DANCING led by the Tutti Ceilidh Band will bring the first week of the Gorleston St Andrew's Competitive Festival to a toe-tapping close on Saturday, 13 March.

DANCING led by the Tutti Ceilidh Band will bring the first week of the Gorleston St Andrew's Competitive Festival to a toe-tapping close on Saturday, 13 March.

The event runs between 6pm and 9pm at the Chapter House, St Andrew's Church, Gorleston, and tickets will be available on the door with an admission charge for adults of �2.50 and for children 50p.

The Ceilidh will be preceded at 6pm by a short performance of folk tunes, to be given by the participants in the afternoon folk workshop.

Competitive classes will resume on Monday, March 15 with Gaynor Keeble as adjudicator for singing.

The singing classes will also take place on Tuesday and will include solo singing, ensembles and choirs for young singers and adults, covering all genres.

Speech and drama classes will be on Thursday and Friday, with Jill O'Hare adjudicating. These classes will include verse speaking of poems from the Gorleston Millennium Manuscript, for individual reading and for group verse speaking participation, in grouped age bandings.

The inclusion of these extra classes is to acknowledge both the 40th Anniversary year of the festival and the 10th anniversary of the creation of the manuscript and has been in collaboration with Gorleston in Gear.

Festival winners will perform again in the senior concert which will be held at the Chapter House on Friday, March 19, at 7.30 pm, or in the junior concert to be held at Lynn Grove High School on Saturday, March 20 at 2.00 pm.

Advanced competitors who have gained entry to contest the two most prestigious prizes, the Recital Award and Bircham Award, will perform before a panel of three professional specialist adjudicators at the Chapter House on Saturday 20 March, at 7.00 pm. The intermediate recital winner will also perform at this event.

Audience admission charges for adults are �2.50 to each of these final events, with accompanied children free. Details of Festival events are on the website www.gorleston-festival.org