"SUGAR-baby" Hayley Wells is reeling with delight after showing the competition a clean pair of heels at her very first dance competition.

The six-year-old bagged herself a whole trophy cabinet full of medals in Irish Dance after just seven months of tuition.

And now Hayley has set her sights on future success in the fleet-footed stakes and is eagerly awaiting her next chance to dance.

But it is a far cry from her start in life when, after being born prematurely at 29 weeks she spent her first three months in hospital.

At birth the St Osmund's RC School pupil Hayley weighed just 1lb 13oz and mum Sonia admits it was touch and go if she would even survive.

Hayley was transferred to the special care baby unit at Salford's Hope Hospital and later back to the Royal Bolton.

Sonia said: "Hayley's first few weeks were a nightmare.

"There is no other way to describe it. We did not know what was going to happen.

"But she was a fighter and it was a great relief when she was finally allowed home."

And she has certainly thrived ever since, especially when she became keen on dance.

In April she became a member of the Bolton-based Gallagher's Academy of Irish Dance which used to meet at the Blenheim Road school.

Dance tutor Pat Knowles realised Hayley had something special and when she was given the chance to enter the prestigious Claddagh Feis Irish Dance Festival in London, she jumped at the chance.

Mum Sonia and dad Lee, of Bury Road, were at the dance competition to see their daughter's first outing.

"She was full of confidence and took it very seriously," said proud Sonia. "Seeing her up there it was hard to believe at one time she would have fitted into the palm of my hand."

Hayley was pitted against girls from across the country in the six and under beginners' group.

She danced the Reel, Light Jig and Single Jig which won her medals for first and second places.

But the highlight was when Hayley won first place in the Trophy Reel against a host of talented youngsters and walked away with a trophy almost as big as herself.

"This was a fantastic result considering that it was her first proper competition," said Sonia. "We all had tears in our eyes when she won.

"Hopefully now it will be the beginning of something big for Hayley and we could even see her as a Riverdance star of the future."