A FORMER Stourport carnival queen has a ticket to ride after beating off more than a thousand hopefuls for a prestigious place at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

Hayley Beddard, 18, of Stourport, who attends Stourport High School, was among 1,500 students who auditioned worldwide for just 19 places at Paul McCartney's former school which the ex Fab Four member helped turn into a performing arts college four years ago.

But something in the way she moved won over the judges who, having filled all the places available on the three-year course, decided to give an unconditional offer of a place anyway.

"I was crying down the phone," said Hayley, for whom winning the place is the realisation of a lifelong dream.

Carnival queen in 1999, aged 16, she has been a member of Worcester Youth Music Theatre Company for the past five years appearing recently in a production of Cabaret.

She has also played at Malvern and toured Germany. But the lure of the stage goes back to her childhood and frequent singing and dancing performances in talent contests.

"It's something I've always wanted to do," said Hayley. "But I have had a lot of support and encouragement from Stourport High School, particularly the drama teacher John Nichol."

Auditions in March entailed a day of performances, workshops and improvisations at the institute in Liverpool which included, for Hayley, a Shakespearean piece, a monologue of her own devising on anorexia and a rendition of the song Cabaret.

Now Hayley, who starts in September, has her sights set firmly on a career in musical theatre and it looks far from being a long and winding road there.