CHARITY bosses and hordes of young fans were left disappointed when stars of Coronation Street failed to show for a Bury movie premier.

The stars of Granada's top soap were kept away by heavy filming commitments from the premier of the Bill Murray comedy The Man Who Knew Too Little at Warner Village, Pilsworth.

Autograph hunters stood in vain for an hour in the foyer of the cinema waiting for the TV stars to show, but to no avail.

One group who attended Wednesday night's gala premier contacted the Bury Times to express their disappointment.

A 16-strong group of workers at Coats Viyella in Whitefield and their families were among several hundred people who had paid £10 a head to attend the bash, which promised VIPs, stars and Hollywood glamour.

"We were told there would be stars," said Mrs Judith Hardman, one of the organisers of the trip.

"We took our kids with us and they were really excited, but they ended up really disappointed."

The group were also denied entry to the after-show party because they "were not VIPs".

Mrs Hardman said: "We only wanted to go in for a drink. We ended up paying £10 a head just to watch a film. At least that was good!"

A spokesman for Granada TV said the cast had hoped to get to the show, but filming had over-run on the night.

Alison Sinclair said: "The cast have supported the charity in the past, but the commitment of filming four episodes a week is huge. "The normal times for filming is 8am to 7pm six days a week. It is very difficult for the stars to guarantee attendance."

Mr Keith Coulter, administrator of the Dr Joe Jaffe Hospital Support Charity admitted he was disappointed by the stars' no-show.

"They have never let us down before," he said. "It's just one of those things."

Many of the cast were at the launch of the event last week, held at Granada Studios.

Other stars that organisers had hoped to be along on the night were also forced to withdraw.

Manchester United had hoped to allow some players along, but the club stopped them before the decisive matches in the premiership were played.

Stars of Brookside were also due to turn up, but cancelled just a couple of days before.

Around 300 people did attend, and the VIP mantle was taken up by Key 103 DJs Pete Mitchell and Geoff Tong and comedian Smug Roberts, the men behind the "meat pie sausage roll" football song.

Heavy rain after the film prevented party-goers enjoying a fun fair put on outside the cinema by Gore and De Koning, which would have raised cash to further boosted the charity's coffers.

After enjoying the film invited guests enjoyed an after-show party at the nearby Chiquito's restaurant.

The evening was rounded off with a spectacular firework display in the skies of Pilsworth, timed immaculately between could-bursts to the delight of the party-goers.

Mr Coulter said: "We would like to thank everybody who has given so much to the evening.

"Warner Village and Chiquito's have been absolutely wonderful."

The money raised on the night, some £3,000, will be spent on special HPI Ominicare Monitors for children who have had kidney transplants at the Joe Jaffe unit at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in Pendlebury.

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