Mum's job is a tonic for the world's top athletes

But even ultra-healthy sports people can get ill or injure themselves -- and that is where Bolton woman Helen Allanson from Bromley Cross comes in. Irma Heger explains why the pharmacist will be so important in Manchester this summer.

HELEN Allanson has a special job this summer -- to help keep the thousands of super athletes converging on the Manchester area in the best of health.

The 40-year-old from Bromley Cross will organise the pharmacy in the athlete's village, dispensing a range of carefully chosen, free medicines -- that will keep the athletes on the right side of the drugs' testers.

She is now recruiting the frontline of this operation -- the volunteer-pharmacists who will staff the Games Pharmacy for two weeks.

And Helen is calling on pharmacists in Bolton and beyond to volunteer their services to take part in this unique event.

"It's an opportunity of a lifetime, it won't come to Manchester again!" she urged.

"I want to make sure it's local people who do this job because the Games are being held here in the North-west.

"I want there to be enough enthusiasm here to make it work."

Helen's job will be vital in the smooth running of the Games for the athletes and their entourages.

But there is more to Helen's life than her high-flying career -- because she is a mother of three children.

There is Laura, aged four, Sam, eight and James, 11, all pupils at Egerton County Primary School.

So, how does she manage this juggling act?

"I would much rather be busy," laughed Helen.

"I'm not the sort of person who can sit and do nothing -- that's not who I am. I would drive everybody mad!"

Despite her hectic home life, the pharmaceutical adviser for the NHS in the North-west commutes to Warrington every day, where she is based at the North-west Regional Office of the Department of Health.

Her "patch" includes 16 health authorities, all of which have local pharmaceutical advisers.

It is 12 months ago that she first became involved in the Pharmacy Support Group for the Games.

The Games Pharmacy will supply the standard drugs available at Olympic and Commonwealth Games, all within the restrictions athletes are under.

The plan is for three pharmacists to be on duty at any time, plus a superintendent from London who also did the job at the Sydney Olympics.

"He has been really useful," said Helen.

"He showed us photographs of the Games and the pharmacists in Sydney wore Hawaiian shirts and shorts -- they looked brilliant, but I don't think our pharmacists in Manchester will be wearing that!"

Ten pharmacists have already volunteered their services and will be undergoing training.

Others have phoned to ask how much they would get paid and where their accommodation would be -- the answers being "nothing" and "there isn't any".

But genuine volunteers are bound to "gel" in the exciting atmosphere of the Games, despite the heavy security which will surround the proceedings, said Helen.

"We are looking for people with a few years' experience. They have got to have the confidence to deal with the pressures and queries, because it could be quite busy."

Helen -- a former Smithills Grammar School pupil -- has risen through the ranks at the NHS, but she is extremely down-to-earth.

A Manchester University pharmacy graduate, she worked as a pharmacist in hospitals in Salford, Blackburn and Leigh and at Bolton General Hospital before being appointed Health Authority Adviser to South Lancashire Health Authority.

In her present job she deals with anything involving the management and prescription of medicines and with anyone from GP surgeries to hospital chemists and her colleagues at the health authorities.

"I'm ambitious, but I don't have fixed ideas and take opportunities when they come up," she said.

"The job I've got now started as a secondment opportunity for a couple of days a week.

"It sounded OK, I thought: 'I fancy having a go' so I applied and got it."

Helen is also heading a national committee on the supply of medicines out-of-hours.

"I love my work." she said.

"And I like working for the Department of Health."

Her loyalty to the NHS is in fact as big as the sums of money offered by pharmaceutical companies keen on poaching her.

"I couldn't sell my soul to the industry," said Helen, who added she is a "very valuable commodity" to them.

"There's something about the NHS..."

The Commonwealth Games will be held from July 25 to August 4 and pharmacists are likely to work eight shifts each. Any pharmacist interested in volunteering is asked to contact Helen Allanson or email karen.hatch@doh.gsi.gov.uk and to get a supporting letter from their employer.