A HAY fever sufferer is dreading an early start to the sneezing season after being banned from blowing his nose!

Surgeons have warned singer Niall McConachie that his head will blow up like a balloon if he uses his handkerchief after an operation to set a shattered jaw.

But Barrowford-based Niall, 22, has decided to turn the other cheek despite claims that the annual summer agony will start even earlier for sufferers this year.

Lead guitarist Miles Reid, 23, also from Barrowford, said the front-man with Pendle band The Cornerstones is in remarkably high spirits. He added: "He is under strict orders not to blow his nose.

"If he does, it will undo all the work and his face will puff out.

"He has been walking around with a handkerchief which he cannot use for at least a fortnight."

Niall had surgery to reset the break and straighten a depressed cheek bone at a hospital in Bradford after suffering the triple break while playing football.

Unfortunately the calamity has set back his band's latest recording work at Shamrock Studios in the Ribble Valley.

Miles said: "The only thing we were waiting to do was place the vocal track.

"Fortunately it has given us a little more time to think about writing songs and Niall can still play guitar."

Niall was available for comment, but frankly finds it too painful.

The band have now set an August deadline for Niall's recovery because they hope to headline a performance at the Burnley Mechanics.

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