A WOMEN'S jail was alive with the sound of music yesterday as prisoners were entertained by inmates from another prison.

More than 50 inmates packed into the chapel at Low Newton Prison, on the outskirts of Dur-ham, for the performance of Fair's Fair.

The musical drama was staged by 13 volunteers from Askham Grange, an open prison near York, backed by workers from The Irene Taylor Trust.

Members of the cast were given three weeks' tuition to play instruments, write the script and learn their lines. It appears to have been time well spent, as their performance went down a storm.

Prison education manager Carole Graham said it was a project they hope to stage at Low Newton later in the year.

"The trust aims to promote music in prisons and they come in, starting from scratch, working in intensive music and drama workshops with volunteers from the prison.

"The production was very well received. Our prisoners thoroughly enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. They seemed to relate to the performers because it was done by other prisoners. It seemed to strike a chord."

The plot was set in a fairground and was based around the relationships of people working on the fair.