A cash-strapped majorette troupe has been given a boost by a kind-hearted businessman.

The Keighley News revealed last week that Silsden Majorettes was undergoing 'extreme financial difficulty' and was threatened with closure. Chairman Barbara Szuszko asked would-be sponsors to come forward.

After reading of their plight, Graham Jack-son, depot manager of licensed trade wholesalers HB Clark (Mitchell Inns) in Parkwood Street, Keighley, has promised the troupe £400.

"We support the Keighley Lions, the Oxenhope Straw Race and pub football teams and we wanted to put something back into the community," says Graham, who lives in Silsden. "It's a shame the majorettes are struggling after doing so well. We are glad to help."

The self-funding group pays around £60 a week for the hire of two training rooms at the Town Hall in Kirkgate. Treasurer Josie Dimmock says the group is 'over the moon'. "It is nice to get a response from the article in the paper," she says. "I hope it is the first of many."

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