THREE youngsters were stars of the stage when they appeared in a musical.

Joyce Wilkinson, 13, Scarlett Fletcher, five, and Daneille Murdoch, six, starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Whistle Down The Wind.

The performers attend Yarm and Darlington Stagecoach schools.

They were joined on stage at the Empire Theatre, in Sunderland, by 20 other children from Stagecoach schools, in Durham and Newcastle.

Although the show finished on Saturday, producers were so impressed by the girls' performances that they have been asked to appear again when it tours Newcastle, later in the year.

Principal of the Darlington and Yarm schools, Trudy Hindmarsh, said: "It is an honour to be asked to perform with a professional theatre company at all, but doubly an honour for ones so young - and even more impressive to be asked to do it again."