Excitement chimed with talent as children from across Cumbria impressed judges at the Carlisle and District Music and Drama Festival.

The week-long event took place for the 119th time, left judges overwhelmed with the performances.

The youngsters arrived in their droves at St Cuthbert’s Church and St George’s United Reformed Church to perform routines that some children had been working on since January.

From poetry reading to choir performances, schools had worked hard encouraging the students to learn and enjoy these confidence building performances.

The children enjoyed putting in the hard work to achieve their goals and Noemi Brzeska, from St Bede’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Carlisle, just made the age group for the six-year-old and under solo verse speaking group, as she celebrated her seventh birthday the day after, said: “It’s exciting to be here and it has been a lot of fun learning the verse at school.”

Noemi had been tasked with reciting The Joy of Socks to the packed room, and Catherine Fullerton, year one teacher at St Bede’s, said: “It was fabulous. We’re so thrilled to be here. Since we’ve worked on the performance the children just want to practice more and more.”

Thomas Vivers, 9, from Austin Friars School, Carlisle, said: “It’s been wonderful, it has been a bit scary, we have been practicing every week and just trying our best.”

Louise Lewis speech and drama teacher at the school said: “We’ve been working on this since January as they always do.”

Talking about choric verse speaking she said: “This particular class is a lot of hard work, they have to speak in unison we have a lot of work to blend the voices, add all the movement and gesture, make sure the mood and the theme is apparent in the piece. It takes a lot of hours and a lot of hard work.”

Annie Harrison, 10, from Austin Friars, said: “It’s been a lot of hard work and our teacher just keeps telling us to do things right but it was really good because we got second place. My favourite part has been learning all the actions.”

Established in 1896, Carlisle and District Music and Drama Festival is a registered Charity and has been running ever since.

Debbie Maper-Gibson, from Imagination Dance and Drama, said: “It’s been scary. I’m probably more scared than the children, but I will not admit to it. It’s so good for their confidence. Learning the poems and taking drama exams is a lot, but they love to do it.”

Antonia Taylor, deputy headteacher at Hunter Hall School, Penrith, was delighted with the results. She said: “It’s a very proud moment, I have been doing the festival for 12 years and to have won this year is an absolute honour and a privilege and I’m very proud of the students.”