A NORTH-EAST supergran has been crowned the North-East's most talented popstar pensioner.

Rose Bottomley, 64, won top prize at the Silver Stars Talent Contest, proving that age is no barrier when it comes to showbiz.

Rose was one of 15 battling it out in the North-East final of a pensioner's Pop Idol competition, at the Middlesbrough Theatre.

The grandmother-of-two does not just have a winning voice - she runs her own 24-strong choir and has recently graduated from university with a bachelors degree in English.

After the contest, Rose, who lives in Saltburn, east Cleveland, she was flabbergasted to have been named the region's number one silver star. "I feel like I'm 25 again", she said.

Sponsored by Yours magazine, which caters for older people, Silver Stars is billed as Britain's biggest amateur contest for the over 60s.

Rose will now go on to perform with fellow showbiz acts in front of a audience of 2,000 at the grand final at Southport Theatre, Merseyside, on July 30 .