A NORTH boy with Down's syndrome is featured in a charity calendar published to raise awareness of the condition.

Eight-year-old Thomas Cullen, of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, had his picture taken for the Shifting Perspectives calendar.

The project was the idea of professional London photographer Richard Bailey, whose daughter has Down's syndrome.

Mr Bailey said: "When our daughter Billie-Jo was born, we read many books, and one of the things that stayed in my mind was the statistic that one to two children are born with Down's syndrome, on average, every day in England.

"As a photographer, I thought it would be interesting to represent this statistic by taking 365 individual portraits of children with the condition.

"I wanted the photographs to show that children with Down's syndrome do not all look the same."

Mr Bailey travelled the country taking pictures of children aged between five and ten. All the children taking part wore a black T-shirt to help viewers see the child's uniqueness without any distractions.

Thomas' mother, Carolyn, 39, a teacher at Darlington College of Technology, took her son to Sheffield to be photographed.

She said: "I was sick of people saying to me 'I bet he is very loving and always happy'. Thomas is a normal little boy like other children.

"He can misbehave and he is a cheeky chappie who goes to dance classes and a special needs scout group run by staff at the Friarage in Northallerton."

As well as being included in the calendar, Thomas' picture was used alongside other pictures of Down's syndrome children in an exhibition by Mr Bailey at London Metropolitan University.

For a copy of the calendar, go to www.ds2005.com