A CABARET singer and seven of her friends are today embarking on a mammoth mission to lose more than 14 stones in a sponsored slim.If the group, who weigh a combined total of more than 121 stones, are successful they hope to raise £5,000 which will pay for a guide dog to be trained and brought in to use in Suffolk.

A CABARET singer and seven of her friends are today embarking on a mammoth mission to lose more than 14 stones in a sponsored slim.

If the group, who weigh a combined total of more than 121 stones, are successful they hope to raise £5,000 which will pay for a guide dog to be trained and brought in to use in Suffolk.

Heading up the group is Lynette Borrett, otherwise known as one half of the singing duo Timi-Lee and Micki.

She said: “I weigh more than 17 stone and for years I have been known as the fat entertainer on the Felixstowe pub scene.

“It's like our trademark - people love it when they see a fat Kylie Minogue getting her belly out.

“We do a song called Big Panty Woman and that's what people know me as, but I'm fed up with it now. It's got to the point where it's really affecting my health and I know I need to change.”

Joining Mrs Borrett in her slimming effort are Stacey Miller, 18, Gina Miles, 42, and John Ward, 49, all of Felixstowe, Joyce Cavignac, 34, Meryl Crittenden, 45, and Jo McSweeney, 40, all of Woodbridge, and Michelle-Lee, 32, of Ipswich.

Mrs Borrett, said: “Most of us need to lose two stone or more and I think that being in the paper will be an added incentive for us.

“We want to be publicly humiliated in to it.”

The group hope they will have shed the pounds in weight but gained the £5,000 in cash within six months.

The money will be used to bring up, train and care for a guide dog until it is ready to be put to use in the county.

Mrs Borrett, 44, of Mulberry Gardens, Great Blakenham, said: “We know that people are very fond of animals but we also wanted to make it a human cause and it was the only one that we all agreed on.

“We will get a certificate at the end of it and details of the dog that we've bought. It will be nice to actually be able to see where the money is going.”

Weblink: www.guidedogs.org.uk

The heaviest person in history was Jon Brower Minnoch of the USA. At his heaviest he weighed 100 stone (635kg).

The greatest weight loss ever was also by Jon Brower Minnoch of the USA. He slimmed down to 34st (216kg) - a reduction of 66st (419kg), which is an average of 3st 9lbs (57.75kgs) a month.

The heaviest baby ever born to a healthy mother weighed 22lb 80z (10.2kg). The baby boy was born to Carmelina Fedele, of Italy, in September 1955.

In 2001 over a fifth of males and females aged 16 and over in England were classified as obese, and a further half of men and third of women were classified as overweight.

and www.guinnessworldrecords.com>