Cats came to Cockermouth as part of a special performance after only four days of rehearsals.

The Kirkgate Centre hosted the show for friends and families of young people taking part in a summer project run by the Derwent Youth Choir last week.

Young talents had only four days to learn songs and dance routines from the musical Cats as part of the project funded thanks to a grant from the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust.

Sara Field, who led the summer school sessions with Fiona Weakley, said: "It was only going to be a choir based course at first and it blossomed into being a performing arts workshop.

"Cats is one of the most marvellous musicals there is. For most of us it was the first musical we ever saw and it was what inspired me to go into performing and teaching and the same for Fiona.

"The music is beautiful, the look is fabulous and it was very different at the time when it came out. And it is quite easy to do a simplified version of it."

Sara's daughter CJ, who is a professional theatre performer in London, helped children get to grips with the songs and dance routines with help from fellow London-based performer Connor Collins.

CJ's sister Hannah Jones, a keen singer, also got involved helping the young performers prepare for the show.

Fiona said: "We've really seen a change in the young people from the first day, it's been amazing.

"Some of them were really shy at first and didn't want to sing much or weren't too keen on dancing, especially the boys. But by the end of it, when Connor was asking who would like to do a little solo move, all the hands were going up. We really saw them getting more and more confident and it was nice to see them encouraging and supporting each other.

"CJ and Connor were genuinely surprised of how quickly and well they learnt and performed."