A circus performer is to travel to Romania to take all the fun of the fair to neglected orphans.

Community worker Daryll Hackett is preparing to travel to Eastern Europe later this year armed only with juggling sticks, unicycles and fire breathing torches to bring some much-needed colour into the lives of some of the world's most needy children.

Daryll, who is manager at Shipley's Source Community Centre, in Hirst Wood, is to lead a nine-strong team to Romania in June performing at various children's institutions as he travels across the country.

And the juggler said he cannot wait to see the children's faces when they see his colourful act.

He said: "We'll be performing for orphans, and kids with AIDS as well as kids with mental and physical handicaps so it will be a challenge.

"The idea is that they will get to see something that they've never seen before and hopefully it will bring a bit of colour into their lives.

"A lot of these kids are very deprived and hopefully we'll give then some hope and a reason to smile for a while!

"We'll be taking out lots of circus equipment out with us so that they get a chance to play with it and we can leave some behind. One of the things I'm really interested in is the reaction we get from the young people from here we're taking out.

"The two young people we're taking from Bradford have never been out of the city before so this is a life changing opportunity for them to realise that although we've got out problems here we are actually quite privileged."

Daryll will be driving a nine-and-a-half-tonne Jubilee Outreach Truck across Europe to reach Romania and is hoping that generous Bradfordians will help him fill it with old bikes and skateboards for the orphans.

He said: "It's something that I've wanted to do for a while but never had the chance so I'm really looking forward to going. When they asked me if I fancied it I jumped at the chance.

"It will be the first time I've ever driven a truck - never mind a nine-tonner - so that's more scary than doing the fire-breathing.

"We will be taking a big truck so if anyone does have any old bikes or skateboards that they don't use anymore and are in good condition and they want to donate it, that would be great. It would bring a lot of pleasure to a lot of kids."

Anyone who would like to donate a bike or skateboard for Daryll's Romanian trip can contact him by calling (01274) 773146.