Friday Folk

THERE are two great interests in Damien Hey's life - ballroom dancing and cricket.

And it seems to work for 16-year-old Damien, a sixth former at Haslingden High School, who is excelling at both.

Damien, youngest son of Donald and Elizabeth Hey, of Lime Road, Haslingden, has a cabinet full of trophies and medals he and his partner Shayon Bali, 17, of Rochdale, have won at dancing.

And last season all-rounder Damien helped his cricket team win promotion to Division One of the Rossendale Workshop Midweek League.

The latest successes for Damien and Shayon came at Walkden, where they won trophies for Latin American and ballroom dancing in the City of Salford Championships and medals at the City of Manchester Ball of the Year.

Damien, who has been dancing for two years, said: "I love it. I have had to take a bit of stick from schoolmates but I hope to become a professional dancer.

"I will have to join the amateur ranks first after going to college and I will be hoping to get some sponsorship." Damien is a fitness fanatic who does plenty of running and press-ups and attends practice four nights a week at the J D Dance School in Rochdale, where his tutors are Dawn Clegg and John Jackson.

Magic man strips down for hot-spot challenge

MAGICIAN Ricky Reidy will have nothing up his sleeve when he takes up a new job entertaining holidaymakers in the Canary Isles.

Ricky will be going out to the resort of Caleta De Fuste in Fuerteventura to perform magic tricks in the hotels.

But because he will be swapping the cold and rain of Greenside Avenue, Blackburn, for the sunny skies of Spain, Ricky will only be wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

However, Ricky is not worried about having nowhere to hide the tricks of his trade.

"I specialise in close-up magic and sleight of hand," he said.

"I won't have any sleeves but it's a bit of a myth that magicians have everything up their sleeves."

The 24-year-old former pupil of St Bede's RC High School, Blackburn, has been interested in magic since he was six and has now given up his job as a landscape gardener to devote himself full-time to his chosen career.

However, he has no ambitions to be the next Paul Daniels.

"My ultimate ambition is to be so well-known in the magic fraternity that I can bring out my own videos and books and market my own tricks," he said.

"I'm not into big illusions. "Close-up magic is my speciality and I do a lot of tricks under people's noses.

"When people still cannot work out how you've done it they really appreciate that."

Andy takes over in crime line hot-seat

A NEW man is overseeing police efforts to solve crime across East Lancashire.

PC Andy Edwards has moved from a job in crime prevention to become co-ordinator of the CrimeStoppers bureau at police headquarters.

In 1997, 1,523 calls were received which led to 130 people being arrested and the recovery of £50,320-worth of property and drugs valued at £83,645.

But PC Edwards is hoping that he will be able to boost those figures even further.

He said: "I'm hoping to get out and about the county telling everyone about the benefits of CrimeStoppers.

"It can be a useful tool in all sorts of criminal investigations and I feel we might have just scratched the surface in some respects. Selling CrimeStoppers to the force will be one of my priorities."

Andy has taken over from PC Charlie Sykes, who co-ordinated the operation for four years and has now moved on to the Western Division. People who want to report details of crime can ring the freephone CrimeStoppers number 0800 555111.

Charity worker's free car boost

A VOLUNTARY worker has been given a boost to her charity work by winning the chance to drive a car free for a year.

Mrs Olwyn Keogh was picked from 20,000 hopefuls to win a Daewoo car to test drive for 12 months.

And she has decided to put her prize to good use by using it for the charity she founded in Blackburn, the Friends of Chernobyl.

Mrs Keogh, from Wilpshire, Blackburn, said: "I nearly hit the ceiling when I heard the news. I sold my old car 12 months ago. It was 15 years old but I was finding it difficult getting to meetings because the charity has groups across the country now."

She added: "I desperately needed transport but couldn't afford a new car. The charity takes up most of my time but I don't get paid for it. I just don't know what I'll do after the year is up."

Olwyn was entered for the competition when she took a Daewoo test drive and completed a questionnaire.

As part of Mrs Keogh's free test drive she must give Daewoo monthly feedback on the car's capabilities and the company's service quality.

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