Golden gift from Australia to Scotland via Colne!

Globetrotting Danielle, whose mother Sheila emigrated from Burnley in 1985, recently saw comedian and compatriot Adam Hills appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when he appealed for donations of Olympic memorabilia to auction off for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

Danielle (26) returned to her auntie Angela Wright’s home at Reynolds Street in Burnley – not realising she had some Team GB connections.

“I’m staying in Burnley briefly before I return home to Australia and I mentioned Adam’s appeal to my auntie,” she said.

“It turns out my cousin Andrew works with the father of gold-medal winning cyclist Steven Burke at Silent Night in Barnoldswick.

“After a few phone calls we managed to get a signed Team GB shirt from Steven. Adam’s appeal means a lot to me because my niece in Australia suffered from a brain tumour but thankfully managed to pull though. I wanted to help and I’m grateful to Steven for donating his shirt.”

Danielle, who has spent the last three years teaching in London, then had the problem of getting the shirt to fellow Aussie Adam in Edinburgh.

“I set up a Twitter account, which I’m useless at, but managed to contact Adam to tell him about Steven’s shirt. He was delighted because it was the first auction prize he’d had donated from a gold medal winner. He even offered to pay for my taxi up to Scotland to drop it off.”

But Danielle, who is returning home to Perth soon, will send the shirt through the post.

Born in South Africa, Danielle’s parents Sheila and Edward emigrated there before moving to Australia.

She added: “It really is a small world. I’ve loved my time in England and I’ve visited Burnley quite a few times now. I’m off to Nepal next to do some volunteering before going back home. After that, I really don’t know.”