STAFF at a new £400,000 trampoline park were jumping for joy when it was officially opened.

The Air Vault centre on Wingates Industrial Estate was unveiled by Jake Quickenden – who appeared on the X Factor twice and as a contestant on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here last year.

But owner Andrew Caldwell had to open on Saturday without his business partner Mark Denison who is currently confined to a hospital bed with pneumonia.

The pair, both aged 44, became unlikely business partners after a chance encounter when Mr Caldwell's wife Louise was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

Mr Caldwell said that this sad news gave him the impetus to take on a new project. He said: "I wanted to do something that was going to be brilliant, something that was going to make me proud. I had enough of advising other people on business and wanted to do something myself. Life is too short."

The men knew of each other because their children went to the same school, and Mr Caldwell knew Mr Denison's wife Catherine was a nurse.

He arranged for the two to have a chat about her condition, and it was during that conversation that each wife told the other of their husband's desire to create a new business.

In another unlikely connection, the two women realised they actually grew up on the same road in Bury as children.

Mr Caldwell, a father-of-two, said he was also inspired to create the park when his children wanted to have a fun day out on trampolines but could not find anywhere to go other than in Manchester.

Seven months after the pair took ownership of the unused warehouse, the project has gone full circle and is ready to welcome people of all ages to jump and bounce their way to fitness or for fun.

The firm has taken on 42 staff, and boasts 700 square feet of trampolines designed for different fun activities for children of all ages as well as fitness classes.

There is also a cafe with a selection of refreshments to keep parents happy.

Mr Caldwell said: "Because we have got children we know what is like to take them to places like this, so we have tried to make it fun for all the family.

"There is nowhere like this in Bolton or the North West."

He said it was "wonderful" to open after the new park being months in the making.

He added: "We have worked incredibly hard. It started with cancer, in the middle there was blood, sweat and tears, and at the end there was pneumonia!"

Wilmslow based reality star Jake, who recently released a new album, met with dozens of fans at the trampoline park who had won a competition to meet him.

He said: "The park is great for kids, it gives them something to do. I would have loved to have something like this when I was growing up."