A CELEBRITY who hit the headlines recently after walking off TV's Love Island is set to star at a local church event.

Shane Lynch, a former member of multi-million selling band Boyzone, is booked to come to a Malvern Hills Life Church event at the Bank House Hotel, Bransford, on Tuesday, September 26.

Shane and his band were responsible for a string of hits including Baby Can I Hold You, Love Me For A Reason and Key To My Life. He has also appeared on Channel 4's The Games.

More recently, the Irish-born singer was seen on Love Island, but left after producers sent him to a psychic and he reacted badly to her advice.

Shane will be speaking at the Bransford event alongside escapologist, magician and comedian Steve Legg.

The Malvern Hills Life Church - part of the Newfrontiers family of churches - is an informal organisation which began meeting at the Abbey Hotel last November. It focuses on worship and outreach work.

Jeff Steady, an elder in the Newfrontiers church in Bristol, is leading the new Malvern church initiative. He said they initially planned to launch it February.

However, they were approached by several families in the town and began two-hour evening meetings at each other's homes every Wednesday. They involve worship, outreach work and Bible studies.

Mr Steady, who aims to move to Malvern shortly to retire, said: "They've been going brilliantly and it's great fun."

The church is planning to hold outreach days in Malvern tomorrow (Saturday) and Saturday, September 9, with street clowns handing out balloons and lollipops to promote the dinner.

This will be followed by a nine-week Alpha Course introducing people to the Christian faith.

Mr Steady said they also hoped to boost numbers and begin meeting on Sundays, changing to a bigger venue if necessary.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the church should visit www. malvernlife.org.