A VILLAGE carnival has taken the unprecedented step of employing a full time professional fund-raiser.

Members of Adlington Carnival Committee have ambitious plans for next year's three-day event.

They have brought it forward by almost a month in an attempt to avoid rainy weather and to try to attract extra visitors who will be visiting the area for the Commonwealth Games. Next year's carnival will be held on August 2, 3 and 4 instead of the final weekend in August which has always clashed with Bolton Festival. The future of the event, which costs £50,000 to stage, had been in doubt after the number of committee members dwindled to just 12 but there are now plenty of new volunteers willing to help create a carnival extravaganza next summer.

Members of the committee had found it increasingly difficult to raise enough money to keep the event going.

But they have now employed the services of a professional fund-raiser -- Ruth Stone from Nottingham.

They are considering making changes to the parade which has traditionally been held on Saturday afternoon but could now be staged on Sunday afternoon or Saturday evening. Organiser Colin Prescott said: "It's a very exciting time for the carnival because we're starting with a blank page and anyone with ideas is more than welcome to help us.

"The professional fund-raiser will be a permanent part of the preparation work and we're hoping that she will manage to raise more money every year until none of the committee has to deal with fund raising and she looks after it all."