PORTISHEAD schoolchildren have helped launch a guitar relay, which is expected to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

St Peter’s Primary School pupils Jack and Cerys Davidson helped a guitar they made with their father, set off on an around-the-UK trip to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care.

The guitar, known as The Tickled Pink One, will be auctioned for the charity in February, but before that will be passed to guitarists around the UK, raising money every step of the way.

Jack, aged nine, said: “We help our dad make guitars all the time, but this one is really special as it will make a lot of money for charity.”

Six-year-old Cerys added: “The strings are pink and glow in the dark, they look amazing.”

Their dad Mark, who lives with his family in The Vale, runs The Jooky Guitar Emporium, hand-making a couple of dozen guitars each year. He says he often recycles old parts for his guitars and always comes up with unusual finishes. He said: “Jack and Cerys often join in and help me make the guitars, which is a good thing as they often have better ideas than I do. This is a special guitar though in lots of ways and it is amazing how many people have already come forward to support it.”

The guitar left Portishead on October 9, travelling first to Bristol and then to Cardiff. It is expected to arrive back in North Somerset before February 13 when it will be auctioned.