Beatrice hoping to bring back glory for her hometown Newport in Telford's Got Talent
A talented 10 year-old is representing her home town in Telford's Battle of the Towns this year as she hopes to bag Newport the crown.
The whole of Newport is encouraged to get behind Beatrice Baker, 10, on Saturday as she takes part in the finals of Telford and Wrekin Council's Telford's Got Talent competition, to crown the winner of the Battle of the Towns.
Beatrice will stand up on stage outside Southwater Library on Saturday to perform as part of the borough wide competition, and hope to be crowned winner.
Deborah Owen runs the Newport Musical Theatre Academy which Beatrice attends. Deborah is hoping to rally the whole town of Newport to get behind Beatrice on Saturday and cheer her on.
The more support from people in the crowd, the more chance Beatrice has of winning, Deborah said.
"The heats were about a month ago, and they had to perform on a stage in front of people," she said. "Beatrice won after her mum put her forward and now she is in the finals.
"Beatrice will soon be performing in the lead role in the Cat in the Hat which the academy is performing at the Telford Priory School next month. The show is on October 2 and 3 with three performances, including an afternoon showing.
"She has been with the academy for around two and a half years, and got into theatre when she was around eight years old. She started just before the lockdowns and persevered throughout, with online meetings, like the other members.
"She only started when she was eight really and already shows a lot of promise. She is up for everything. She wants success and works really hard for it."
Deborah said Beatrice really puts herself out there and her hard work pays off.
"She is very helpful and teaches the little ones coming in – she is just so enthusiastic about singing and dancing and theatre, it's great," she said.
"Thanks to her enthusiasm, she has come on really well in the years she has been doing it, she takes on every opportunity given to her. Later this year she will also appear on The Polar Express from the Telford Steam Railway's new show, as she bagged herself a part in that.
"We need the whole of Newport to get behind her and cheer her on on Saturday. They measure success by the support in the crowd for each town, so we really need to go out there and support Beatrice if we want to win."
The other finalists are Isobel Parker, representing Wellington; Joanne Davies representing Madeley; Abbie Gurney representing Oakengates; Macy O'Neil and Jack Evans representing Ironbridge; and Bethany Stokes representing Dawley.
The final takes place on Saturday, September 25 from 12pm.
