AFTER studying ballet for only a year, Sam Thorpe aged 18, of Tyldesley, has won a place in the English Youth Ballet's next production of Sleeping Beauty.

She auditioned against more than 100 hopefuls at the Charter Theatre in Preston. Sam has been studying ballet at Miss Dawn Dawson's Academy of Dance & Stage.

Rehearsals begin in February and the production is on April 2 and 3 at the Charter Theatre.