ENTERTAINMENT: We have talent in Bognor Regis '“ and lots of it

The ten-year-old singer's rendition of Who's Loving You delighted the packed audience and wowed the judges.

His outstanding display combined confidence and maturity far beyond his years.

One of the show's organisers, Ann Smee, said: "Gervin is surely a star in the making."

His winning turn was the highlight of the variety contest at the Regis Centre held by the Clued Up campaigners as part of their fight against housing north of Chalcraft Lane.

The show featured 16 performers who had made it through auditions held earlier that day at the centre and the previous Saturday at the Jubilee Community Centre in North Bersted.

They were watched by more than 80 spectators packed into the studio at the Regis Centre.

The audience enjoyed an excellent standard of performance from all those who took part. They included solo singers, guitarists, a pianist, dancers and a trumpet player.

Medals were given to all those who took to the stage. Among the contestants chosen at the rehearsal were dance troupe Unidentified.

The six masked dancers, all aged 11, had choreographed a hip-hop display to Church by T-Rain from the film Step Up.

Amy Melard, Tom Penegal, Abel Gibson, Abbie Penegal, Ellie Kingdom and Tia Arnell reprised their routine from a show at Nyewood CoE Junior School which they had left a few days before.

Amy said: "It's scary to be in this show, but still fun to be on the stage."

Another performer, Laura Beales, 17, from Walberton, sung the Eva Cassidy song Fields of Gold. Laura got through the first round of last year's The X Factor auditions.

A nursery nurse at Chichester College, she said: "It's a good feeling being on stage and to be in control of the audience."

North Bersted singer and Bognor Regis Community College student Gemma Porter, 12, performed the 60s classic Dancing In The Street. "I like singing upbeat songs," she said. "I like to get the audience involved."

Classical pianist Matthew Summerfield, 24, of East Wittering, used the show to premiere his six-minute piece The Wish For Home.

He composed the work about a soldier's longing for his fireside after he watched a TV programme about the first world war.

"I felt I just had to write something in honour of those lads," he explained. "They gave their lives to save their country but many of them were younger than me."

The performers were judged by Nick Gibb, the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Aldwick Parish Council chairman Carol Wiseman and tourism and travel expert Katie Osborne.

Mrs Smee said the success of the show '“ helped by the expertise of the centre's staff '“ would lead to another in a few months.

"We are now in negotiation with the Alexandra Theatre to produce another show later in the autumn which will be bigger and better as Bognor really does have talent," she explained.

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