A schoolgirl has proved that if you want to get ahead in life you have to bang your own drum.

Sarah Jane Burn, 12, of Annfield Plain, has been chosen to take part in a record-breaking drumming event in London after she impressed at a national celebration of the art.

Impressing world renowned percussionists such as Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Eric Delaney at the National Celebration of Drumming in London, she has been asked to join 2,000 other exponents on a barge on the River Thames later this year for a record-breaking drumming event.

Sarah, easily the youngest member of the senior section of the famous Easington Colliery Band, is so advanced that she's already up to a Grade 7 level on the snare drum - one grade short of the level needed to study music at university.

She said her drumming has opened several doors. "At the national celebration I was one of five to be picked out of about 200 drummers to demonstrate what I could do in front of the audience.

"I was the only person from the north of England asked to do it and I was also the youngest.

"Eric Delaney saw me play and asked if I would like to play drums at his jazz bar in Benidorm next February - obviously I said yes."