MUPPET legend Miss Piggy may have packed the punches but she's got nothing on the latest puppeteers trying to muscle in on her act.

They have started to pump iron so they can keep up their stamina during the strenuous shows.

The Reach Puppets group aim to spread a Christian message - but the young puppet masters have to make sure they are physically as well as spiritually fit for performances.

The puppets have to be held above the heads of the youngsters, aged 12 to 18, so they go through a warm-up routine to give them the strength and stamina to get through their shows.

Before performances the puppeteers limber up with exercises including dancing to a puppet aerobic tape with their Muppet-style puppets and weight training to build strong upper-arm muscles.

The group are based at St Mary's Church, Rawtenstall, and started life a year ago after team leader and mother of two of the puppeteers Alison Aspin, of Newchurch, went to a puppet ministry conference.

She used to use glove puppets to help tell Bible stories at Sunday school but since being introduced to the "muppets" she has never looked back.

The puppets are bought by mail order and cost between £50 to £80 and so she returned from the conference with just one.

It soon starred in the pulpit as a "naughty little boy" and the children and congregation loved it, so she decided to form Reach Puppets.

The first day she announced the plan £100 was donated on the spot and she soon had a team of 19 young helpers who each have a puppet and meet once a week to rehearse.

She said: "We have human puppets and funky ones which have brightly coloured faces.

"Puppets can say things that people can't get away with.

"People think it is easy but lifting the puppet above your head and moving its arms and mouth in time to the music is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy! We use a lot of pre-recorded music which is a parody on well-known music. The Power of Love becomes the Power of God, and the Bee Gees' Staying Alive becomes Paying Your Tithe. It would be lovely to record our own music.

"We also perform sketches and at the Northern Puppet Ministry Festival in Rochdale we won first prize in the sketch competition and first prize in the song competition. It was a real blessing."

Some of the songs and routines last up to seven or eight minutes each so the group have to make sure they have the strength to keep waving their puppets above their heads.

The puppets are a family business for Alison, whose husband Stuart arranged the music and videoing of practices so the youngsters can see how they are doing, and children Emily, 14 and Michael, 12, operating the puppets.

And a sister puppet team has now been set up in America on the strength of the St Mary's team.

Reach Puppets will be celebrating their first birthday with performances called Reaching for Heaven on April 2 and 3 at St Mary's Church from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. Admission is free with light refreshments provided afterwards.