They say Britain’s got talent, but Havering is where the talent was last week, with the borough’s top 30 talented youngsters rewarded with £200 each at the Talented 30 awards.

The Talented 30 scheme is promoted and sponsored by the Council and Havering College of Further Education who sponsored Talented 30 as part of their own diamond jubilee celebrations – celebrating 60 years of public service. The scheme recognises the talent of 30 gifted young people across a full range of cultural activities and supports them in developing and enhancing their skills through the award of a grant.

Over 260 applications were received this year, with the judges saying they were overwhelmed with the amount of talent in Havering. The winners included Eugene Ayanful who was a silver medalist in the 100m and part of the gold medal winning 4 x 100 relay team in the European under 18 Youth Olympics, Becky Smith a local dancer who has appeared in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Paladium and is currently appearing in Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre, and Philippa Jane Hardiman, a soprano who has been accepted into the Royal Academy of Music’s junior academy.

Congratulations once again to the winners above and best wishes for the next steps in your careers.

Michael.