GENEROUS Bolton people wasted no time in answering a plea for a mini-bus to take kids to a youth club in Westhoughton.

As reported in the BEN on Monday, Jean Mulvaney is campaigning for better youth facilities on the Hunger Hill council estate.

And now Bolton Community Transport have offered a 12-seater mini-bus to take youngsters to the John Holt Youth Centre on Birch Avenue.

Community Transport Co-ordinator Phil Kershaw was pleased to help and said: "I received a phone call from my chairman Betty Brown who has been heavily involved with youth services.

"She asked me if I would look into it further and then it was just a matter of finding out if we had a vehicle available on the required evenings."

Bolton Community Transport was set up in 1989 to provide transport for disabled people who were unable to use public transport.

Council funding enabled the charity to branch out to provide and deliver furniture for needy people in Bolton.

Jean, aged 50, of Hunger Hill Avenue, said: "It is brilliant news, the kids are buzzing.

"We already have one volunteer driver and a newsletter has been distributed on the estate asking other people to come forward.

"We have been told that once we have the mini-bus in the evening we can make as many trips as we like."

There will be a small charge to cover the cost of petrol.

Drivers will undergo the formality of an assessment at Bolton Community Transport before the minibus service begins.

The Hunger Hill kids have also been invited to take part in a Bolton Council scheme whereby they will be transported to different youth clubs in the town to take part in a magazine project.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.