A PROMISING teenage singer hopes to hit the high notes when she performs open air before thousands of townsfolk.

That’s the aim of 15-year-old Maisie Surtees after she was crowned The Voice of Houghton-le-Spring, at a weekend contest.

She impressed the audience at the town’s Zazz Dance Academy with her version of Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You and a powerful rendition of Frank Sinatra’s classic My Way.

Judges from The Houghton Feast Trust, which organised the contest, picked her as winner, just ahead of several other strong performers.

Sponsored by Houghton’s 41 Club and the academy, the event was held in the run up to next month’s Houghton Feast festival, which has its roots in the medieval era.

As The Voice winner Maisie will be performing during the opening ceremony, before the switch-on of the feast illuminations, on October 4.

Zazz founder Anne Thompson said: “We can’t wait to see what the future will hold for Maisie.”

A full programme of events can be viewed on www.houghtonfeast.co.uk, the feast website.