BRIGHT sunshine was the backdrop for a charity football match between Tottington High and Hollyoaks.

On Mothering Sunday the two sides battled it out on the Gigg Lane pitch to raise money for Alison Turner who needs a life-saving operation.

The class of 95-2000 team kicked off against the Hollyoaks team at 2pm with “Totty” taking an early lead, only for them to concede a penalty shortly afterwards.

The Hollyoaks team included long-serving cast members Nick Pickard who plays chef turned cab driver, Tony Cunningham and Ashley Taylor Dawson, better known as businessman Darren Osbourne.

Mr Pickard said: “It’s great to be here. The girl is a friend of one of the cast, and they came to us and asked and we are more than happy to help out. We do a lot of these, they are all for a good cause and we get a lovely day in the sun and play on a lovely ground like this. It’s the nearest we’ll get to being footballers.”

Miss Turner suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Sydrome type 3, a connective tissue disorder which affects most of her body.

Family and friends, including boyfriend Nick Zabel and friend Warren Bunting set themselves a target of £55,000 to pay for a craniocervical fusion operation in Barcelona which is not available on the NHS.

Miss Turner was “overwhelmed” on the day to have so much effort put in by friends and family for her.

She admitted being terrified at the prospect of the operation but is looking forward to getting back to doing what she loves.

She said: “Just the things that make me me, like photography, crafting, going back to work, going to a gig, going for a meal and cleaning my house!”