LOCAL audiences can steam ahead for a stage re-telling of a children's classic, "The Railway Children".

The Pepperpot Players, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, will present their version of the beloved tale by E.Nesbit, at Upton Memorial Hall.

The plot concerns "three well-to-do children from London who have to relocate to the countryside with their mother after their father goes away on government business".

A spokesman said: "They move to a small village with a railway station and have to adjust to a new, less decadent life in the country. They are befriended by Perks who works at the station and his large family of children who are a little different to their usual peers. Whilst at first the social standing differences between the youngsters is striking, they soon form a fast friendship leading to many adventures along the way with the station and its trains being at the forefront."

The spokesman added: "Whilst the action in the original story takes place in a Northern town we have used poetic licence and imagined it to be Upton Upon Severn which indeed had its own railway station at the time the book was written."

Performances will take place from Wednesday October 26 to Saturday, October 29, from 7.30pm, each show.

Tickets are available from Upton Launderette, on 01684592208.