MARTIAL ARTS: The bass player with new wave stalwarts The Stranglers is due to come to Macclesfield - to teach karate.

Jean-Jacques Burnel, who played on Stranglers hits such as Golden Brown, is taking part in the Martial Arts Fighting Cancer campaign.

Burnel, UK head coach in karate, will be one of several martial arts instructors giving sessions at Macclesfield Leisure Centre.

Burnel has signed up to take part in a session to be held on February 2 next year.

He will be joined by other leading martial arts instructors.

But before then, the leisure centre will host a martial arts session for the charity on Sunday, December 8, from 11am-4pm. Signed up for that session is four times British freestyle karate champion Jamie Goulding.

Tickets to take part in the sessions cost £20 for one session or £30 for both, and all money raised will be split between the Teenage Cancer Trust and the MAST appeal.

The MAST appeal is raising money to equip the new Macmillan cancer ward at Macclesfield Hospital.

Tickets are available from Gatehouse Antiques, on Chester Road, and at Macclesfield Hospital's MAST office.

For more details, visit the website www.martialarts-cancer.co.uk (the dash is included in the address) or call Jon Tilley on 07929 299669.