TALENTED young musicians were given the chance to be rock stars for the day at a music festival in Bolton.

The sixth Rock It! Festival saw more than 50 acts take to the stage at Queens Park, including bands and acoustic singers.

Rock It! is a year-long music project which meets at Redbridge Studios, in Breightmet Fold Lane, Breightmet, to give 11 to 18-year-olds with a passion for music and the arts the chance to perform and learn new skills.

It is run by volunteers and music fan Mindee Hutchinson, who worked at Roadrunner Records in London, a music label that looks after international bands, including Nickle-back and Slipknot.

She said: “It went really well. We got more than 1,000 people there on the day — families, teenagers, it was awesome.

“This is the fourth time in Queens Park, and the sixth time we’ve done a festival, and this is the first time it’s not rained.

“Everyone was just sat in the field, there was a festival atmosphere.”

Rock It! specialises in the creation of original new music, developing young musicians and composers who performed at Saturday’s festival.

Mindee, a mother-of-two, who lives in Bromley Cross, said: “They were saying, can we go back on? It was just amazing. For some of them, it’s the first and last time they are going to experience something like that.

“For some of them, it’s about learning about how to perform and keep performing when you make a mistake and how to deal with a big crowd. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”

As well as the music, there were volunteers running stalls, including loom band making and face painting.

For more information on signing up to next year’s Rock It! project, which is funded by various charities, including the BBC Performing Arts Fund and the Arts Council, visit rockitbolton.com