MOTHER and daughter Lorraine and Lauren Taylor are set to go head-to-head for the chance to be crowned Stoke's Top Talent.

Singers Lorraine, aged 39, and Lauren, aged 12, blasted their way through to the semi-finals of the regional talent competition yesterday after wowing the judges at the Victoria Hall.

And the pair, who live in Ball Green, have vowed to not let the competition come between their close relationship.

Mum Lorraine, who sung Family Portrait by Pink, said: "We are always singing around the house with each other so we thought why not enter Stoke's Top Talent and see where it takes us.

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"I wanted my daughter to enter more than anything so people can hear what a lovely voice she has and I decided to enter the competition myself so she wouldn't be on her own."

Lauren, a pupil at Thistley Hough High School in Penkhull, performed Think Twice by Celine Dion.

Speaking after being told she had made it through to the next stage, she said: "I don't think there will be any competition between me and my mum because we just want each other to do well."

Lorraine and Lauren were two out of 50 contestants who successfully made it through to September's semi-finals.

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Pictures from the auditions Enlarge pictures

A total of 108 musicians, comedians, actors and dancers took to the stage for yesterday's 'call back' auditions in front of celebrity judges Jonathan Wilkes, his wife, choreographer Nikki Wheeler, and Stoke's Top Talent and Regent Theatre panto producer Kevin Wood.

At 84 years of age, Mary Twigg is the oldest remaining contestant in the competition.

The grandmother made it through to the semi-finals after her performance of Little Things Mean A Lot hit the right notes with the judges.

Mary, who lives in Knutton, said: "I haven't really performed on stage since I sung at a holiday camp in the 1980s.

"I saw Stoke's Top Talent and thought why not enter it and show that old people can still give a good performance."

Dance group Ignition had the audience on their feet with their high-energy dance routine.

The group of 14 to 26 year olds, from Studio One in Longton, have been together for five years and were tipped to go all the way by the judges.

Group member George Hodson, aged 17, from Fenton, said: "Street dance groups are really in at the moment, especially after Britain's Got Talent.

"We think we have got a good chance because we can offer something different. To win would just be out of this world."

Also tipped to do well in the competition was singer James Dawe, who was told by Jonathan Wilkes he had as a good a voice if not better than last year's winner Daniel Hewitt – but needed to work on his dress sense.

James, aged 22, from May Bank, who performed Try A Little Tenderness, said: "It's nice to have been told my voice is as good as Dan's and that's encouraging to take with me into the rest of the competition."

The three judges spent nearly an hour whittling the 108 contestants down to a final 50.

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Johnny Wilkes' son Mickey takes a starring role in Stoke's Top Talent

Judge Jonathan Wilkes said it had been a tough decision to make.

He said: "The standard of the competition this year is 100 per cent better than last year. It took quite a bit of debate to narrow it down to the final 50 but we think we have made the right decisions. Anyone of the them could win now."

The final 50 contestants will now battle it out for the top prize at the Regent Theatre in the week commencing September 7. Two acts will go through from each of the five semi finals, and will be joined in the grand final on September 12 by the winners of a Sentinel vote and also an audience vote.

The winner will receive a three-month contract to appear alongside home-grown talent Jonathan Wilkes in this year's Regent pantomime – Dick Whittington – and £1,000 from show sponsors, The Sentinel.

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