ONE of Joe Longthorne's staunchest fans is smoothing her idol's path to health by pouring oil on troubled quarters.

For Barbara Hobbs' massage treatments with aromatic oils are helping rub away the back and rib injuries the singer sustained when he fell into an empty pool earlier this year.

For the past month, Barbara has made the 176-mile round trip twice a week from Wakefield to treat Joe, 42, at his summer home on the outskirts of Blackpool.

Already the benefits are apparent to anyone watching his Blackpool summer show - no longer stiff with pain, he now moves freely and looks much more relaxed.

And it is all thanks to the Citizen - for it was through a chance meeting with Citizen managing editor Bob Gray on the opening night of Joe's North Pier show, that Barbara was introduced to the star backstage.

Barbara, a former nurse who started in the remedial and aromatherapy business 25 years ago, had already met him in 1992 when he visited her in hospital after an horrific car crash on her way back from one of his concerts.

He readily took up her offer of help.

"Now," she says, "he's feeling an awful lot better.

"He's been happy to listen to my suggestions and try them, and he's done a complete turnabout, from prescription drugs to natural treatments."

As well as remedial massage with essential oils to help detoxify his system, Barbara gives him reflexology - a foot massage that reaches vital nerve points elsewhere in the body - and relaxing aromatherapy.

He follows her advice on a healthy diet, with oxygenated water to aid detoxification, and extra vitamins.

"He's also wearing a piece of amber, which is often called the Tears of the Sun," said Barbara, "and is said to give strength to the wearer, to build up his confidence again, because when you've had a bad fall it can make you wary."

She still regularly watches his show - last week bringing the whole board of her Aromacare company and their partners for a celebration - and she marvels at his transformation.

"To see him moving so easily now, even coming into the audience, down some steep steps, it's wonderful," she said.

"He's helped so many other people in the past, I'm pretty proud that he's allowed me to give something back."

The entertainer, who originally made his name with impressions of top singers like Shirley Bassey, made a remarkable recovery from the blood cancer lymphoma in the early 90s.

His fall came when his balance was affected by withdrawal from painkillers.

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