THIS year's CityBus Roving Amateur Players' pantomime production aims to be a smash hit for local asthma sufferers.

The group, which is made up mainly of Southampton bus drivers, is saying "We're behind you" to the Daily Echo Fight for Breath campaign and hopes to raise £1,500 for the threatened Asthma and Allergy Clinics in Southampton.

Funded by the world-renowned Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation Research (Aair) charity, based at Southampton General Hospital, the clinics may be forced to close in this year because of a £30,000 shortfall.

Thanks to the Daily Echo campaign, the charity has already collected some £4,000 in donations and fundraising events, which will keep the clinics up and running until the end of February.

But the facility offers a lifeline to the 28,000 asthma sufferers in Southampton, as well as those with eczema and other allergies.

Specialist nurse and fellow asthmatic Chellan Eames, who runs the clinics, has regular contact with sufferers as far afield as Surrey and the Midlands.

Dawn McParland, who is performing in Jock and the Beanstalk, said the CityBus Roving Amateur Players wanted to help after reading about the clinics' plight.

She added that one member of the group was asthmatic Brian Stubbs, uncle of Millbrook youngster nine-year old Jamie Stubbs who died in May from an asthma attack just days before his tenth birthday.

She said: "Jamie's uncle, Brian Stubbs, works for First Bus, so I mentioned the charity and thought it would be a good idea to do the pantomime in memory of Jamie this year."

Some 15 to 20 employees are taking part in the show, which is aimed at an adult audience, and runs the last week in January at the CityBus club in Portswood Road, Southampton.

The group hopes to raise between £1,000 and £1,500 for the charity.

Tickets for Jock and the Beanstalk, which is running from January 24 to 26 at the CityBus club on Portswood Road, Southampton, are available from the CityBus club in Porstwood Road priced £3.