STUDENT Charlotte Webster from Dorchester is having a ball as she aims for top national honours in dancing and bowling.

The talented teenager will be stepping from the national ballroom championships in Blackpool to a bowling green in Birmingham for England trials within the space of a week.

Charlotte, 16, of Earls Close, Dorchester, said: "It is a strange combination.

"Not many people know that I bowl. I'm also studying for a BTec National Diploma in dance, and work at weekends so there's not much free time."

She added: "I got through to the semi-final of the ballroom championships last year and hope to get to the final this year.

"Frank Gwatkin from the Bowls club put me forward for the England trial and I hope to do well and make the team."

Former Thomas Hardye School pupil Charlotte is studying dance at Poole College but also practices with the Dance Crazy group.

Her mum Kathy works at Marks & Spencer, her dad Len is former company archivist at Eldridge Pope and her brother Thomas, 18, is on a year out before starting university.

Charlotte, who works part time in Somerfield, will be stepping out as a solo dancer in the Latin American dance section at the national Junior Ballroom Championships in Blackpool on November 9.

Then, a week later she will join fellow Dorchester Bowls Club member Vicky Whitty in trials for the England Women's Indoor Bowls Under-25 team.

Vicky, who has played for England Juniors for the past three years, and Charlotte will travel to the Solihull Indoor Bowls Club in Birmingham for the sessions.

Charlotte took up bowls as part of the bowls club's junior coaching scheme, which has helped develop such players as Martin Short and Shaun Nutman.

She said: "People think of bowls as an older person's game but there are young people who play, and ballroom room dancing is also popular with young people now."