A 20-YEAR-OLD lover of singing and dancing, who suffers with long term medical problems is ‘over the moon’ to be taking part in a national fundraising challenge.

Harrison Holmes, from Pennington is excited to finally announce he will be taking part in this year's the Rickshaw Challenge for Children in Need.

Harrison will be cycling 16 miles from Windermere to Ulverston to help raise as much money as possible for the special charity.

Harrison’s mum, Jo Holmes said: “He is absolutely over the moon to have been chosen.

“He was put forward by his therapy music group, Sunbeam and he was one of 10 chosen out of 100 applications to go down to the BBC studios in London to audition.

“We had known for a couple of weeks that he was chosen but couldn’t announce it.”

Harrison suffers with lung damage and long term medical problems from being born prematurely. When he was born he weighed just 1lb but his mum says his condition does not stop him as he takes part in regular exercise at college.

Jo said: “It’s going to be a massive challenge for him but he is so determined.

“Harrison has grown into a lovely caring young man, he is really thoughtful. He worries too much about other people, he always puts his problems aside to help others.”

Harrison captured the heart of the town when he held weekly performances online of him singing and dancing to residents during lockdown.

He also performed at Uoklad fest to help raise money and awareness for mental health.

Jo said his giving nature all started when he was 10 and he got his bike stolen and the community helped raise money for a new one which gave him the idea to buy his friends some bikes. This ended up spiralling into a big charity.

Jo said: “It’s kind of ironic really how he started off raising money to buy people bikes and he will be taking part in a huge bike ride for children in need.

“When he met Matt Baker they hit it off really well and Matt said he is going to have the time of his life with Harrison entertaining him singing along the way.

“It’s just a great opportunity for him, something to really remember, I can’t even put into words how proud I am.”