UP close and personal is the style of a superb magazine produced by students in a Chorley school. More than 30 pupils formed an editorial team at Southlands High School with a mission to seek out and interview people who are achievers in their field and can offer inspiration to young people. Their resulting reports on the lives and careers of 24 personalities include not only household names, such as TV news presenter Martin Henfield and the Earl of Derby, but among other sports achievers is Kelly Walmesley, the 21-year-old Salford student, who won five gold medals at the World Transplant Games this year. We have picked out two of their fascinating articles from the "Up Close" magazine. The third edition is due out in March.

Food for thought

AN enticing smell wafted from the kitchen as we walked through the door, but this was only to be expected from an award winning chef and restaurateur.

From an early age Paul Heathcote knew that catering was the profession for him and at 37 owns three restaurants which he not only manages, but also helps in the preparation of the delicious dishes on offer.

We tracked him down in Heathcote's Restaurant, Longridge, where guests were wining and dining in comfortable cottage style surroundings.

In spite of his busy schedule and frequent television appearances, Paul found time to chat to us about his achievements and ambitions.

The Longridge premises was his first restaurant, which he opened in 1990. "But of course it has been changed over the years," he said. "We now have a much larger kitchen with modern equipment, and what was once my living space is now a function room." Asked about current fashions in food, Paul said that there is now a lot of spicy Asian influenced food around, and that traditional British food is making a comeback, with a few modern touches. "But I prefer to be a leader of fashion rather than a follower," he added.

He himself claims to like all food, particularly seafood, and especially crab, but crab doesn't seem to like him. Although he can eat crab, he has problems in preparing it as it brings him out in a rash.

Many famous people have visited his restaurants, including Sir Cliff Richard, David and Victoria Beckham and most of the cast of Coronation Street. And Ronan Keating claimed that it was the best meal he had ever eaten . . . "outside of Ireland."

Paul is still ambitious, planning to open another restaurant in Birmingham in the near future and always on the lookout for new ideas.

"I visit other restaurants as often as possible, looking for inspiration and seeing how other people are doing it," he said. "In fact I'll soon be off to Switzerland to call in at a world famous restaurant.

"But if you want to know the secret of success, it's customer satisfaction. I like to think that as my customers walk through the door, they feel immediately special."

It was certainly a special treat to talk to Paul and we are now saving our "dough" to celebrate our 16th birthdays at one of his restaurants.

By ANTONIA REED and AMY CLOVER, both aged 15

Top dogs who took Lesley on 1,000 mile trek

WHAT has webbed feet, two coats and can cover over a hundred miles a day across frozen snow? The answer is, a husky.

These incredible animals have been top dog in the life of a Burnley woman for over 20 years and have helped her to achieve a unique ambition.

Lesley Monk is the only British woman ever to have completed the gruelling Iditarod Trail dog sled race across a thousand miles of Alaska in temperatures of 50C below freezing. But what took her from the farm in Burnley where she lives with husband Roy to the bleak wastes of northern Canada? We went to find out.

Lesley says that she fell in love with dogs when she got her first poodle at the age of nine and years later, having discovered huskies on a visit to New York, decided to start breeding them back in Lancashire.

At present they are down to just six huskies on the farm (along with deer and alpaca), but own another 43 in Alaska.

It was Lesley's love of the dogs that led her to attempt the world famous race from Anchorage in south Alaska to Nome on the Bering Sea coast, which she completed in 1988.

During her 19 days of battling through wind, snow blizzards and temperatures well below freezing, Lesley lost 24 per cent of her body weight and most of her hair. Seven of the 14 huskies pulling her sled were injured and left with vets along the route, but she and her remaining animals made it to the finish, becoming one of around only 50 women ever to do so. Although these are super tough dogs, bred to work and survive in conditions where no other dog could live, we found them to be beautiful, friendly animals, and were especially pleased to meet Pal, now retired after being lead dog in five Iditarod races.

Roy, who has completed the Iditarod several times, has plans to compete again in the next race in March 2000, but Lesley says that this time she will enjoy the race as a spectator.

LAURA BROCKBANK and KATIE JACKSON, both aged 14

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.