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News in brief

A front page splash by the Manchester Evening News to appeal for a bone marrow donor to save the life of seven-year-old Shannon Bradshaw led to more than 600 people queuing for blood tests in the hope they could help out.
The paper reported how none of the existing 320,000 registered donors was a match and asked for new volunteers to step forward.


The Evening News’s Keep The Thieves Out campaign to crack down on bogus callers has been praised for helping capture Levi Draper, who has been jailed for six years for conning the elderly.
He struck at least 20 Norwich homes and was jailed for five burglaries – asking for a further 44 offences to be taken into consideration.


A year-long scheme to raise money for life-saving heart defibrillators, launched by the Carmarthen Journal, has brought in £88,000 – enough for 33 machines to be installed in police cars.
Journal news editor Claire Griffiths said: “We were proud to be a part of the scheme and we hope it will result in fewer lives lost to heart disease.”


The Blackpool Gazette has focused on “jobs from hell” advertised in its classified pages.
An advert calling for the “undead, the unholy – and the unemployed” of the Fylde coast prompted a feature on unusual jobs at the Pleasure Beach, including a look into the day-to-day lives of Count Dracula, Frankenstein and Freddie Krueger.


A Lancashire Evening Post appeal for hospital equipment to help tackle brain tumours is a quarter of the way to its £400,000 target.
Editor Simon Reynolds said: “Melanie’s magic Wand Appeal has generated immense public interest and this £100,000 has been achieved through hard graft by the whole community.”


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