A Cononley woman is through to the final of a national performance competition being run on Twitter.

Kara Bayer, 25, a former pupil at South Craven School, has been announced as a finalist in the Search For A Twitter Star competition and will perform in the West End at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, on Monday.

She will compete against nine other finalists for the chance to possibly perform as a leading lady in a West End production.

Her brother, Luke Bayer, a former X Factor contestant in 2007 at the age of 14, said: “Hopefully this opportunity could open doors for Kara.

“It’s exciting and a bit of a surprise,” said Kara. “I didn’t even expect to get past the first round. It was all done through YouTube videos, which is a format I was not used to working with. It’s a big unknown because people are watching you at home.

“Luke’s big on Twitter, so he entered me into this competition. It’s fantastic because I thought maybe I’d been left behind and I didn’t think that this kind of thing would be achievable to me.”

Approximately 800 people entered the competition and in the first round Kara’s YouTube video performance featured her singing the Scott Alan song Always.

The same song was then judged in the quarter finals and competing against 39 other people a public vote saw Kara through to the semi-finals.

Kara then had to submit another video, Unusual Way, a song from the musical Nine.

A public vote and a decision by four judges, who all work in the theatre industry, resulted in Kara being named as a finalist.

Kara, who works as a wardrobe assistant with Garsington Opera Company in High Wycombe, said she enjoys the job because she gets to “see what’s going on” behind the scenes in the entertainment industry.

She is a member of Little Saods Youth Theatre Group in Skipton and also performs for BrassNeck Theatre Company in Yeadon.

For more information about the Twitter competition, visit searchfor atwitterstarlive.com.