BOURNEMOUTH entertainment legend Max Bygraves could be back on the radio with a posthumous charity Christmas single.

Max’s son Anthony has supervised the remix of a Christmas track for release as a download in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society.

Max, who lived much of his life at Alum Chine, died in Australia on August 31.

He was 89 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s. Anthony said it had been “very emotional” to work on producing a modern, upbeat mix of Mary’s Boy Child.

“Everybody who’s heard it loves it,” he said.

Initially, Anthony will send an MP3 file of the track to anyone who makes a donation to the society through his Just Giving page. He is writing to DJs in the hope that the song will receive some airplay and could even end up in the charts.

A 30-track album of Christmas songs by Max will be released on the internet via iTunes on December 7.

Individual tracks will cost 99p, with the whole album selling for £6.90.

The songs were recorded as a party album in 1998 in a studio in Yeovil, with Anthony producing.

“He was singing about White Christmas and chestnuts roasting on an open fire and it was boiling in the studio,” said Anthony. He said he was very happy with the new mix.

“It sounds a lot brighter and fresher, there is a lot more professionalism to it,” he said.

Anthony said it had been an emotional experience to work on his father’s recordings.

“It’s still very raw but it’s lovely to hear it and lovely to have all these memories, photos and films, so many memories that we can always tap into,” he said.

He remembered how his father loved spending Christmas with children and grandchildren in Westbourne when he was performing at Bournemouth’s Winter Gardens.

“The house they used to have in Alumhurst Road, that was really like the family home,” he said.

“That was the big family home at Christmas. In later years, we all flew out to Australia and had Christmas with them. This is the first Christmas without mum or dad.”

To order the charity Christmas single, visit maxbygraves.com