A "race against time" to open the first rescue centre for bullied schoolchildren in Liverpool is to get a welcome boost from a race of a very different kind.
Jamie Carragher's Cafe Sports England is the venue for a charity "Race Night" on Thursday 19th November with tickets on sale at £20 a head.
Liverpool-born actor Mick Starke, of Brookside and Coronation Street, will be the compere a programme of live music and entertainment at the event.
Denise Fergus, mother of murdered Merseyside toddler James Bulger, who is a joint patron of the Red Balloon Merseyside appeal, will be attending the event which starts
at 7.30pm and the cost of tickets includes a meal, welcome drink and race card.
Denise said: "We are really grateful to Jamie Carragher and the staff at Cafe Sports England for supporting with this event. Jamie himself has promised to come along and we are hoping other members of the Liverpool and Everton teams will be there too.
"It should be a very enjoyable night for what is a really worthwhile cause and I hope people will buy tickets to pack the place out.
"We need this centre for bullied kids in Liverpool and I am very grateful for the generosity shown be some many people, but we need to keep on fund-raising
"So far we've raised more than a hundred thousand pounds and we are hoping to get James Bulger House open in 2010.
"We've already got more fifteen children needing the service from day one, so it seems we will need to carryon and raise enough money to open another Red Balloon
learner centre in Merseyside.
"Until I got involved in this charity, just over a year ago, I had not realised there were so many children who are badly bullied and really need a special place where they can be helped to
get have a normal life and go back into education.
"I've learned first hand from children of the terrible ordeals they have been through and how they are sometimes driven to contemplate suicide. Tragically, some children have taken their own lives because of bullying.
"If we can save the life of one child with James Bulger House then I feel it will have been worthwhile."
Meanwhile a charity CD single issued in aid of James Bulger House, "Heal the World" by the group Bulief, is selling well through HMV stores nationwide and Tesco supermarkets on Merseyside.
Bulief producer Lewis Devine said: "We are so grateful to all the people who have bought the record. The physical CD has been flying off the shelves and some branches of HMV have reported that they sold out and have been taking orders for more copies.
"The CD was number ten in the chart for physical sales after the first week of its release.
"Although it's not yet climbed into the download charts, we feel it's already a tremendous achievement in boosting James Bulger House and raising awareness of Red Balloon.
* Red Balloon - James Bulger House - Race Night, 7.30pm Thurs 19th November, Cafe Sports Eng. Tickets £20 including food, welcome drink and race card can be obtained from
Tracy Doran on: 07723 573741 or e-mail her at tracy.doran@merseyside.rblc.org.uk (Payment can be made through PayPal).
Quincy, Cambs around 9 months, 3 weeks ago