A TEENAGE drama student is celebrating after winning a place at a London theatre school.

Joanne Roots, 19, from Stockton, beat thousands of other young people to a place to study musical theatre at the London Studios.

Her mother, Linda, has been involved in the Centre Stage performing arts group in Eaglescliffe for some time, but her daughter took up the hobby when the amateur dramatics group put on The Sound of Music.

There were concerns that Joanne would not be able to study at the school because of difficulties in raising the money to fund the course.

Mrs Roots said: "Up until a fortnight ago we did not know whether Joanne was going to be able to go to London, but I would like to say a big thank you to all those who have helped us."

The course fees are £9,000 a year and Mrs Roots reckons that after the family has taken into account living costs it will cost about £14,000 a year. She said: "Without help from a number of organisations and family this would maybe not have been possible. The local education authority is also helping towards the costs.