Belfast Catering Manager to appear on the X Factor

Belfast Catering Manager to appear on the X Factor

Pupils at St Bede’s Catholic College, Manchester all think that their catering manager, Stephanie Horne whose Irish roots stem from Belfast, certainly has the X-Factor. The thirty five year old manager has won through to the live X - Factor auditions at G-Mex on 5 July, after competing in the heats at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United. Stephanie sings with her sisters, Rachel Shatliff, Naomi L’Estrange and Faith Brewer in a group known as The Brewer Sisters. The group will be asked to perform in front of a live audience and a celebrity panel of judges including Simon Cowell, Dani Minogue, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh. The programme is expected to be screened in August.

Although the group has been together for the last twenty seven years, singing at family parties, they have never performed professionally. They were all members of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and toured with them all over the world.

When asked to describe how she felt about the forthcoming performance and her shot at fame and fortune, Stephanie said, “I always thought that we should have gone on Opportunity Knocks when we were smaller, but this is our chance at stardom and we hope to grab it with both hands. The idea about us going on X Factor came when we sang recently at a friend’s party and got such a good reception from the audience that we decided to give it a go. It has also meant that we have to spend quite a lot of time together to practise for the auditions, which is really nice.”

“We are really looking forward to the audition, but a bit anxious about the new format. We have always sung acapella, so now to be asked to sing to a backing track is something we are not used to but really excited about. Everyone at the College has been supportive about me going on the show; the students keep giving me the X-Factor sign and asking when the programme will be shown and even the Headmaster, Michael Barber, has said he will tune in to the programme.”