A PIONEERING sports injuries clinic is looking to rub planning chiefs up the right way with its £200,000 proposed investment in Bury.

The Northern Institute of Massage, the oldest established college of massage in the country and run by the Caldwell family from Hawkshaw, is looking to give up its teaching centre in Blackpool and return the world-renowned business to Bury.

Directors Eddie and Marie Caldwell have applied for planning permission to use office accommodation in St Mary's Place, Bury, as a tuition centre and administration headquarters for their remedial massage operation.

Students from around the country and the world are expected to take advantage of the centre when it opens, subject to planning permission - in the spring of next year. Mrs Caldwell, a well-known long distance runner, said: "The centre would be used mainly at the weekends to teach students on a correspondence course the practical side of remedial massage. During the working week, we will deal with the theory side of the course.

"We have had our headquarters in Blackpool for a number of years, and Eddie and I are becoming fed-up with commuting.

"We are sure people will be happier with Bury's environment. The borough has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and we want to add to that."

The institute is the only college of its kind that is credited by the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council and attracts correspondents from the four corners of the globe.

It will be run very much as a family affair with Eddie and Marie's son and daughter, Christopher and Rachel, helping to teach remedial massage courses.

Specialists from around the world will be brought to Bury to lecture on massage techniques.

Mrs Caldwell said: "We will be ploughing around £200,000 into the Bury centre and we are looking forward to bringing a first rate service back to a first rate borough."

The scheme is expected to go before the borough's planning committee in November.

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