IT'S looking like a "Perfect Year" for Katie Timmins after she beat off strong competition to win a place at a Sunset Boulevarde summer school.

Katie was also awarded two of just eight highly sought after bursaries, which will help pay for the week-long course in Loughborough, run by the National Opera and Dramatic Association (NODA) which strives to improve singing, performance and dance.

Twenty-three-year-old Katie, of Settle, was spotted in her first main role last year as Ado Annie in Settle Opera's Oklahoma, by NODA area representative Chris Ingram.

Numerous hopefuls attended auditions for the summer school spanning three days and Katie was delighted to be chosen.

She said: "You have to be nominated to attend the audition and I was just really shocked to be chosen. Last year was the first year I took a main part and I did it purely for enjoyment.

"I shall have to work on my dancing as the last time I did it I was five at Stephanie Phillip's dance class in Long Preston!"

Celebrated director John Cumberlidge, who has worked in London, America and Germany, will lead the course, which is based around the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevarde. His West End credits include Underneath the Arches, La Cage Aux Follies, the Wizard of Oz for the RSC, Royal Variety Show, My Fair Lady and The Boyfriend.

His direction and choreography was highly acclaimed for the Follies, Crazy For You and Oliver and he was named best director for Me and My Girl at the International Musical Festival.

Described as a physical course, the summer school demands stamina and concentration and offers amateur performers the chance to study interpretation, body movement and vocal style, while encouraging them to shed their inhibitions and learn the craft of musical theatre performance.

Helen Reid, Settle Opera secretary, said: "The Society is thrilled to bits. Katie was in our shows when she was quite young, then she went to university and last year she came home and came back again to us."

A languages graduate, Katie who works at Welcome Holidays in Embsay, has pledged to stay loyal to Settle. She said: "I would really love to do it professionally, but at the moment singing is just really a hobby. I want to be in Settle Opera next time. I don't know if I will get a main part, but I will go for one as the performance is Half a Sixpence and I love that. I did a degree in modern languages and many people have said they didn't know I had it in me!"

Sister Josie has appeared with Settle Opera together with mum Sally. The Summer School begins on August 5.