Has Stowmarket got talent?

Yes, it definitely has if those on stage at the town’s Regal Theatre was anything to go by.

From eight to 80 the ages spanned the generations and the acts were diverse, from singers and dancers to groups and guitarists.

Organised by the Town Centre Partnership and the Town Council and supported by the East Anglian Daily Times’ sister paper the Stowmarket Mercury, the inaugural Stowmarket’s Got Talent was a huge success.

A total of 114 people supported the event which was won by teenage duo Eve Betts and Richard Roebuck, both students at Stowupland High School.

The judges of Sheila Ravenscroft, the wife of former BBC Radio presenter John Peel; the Rev Michael Edens, vicar of St Peter and St Mary’s, Sian Copeman, Stowmarket Carnival Queen; and Russell Cook, editor of the Stowmarket Mercury; were unanimous in choosing the pair as the top act to take centre stage at the town’s Christmas Lights switch on evening on November 29.

Singer Eve, 15, from Combs, and her guitarist partner, 16, from Mendlesham, said they were “delighted” to have won the competition.

They have been performing together for a little over a year but their performance showed maturity and musicality beyond those 12 months with their rendition of Hallelejah and All I Want For Christmas. Second was eight-year-old singer Jessica Heynes, from Haughley, and third Stowmarket dance group Winter’s Academy of Dance.

Compere Richard Whymark held the show together as he introduced the 10 acts on Sunday and filled in with his engaging comic and magic entertainment.

Sharon Brown, town centre manager, said: “The event was organised to find out what talented acts there are local to Stowmarket with the hope that we could turn our Christmas lights switch-on evening into a truly local event.

“I was amazed by the high standard of the performers – including our host for the evening Richard Whymark.

“I’m certain that many of these people will go on to big things in the entertainment industry – and we can now say we saw them in Stowmarket first.”

She said that plans are now under way for the lights switch-on event and for the first time the evening will not end there as there will be entertainment in the John Peel Centre later in the evening to kick start Christmas celebrations.

n To obtain photographs of the evening e-mail andrew@maxwell brownea.co.uk and proceeds for the sale will go to charity