Coronation Street stars go to bootcamp to boost Madison Allan Appeal (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Coronation Street stars go to bootcamp to boost Madison Allan Appeal

9:37am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Darwen By Catherine Pye, Reporter

TELEVISION stars ditched their designer shoes for trainers in a rough-and-tumble workout for the Madison Allan Appeal.

Scott Wright, who played Coronation Street mechanic Sam Kingston until 2002, organised the awareness-raising ‘bootcamp’ for his showbiz friends, after retraining as a celebrity personal trainer.

He first met Madison, of Lower Darwen, when she was two, and they jointly switched on Darwen’s Christmas lights.

Since her death from aggressive childhood cancer neuroblastoma on Boxing Day, he has vowed to bring public attention to the condition.

Among stars working up a sweat were Coronation Street’s Catherine Tyldesley who plays Eva Price, and Shobna Gulati who plays Sunita Alahan and Sally Dynevor who plays Sally Webster.

Also getting in on the act were Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher who plays Andy Sugden, and several Big Brother names from the past including Craig Phillips, Lisa Appleton and Mario Marconi.

Scott, 37, said: “I knew Madison well, and she seemed to like me. I even named my little girl Lexi Madison after her.

“When she died I was determined to keep her memory alive, and now I want to give that a big, big push.

"It’s not hard for me to get my friends together and to make a few phone calls.

“It was a good day putting them all through their paces and getting them to trott about. I now want to do something to raise awareness of Neuroblastoma every couple of months.”

Alison Foster, Madison’s grandmother, attended the event in Hale, Cheshire.

She said: “It was wonderful to see so many people wearing T-shirts with Madison’s picture on, and to start the campaign.”