PEOPLE have united in support of an auction in aid of a budding Paralympic star from Accrington.

Friends of the parents of 13-year-old Ethan Naisbitt are looking to raise money to support the young swimmer with his ambitions to reach the Tokyo 2020 games.

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Jaqui Collins, 52, helped set up ‘Ethan’s Endeavour’ in November to help stage fundraising events to support the athlete who is on Great Britain’s ‘Para Spotlight programme’.

Now a charity auction is set to take place at the Peel Park Hotel in Accrington on Friday and will include almost 60 items, includinga signed shirt from former England star and Blackburn Rovers title winner Alan Shearer.

Miss Collins, from Clayton-le-Moors, who organised the event, said: “I remember when I first met Ethan and I bought him a pair of goggles to help him with his swimming.

“It’s just about getting him all the help he can get on his quest to get in the paralympic team for Tokyo 2020.

“He is just a little inspiration.

“He’s only been swimming four years and now he’s competing and beating older and stronger boys.

“The whole community is getting behind him, we’ve had so many donations, big and small from people and businesses who we’ve never even met.”

Ethan’s Endeavour was set up by Miss Collins with the help of her mum Mo and friends Julie O’Hara and Sue Johnson to support the cost of the Accrington Academy student’s travel and swimming costs, and they have so far raised more than £1,000.

He suffers from several heart conditions, a curvature of the spine and needed two left leg amputations less than three days after he was born because of circulation problems.

Approximately 60 items are to be auctioned on the charity night varying from sports memorabilia, cuddly toys, hampers and tickets for activity sessions.

Items to bid on include a bounce session for two at Drop Zone Burnley, a meal for four at The Game Cock, Great Harwood and vouchers for Acorn Dry Cleaners, Tesco and Bentleywood Farm in Burnley.

Ethan’s mother Ann Naisbitt, 47, said that she cannot thank the volunteers enough for their work to help her son.

She said: “It’s brilliant that they’re doing it its so helpful for Ethan.” and the whole family.

“It’s nothing to do with us really, they’ve just decided to do all this work, we cannot thank them enough, they’ve just decided to do it to help out.

“We want to give Ethan every chance to succeed and this just makes it that bit easier.”