YOUNG actors seized the chance to show off their talent in a right royal show to celebrate the Queen’s birthday last month.

Councillors invited Hartley Arts Group Youngsters to entertain the elderly residents of Hartley Wintney on Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. On the afternoon of Saturday, April 16, the children performed to an audience of over 60 guests in the WI Hall.

The show started with one of the children posing as a BBC newsreader to announce the birth of Queen Elizabeth in April 1926. Then two of the older performers jived to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The feel-good start to the show got the audience clapping along with the music and joining in with the singing.

The young stars then performed the first few scenes from their upcoming production of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. There will be matinee and evening performances of the play on Saturday, July 9. It is billed as suitable for all ages.

During the interval at the birthday bash, guests were served afternoon tea, before the show resumed with an excerpt from Gangsta Granny, by David Walliams.

Since Britain’s Got Talent returned to our TV screens that evening, the youngsters then performed a version of Hartley Wintney’s Got Talent, which included solo dancers and singers, duets and a poem entitled Queen for a Day.

In the grand finale the whole cast sang Happy Birthday to the Queen, rounded off with a song and dance to Pharrell Williams’ well-known Happy to end the show.

Both the audience and the children had a fantastic afternoon. Comments from the audience were enthusiastic: ‘I had such a wonderful time’ and ‘aren’t the children of Hartley Wintney very talented!’

The success performance led Hartley Parish Council to invite the youth group back to perform to the residents again next year.

Established in 1975, Hartley Arts Group Youngsters offers amateur dramatists and musicians the chance to get a feel for showbiz.

It has over 100 members, with some as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

Tickets for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in July are available from ticketsource.co.uk.