A talented teenager who has starred in a West End musical has won a coveted place in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.
Laurence Jeffcoate, 16, lives in Alderley Edge, is a former pupil at The Ryleys and is currently a sixth form student at Shrewsbury School.
He has recently beaten off stiff competition to achieve membership of the choir as a tenor.
As a 12-year-old Laurence took the leading part in Oliver! after being chosen by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber in a BBC TV talent show.
He has also worked his way through the ranks of the National Youth Choir, starting in the junior boys' section when he was just nine then moving into the 'Cambiata Choir' for boys with changing voices.
Last year Laurence successfully won a place in the training choir and after auditioning late last year he was delighted to hear that he had achieved a place in the tenor section of the main choir for 16-22 year olds.
"I am really looking forward to what the National Youth Choir has in store for me this year," said Laurence, who is taking AS levels in music, maths, further maths and religious studies at Shrewsbury School, whose former pupils include Charles Darwin and Michael Palin.
Laurence added "At Easter I will be in the choir's 30th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall, which I am really looking forward to, and in the summer I will be touring the UK with the choir for three weeks.
"This tour will include performances at a BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, concerts in Cardiff and at the Edinburgh Fringe, collaborations with the National Youth Orchestra, Codetta and the Ulster and Irish chamber choirs and a concert in Aldeburgh as part of the Snape Proms, so it should be a very exciting 12 months."
