Issue 297 – Frome’s young talent on show

15-year-old college student Laura Locking was crowned the winner of this year’s ‘Frome’s Got Talent’ competition.

The finals took place at Frome’s Memorial Theatre on Saturday 20th March. There were 14 contestants taking part, with ages ranging from 12 to 23 years. The acts had previously been through an audition of 27 competitors to get into the final.
On the night, the three competition judges, Trish Davidson from Bath, Sue Hill from Radstock and Barry Mole from Warminster, were tasked with choosing a final eight acts to go through the final stage.
After much deliberation, the judges were impressed by teenager Laura Locking’s singing voice, awarding her the coveted 1st prize of £100.
Laura’s rendition of Beyonce’s ‘Ave Maria’ took her through to the final eight, and her second performance of ‘Listen’, also by Beyonce, helped her bag the top prize.
Bev Vandyke, Laura’s mother said, “This was the first competition that she has entered and she just blew us away – she rocked!”
Sam Phripp, who played the piano and sang, came second, and Jamie Mason, who composed his own piano piece, was third.
The event was organised by Dot Cretney, chairman of the Rotary Club of Frome’s international committee, which raised funds for the Polio Plus Foundation. Dot said, “The judges had an extremely difficult task in making their final decision of the winner.
“The evening was a huge success with a very appreciative audience and Dennis Barnard did a great job of keeping control of the programme as the compere.
“The Rotary Club of Frome would like to thank everyone who helped make this event such a success, especially the back stage crew, lighting and sound engineers of the Frome Memorial Theatre, without which we would not have a show!”