DUE to unforeseen circumstances the piece I intended to write about my psychic awakening has had to be put on hold.

I visited local medium Janet Crawford at her home in Doffcocker in the hope that she would be able to awaken my latent clairvoyant powers.

However, it quickly became clear that my phone line to the spirit world was crackly to say the least.

The 50-year-old hosts Bolton FM’s most popular show — Psychic Sunday — which has so many listeners they have been known to crash the station’s website.

And despite my hopeless efforts at picking up what colour I had been sent (Janet thought blue, I said orange), and my inability to reach the meditative state necessary to read information about her day from a special ribbon, she remained optimistic about my ability to build up my psychic powers.

“We have all lost our psychic abilities over the years, because you don’t really need them any more,” she said.

“You can communicate through the phone or the internet — it’s not necessary to have that intuition.”

She points to children’s invisible friends as proof of widespread psychic ability, adding that because youngsters are told “not to be silly” when they talk about their “imaginary” pals they soon lose the habit of becoming sensitive to other worldy happenings.

“I don’t think psychics are any different from anyone else,”

she said. “I think everyone has the ability, but you have to want to do it.

“It is a lot of work and it can take years and years to build up. Some people are naturally in tune, but everyone has to work at it.”

Helping people build up their psychic powers is just one facet of Janet’s show at the Albert Halls on Thursday.

She will be working with the audience on readings with ribbons to help them tap into their abilities.

Participants are blindfolded while another volunteer picks a coloured ribbon from a selection. They are then encouraged to try and select which ribbon they thought was chosen.

“It’s about picking up people’s energies,” said Janet, who has been interested in the paranormal since she was a child. “After a few attempts people do start to get it.”

She will also be working with people’s auras (apparently mine is mostly pink), as well as introducing appearances from the illusionist Mark Daniel, swing singer Ryan Quick and local Text Factor winner Gary Daniels.

Fellow mediums David Taylor, Dave Holt and Jackie Taylor will also be appearing as part of the show.

And what does she have to say to the people who dismiss psychics as frauds?

“We do invite people who are sceptics to come and see the show and decide for themselves,” she said. “At the end of the day some people want to believe and some people never will. You have to give people the choice.”

So Janet, there’s something I want to admit. For a tiny split second before I opened my mouth and said the word “orange”, I thought of blue.

● The Psychic Show is at The Albert Halls on Thursday.

Tickets cost £15. For more information, visit albert halls-bolton.co.uk or ring 01204 334400.