BALLET enthusiast Muriel Mutter had to be on her toes when entries for the Nelson Festival poured in.

More than 100 girls in the North applied to take part, creating a headache, albeit a welcome one, for the organisers.

Muriel, the event's secretary, booked the Pendle Hippodrome Theatre for an extra day and extended the event to five days.

Muriel and her festival chairman husband have been in the vanguard of organising the event for more than 50 years.

She revealed that, despite the wide interest, there had been a disappointing local entry of only five dancers from Pendle itself.

She believed the probable reason was that local girls were concentrating on classwork for their exams or taking part in concerts.

She added: "There are many entries, however, from East Lancashire as a whole, especially Rawtenstall.

"We have gone up to five days and I don't how we would have coped with many more entries."

Muriel is delighted with the high turn-out at this year's festival - being held over three weekends.

She believes it is mainly due to the fact that Nelson Festival has this year been chosen as a venue for the regional heats of national competitions which could take the dancers to London later in the year.

At this week-end's mid-stage event it was the turn of the 11 to 14-year-olds to go through their paces under the watchful eye of adjudicator Audrey Kraft.

Next weekend sees the senior dancers and the grand finale, with the presentation of more than 50 trophies.

Results will appear in tomorrow's Telegraph.

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