BOLTON slimmers turned teacher to help their class leader lose four stone and become a slimline bride.

So, when Donna Braysford marries Paul Ramsdale at Blackburn Register Office on Saturday, she'll be wearing the kind of glamorous fitted suit she could only have dreamed of getting into a year ago.

Donna was a chubby child who "couldn't resist seconds, sweets and crisps."

But, although her weight seesawed throughout her adult years, she finally decided to lose it for good when she reached 14 stone 6lb.

"It was never comfort eating, though - I just enjoy my food," she insists. But she became self-conscious about her increasing weight: "I even wore my hair long to hide my chubby face."

In the end, it was Paul who suggested she go along to a local Slimming World class in Lincolnshire where they were living until just over a year ago.

She did, and quickly began to lose weight. In fact, she was so successful that she became a class leader.

When Paul came out of the RAF and was offered a job as an aircraft technician at Manchester Airport, the couple and their two children returned to Donna's northern roots.

They settled in Greenbarn Way, Blackrod, over a year ago, and Donna took over established Slimming World classes at Horwich RMI and the Railway pub in Bromley Cross.

But, she still had weight to lose and decided to carry on slimming, reversing the roles with her class members.

So, each week she has weighed in with her fellow slimmers.

"I really couldn't have done it without them," said Donna, now a trim 10 stone 6lb. "They've encouraged me all the way, and helped me to lose enough weight to get into a size 12 for the wedding."

Donna, aged 29, attributes the disappearing pounds to Slimming World's sensible eating plan.

It allows for 10 "sinful" foods each day - which means that she can continue to enjoy a packet of her favourite Walker's ready-salted crisps.

But on Saturday, food will be far from her mind as she ties the knot with longtime partner Paul, looking every inch a streamlined version of the woman she once was.

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