MANCHESTER United winger Ryan Giggs usually shows full backs a clean pair of heels.

However, he'll soon be putting a picture of one on the wall of his mansion. But, it's not just any full back, it's the back of another Salford hero, L.S. Lowry.

Giggs splashed out £21,000 to buy the piece at a charity auction. It was painted by Salford artist Harold Riley and is signed by his mentor Lowry.

The work is a lithograph, where an image is drawn with crayon or ink on stone or metal and then transferred to paper.

It shows Lowry walking across Swinton Moss with his spectacles grasped in his hands behind his back. Giggs was brought up in Swinton and still lives in the area.

The auction was part of a dinner after the 6th Sir Alex Ferguson Golf Classic. The event raised £85,000 for Destination Florida which sends poorly children on holiday.

Over the six years since the event began, just under £500,000 has been raised for Manchester charities including Christies, Francis House and The New Manchester Children's Hospital Appeal.

Mr Riley, who donated the work for the auction, which also included items of sporting memorabilia, said: "It was one of three lithographs that Lowry signed - he kept one, I have one, and Ryan has bought the other.

"Lowry and myself would regularly walk across Swinton Moss from his home in Station Road, Pendlebury, to Kearsley, Farnworth, and then Bolton, before catching the bus back."

Celebrities who played in the golf tournament at Mere Golf and Country Club near Knutsford, included actors Max Beesley and James Nesbitt, and ex-United players Dwight Yorke and Peter Schmeichel.

Joining Sir Alex's team were Mr Riley, Ged Mason, chief executive of Morson International who sponsored the event, and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall.

It was a successful day for Ryan - as well as buying the artwork his team won the golf tournament. Tweet