A ‘Battle of the bands’ competition took place at Chipping Norton School last week, and saw a variety of young hopefuls vying to secure a slot in the line-up for this year’s Cornbury Festival.

Seven acts took part, and the chosen winners were False Alarm, a four-piece group comprising Grace Pashley, Tazu Walden, Evie Rose and Ellie Hiatt. The judges – led by Cornbury Festival director Hugh Phillimore – were impressed by the group’s three-part vocal harmonies over an acoustic guitar backing, and by the fact that they’re all just thirteen or fourteen years of age, despite having been together for a year.

In second place were The Wayward Sisters, whose cover of Lada Gaga’s ‘The Edge Of Glory’ apparently resulted in a standing ovation from the crowd, and in third place was Sam John, who played at last year’s Cornbury.

False Alarm are now confirmed as the first act on this year’s Cornbury line-up, and will take a spot on the Riverside Stage at the event, which takes place on 5, 6 and 7 July. More band confirmations will follow from 1 March – which is also when regular tickets go on sale, early bird tickets having already sold out – and festival director Hugh Phillimore makes a confident promise: “I have the legends, the rock stars, the popstars – old and new – creating a ‘must-see’ line-up for every generation”.

More information at the Cornbury Festival website.