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Poorly tot's mum goes in search of legends

Damon Wilkinson
23/12/2006

A MOTHER is hoping to raise money for sufferers of a rare blood disease by immortalising Rochdale's colourful characters in print.

Claire Crichton's 16-month-old son Henry is one of just 6,000 people in the UK with haemophilia, a condition when blood doesn't clot naturally.

If cut the toddler bleeds for longer than normal and he is also susceptible to bruising.

Claire and her partner, former Rochdale Hornets player Tony Allen, discovered the condition when Henry had a cut in his mouth.

She said: "It came as a big shock. He will never be allowed to play contact sports or do any overly physical exercise because of the condition. His dad was a bit disappointed because he hoped his son was going to grow up and be a rugby player like him.

"But we have got to let him be normal and play like anybody else would. Apart from the haemophilia he is fit and healthy and gets into all the normal mischief any other young boy would."

Proud of her Rochdale roots, Claire, of Oldham Road, Balderstone, is hoping to put her writing skills to good use to raise money for the Haemophilia Society.

Inspiration for the book came from the Wandrus hardware store in Oldham Road (see right).

She added: "I am Rochdale born and bred and there is something about this town which seems to produce characters like this."

And the 28-year-old chemistry teacher is hoping Observer readers can point her in the direction of local legends.

She said: "I thought it would be a good way of giving something back to the society because they do a lot of fund-raising and good work for people with haemophilia. And I also thought it would be a lot of fun."

CLAIRE'S first local legend is hardware store boss Jack Holt - known to many as Mr Wandrus.

She said: "Mr Wandrus is always there and he sells absolutely everything. I know people who deliberately go in with ridiculous requests to try and test him but he never fails to come up with the goods."

Email Claire on crichton@webandmail.co.uk with suggestions for characters for her book.