Rocking all over the world

FROM playing at a Christmas lights switch on party to supporting Status Quo in front of 5,000 people, one young Kingsdown man is enjoying an incredible musical ride.

Former Dover Grammar School for Boys student Ian Banks, 22, took to the open air stage at Lincoln Castle on Bank Holiday Monday to warm up the crowds for the rock giants.

His proud parents went up to Lincoln to see him sing and play the keyboards in his glitzy glam rock outfit.

"I tell you, I was so nervous I couldn't hold my camera steady," said mum Jane Banks, of The Rise, Kingsdown. "It was quite incredible."

Previously the biggest crowd they had performed in front of was just 350 people.

Ian joined Leicester-based 70s and 80s covers band Smack in the Middle 18 months ago after he moved to Leicester to be with his girlfriend Emma Peace, also from Deal, who is studying at university, and got a job as an IT trainer.

While he lived in the district, Ian was the keyboard player for the band Euston, which performed in pubs and once played at the switch-on of Deal's Christmas lights.

He was taught to play the piano by two local teachers, Marianne Thacker and Gillian Greenacre.

"He has always been interested in music, but it is a hobby not a job for him," Mrs Banks said. "The world is his oyster at the moment at 22."