MORE than 100 ethnic minority youngsters discovered what life is like in the Army -- when a Bolton sports hall was transformed into an action zone.

Soldiers from many branches of the British Army were at Sharples Leisure Centre as teenagers with an eye on the future learned that there's far more to the modern forces than holding a rifle.

The special event was organised by Bolton Army Careers staff and Focus Consultancy, a Rochdale-based company which specialises in ethnic minority issues and is working with the Ministry of Defence to make the Army attractive to a wider cross section of people.

GAP, the Halliwell-based youth support project, took along a large group of mainly Asian youngsters to the event. But it proved such a draw that there were as many white children there as Afro-Caribbean and Asian.

The open day had been planned for months but turned out to be timed to perfection.

Only this week an independent report found that the majority of people from ethnic minority backgrounds regarded all three of the major British armed forces as unattractive because they were perceived as racist.

And there at Sharples sports hall was the perfect man to dispel the notion.

Forty-two-year-old Everton Williams is black. He joined the Army 25 years ago after a short spell in the TA and he has never looked back.

Now he is head of the Army Careers Service in Bolton and has earned acclaim for the work he has done to put the Army in the spotlight in this town.

Only in July, the BEN reported how 15 lads swore allegiance to the Queen and joined up at the Great Moor Street office in a single day! He said: "I have made a career of the Army and there's none better. It simply isn't true that there is racial discrimination.

"We are like a family with the kind of loyalty to one another that you would not find in any other walk of life. Colour doesn't come into it. I think I'm proof of that."

Sameah Khawaja from Focus said: "When people think of a soldier, the image they have is someone with a rifle. But there are fantastic opportunities in the modern Army to become doctors, dentists, accountants, solicitors, engineers, IT specialists, and pilots."

In the sports hall, teenagers were able to sit a mock entrance exam for the Army -- on computers.

But there were also the more traditional tests such as a fitness routine, assault course, weapons handling and paint ball shooting.

Major Philip Buczko, commanding the King's Division Recruiting Team, said: "Some of the youngsters are so muddy after the assault course, we're sending them home to their mums with a Persil tablet."

Lancashire lad Shazad Miah, 24, who hails from Bangladesh, is now with the Army's ethnic minority recruiting team. He said: "I joined the Army three years ago after I'd got a B-Tec in electronics at college. I never dreamt the Army offered so many opportunities in that kind of field."

Kawali Khaan, 16, from Smithills School said: "I have always wanted to join the RAF, but after today I have changed my mind."

Another Smithills pupil Husain Khan, 15, wants to be a gunner. He impressed with five bull's-eyes on the shooting test.

MORE than 30 of the young people who attended have made appointments to find out more at the careers office. And many have joined a club called Camouflage which keeps schoolchildren in touch with the Army through free access to a website and free magazines.