additional funds will have to be raised if he is to have more rehabilitation. Already he is responding to family and friends.

They have organised fund-raising events. Collection boxes have been set up and a penalty shoot-out with Blackburn Rovers star David Dunn has been arranged for today at Memorial Park between 6pm and 6.30pm. Other events include a ladies' cocktail night and a family fun day.

Andrew's colleagues at the Slinger Group, the meat supply company where he worked in Great Harwood, are also scheduled to do a five-mile tractor pull on May 5. Anyone who would like to help can call Winnie Murray on 01254 876766.