A FORMER Coronation Street favourite beat ex-Page 3 model Katie Price in a popular TV quiz show - and donated his winnings to a north Lancashire centre which gives a new lease of life to retired racing horses.

Charlie Lawson, who played fiery Jim McDonald in the ITV soap, appeared with his family on Celebrity Family Fortunes and scooped the £30,000 jackpot.

And now, the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre at Halton is in line to receive a £14,000 windfall after the jackpot was split.

"It's a thoroughly professional organisation," said Charlie, a long-standing patron of the TRC. "Horses give us an awful lot of pleasure, not just gamblers, and although the industry has lots to learn it is learning and we can help with that. These horses work so hard in their career so we treat them well here."

The TRC, which employs six full-time staff, retrains former racehorses and carefully re-homes them on loan, often as showjumping or dressage horses.

Yard manager Kath Pinington said the cash boost will go towards providing lighting inside the centre's indoor arena.