A NEW portrait hangs in Bury Town Hall after council bosses agreed to extend a financial lifeline to Bury FC.

As reported in the Bury Times, the council will continue as the Shakers' main sponsor for at least another year. It gives the club a £50,000 boost, funded by the council's share dividend in Manchester Airport, in return for promoting sport.

The tie-up will be celebrated tomorrow (Saturday April 24) with a sponsors' day at Gigg Lane when the Shakers take on Bristol Rovers.

And it was formally marked this week when club manager Graham Barrow presented council leader John Byrne with a limited edition print of a Traditional Lancashire Derby match by artist Peter Watson.

The print features the 1-1 draw between Bury and Rochdale at Gigg Lane in December 2002, and will hang in one of the committee rooms.

The club and council have organised several anti-racism events, and 400 free tickets for every game have been given to youngsters through schools and sports groups. The partnership promotes sport to target groups such as girls, ethnic minorities and disabled people, along with with access to training facilities, and the ground will host twin-town games and local amateur league finals.

Coun Byrne said: "The relationship we have forged is working tremendously well to the mutual benefit of the club and community.

"The spin-off benefits have been very important in raising the profile of the borough, encouraging participation in sport among young people at a time of increasing concern about obesity, and in helping us communicate and work with hard-to-reach groups."

Mr Peter Young, Bury FC's commercial manager, described the deal as great news for the club and its supporters.

"Our relationship with everyone at the town hall has grown immensely during the past two seasons and our links with the council can only help in our quest to become a true community-based club."