Gareth Robertshaw, who grew up in Ross and once taught at Ashfield Park Primary School, had something of a surprise when Noel Edmunds entered his school's assembly to invite him on an all expenses paid trip to New York.

Gareth carried on playing the piano for Assembly, even though he recognised the interloper, saying later, 'the show must go on'.

To his amazement, he was to perform in a major Broadway Show while he was in New York.

Gareth has been an inspirational headteacher at Westhoughton Parochial School in Bolton, and that was the reason Noel Edmunds gatecrashed the Assembly to invite him to New York.

Gareth took a school which was so bad it had been placed on the special measures list by Ofsted in September 2008, to one that was considered 'good' by March of this year.

During the summer he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and had to endure surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He took very little time off from his duties at the school and he even found time to talk to the pupils about his illness.

All this inspired three of his pupils to contact the programme 'Noel's Christmas Presents' to nominate Gareth for a special gift.