RISING young stars of the Merseyside music and dance scene will take centre stage at this year's Love Wirral festival, with organisers promising a bigger and better event than ever.

Singer-songwriter Tabitha Jade Hayles, from Caldy, will be kicking off the live acts at the festival in the Pyramids Shopping Centre on Saturday, June 6.

The 14-year-old schoolgirl recently made it through to the final of the UK-wide Teenstar under-15s competition, which has previously launched X-Factor stars including Luke Friend who came second in the TV talent show in 2013.

Tabitha is also through to the final of the Future Music national song writing competition, with her track Kicking You Out, which she is excited to perform at Love Wirral.

Also on stage during the day-long Love Wirral festival will be the ever popular Wirral Ukelele Orchestra, with some old classics including their version of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, and a new arrangement for 2015, of Pharrel's hit song Happy.

A different type of energy is on offer later in the day, as Birkenhead based dance troupe Funkstar take to the stage with their fun and fierce mix of street and hip hop styles.

The Love Wirral festival will be the culmination of a run of major achievements for Tabitha Jade, a pupil at Upton Hall Grammar school.

On Friday she was one of the youngest performers at Liverpool's Sound City music festival.

Then on Sunday she secured her place in the final of top talent contest Teenstar, in the under 15s category. She was supported on keyboards and backing vocals by her sister Eliza, aged 12.

The contest is the biggest of its kind for teenagers in the UK and is run by Future Music Management, which also runs the Future Music song writing competition in which Tabitha is also a finalist.

Tabitha will now represent the North West in the Teenstar under 15s final, to be held at the NEC in Birmingham, on July 25. But before that she will also perform her self-penned track Kicking You Out, at the Future Music song writing final, in Camden in London on June 21. 

On winning the Teenstar regional final this Sunday, Tabitha was congratulated by former X-Factor contestant Jack Walton, at  the Manchester Royal Northern College of Music.

Tabitha said: "It's brilliant, I'm so happy to have made it into both finals, thousands of people entered and it's just fantastic to have been chosen by the judges. It was so exciting to meet Jack Walton, he's amazing."

Tabitha also thanked Birkenhead Pyramids Shopping Centre for helping boost her music career.

She said: "I've had an amazing year since doing the 2014 Love Wirral festival, I got a lot of positive feedback and since then I've been performing at more and more live gigs.

"I've played at the Cavern in Liverpool and Telfords in Chester and at the Bedford in London which is famous for people like Ed Sheeran playing there, and that all seemed to happen off the back of Love Wirral.

"The live shows have made me a lot stronger and a performer and a song writer, and so I'm really excited to come back and show people at Love Wirral where I'm up to.

"I love fashion too, so I'm really looking forward to the catwalk shows during the day."

Tabitha will be on guitar and vocals at Love Wirral from 10.30am, her younger sister Eliza will be joining her on keyboards and backing vocals, with the band's drummer Blae Stacey, and bass player Annie Gebbie.

Birkenhead Pyramids shopping centre manager Derek Millar said: "It's great to be able to give such dynamic local platform.

"We're so pleased to hear in particular about Tabitha Jade's success and also how her career has been boosted by performing at Love Wirral.

"We think we've put together a really fun programme for the 2015 event, we're delighted to welcome back Funkstar and the Wirral Ukelele Orchestra.

"We're always looking for ways to create a buzz about the Pyramids shopping centre and we hope lots of people will come to enjoy the music, the fashion and the atmosphere."

Pat Ross, deputy manager of the Wirral Ukelele Orchestra said: "We like to do a mix to suit all tastes, from the 20s and 30s right up to modern times with some pop songs.

"People just love Folsom Prison Blues and they always clap along. The newest number we've got this year is Happy by Pharrel, that's really fun. We're really looking forward to it."

DJs from Juice FM will kick off the festival at 10.30am, followed by Tabitha and band at 10.50am.  The Wirral Ukelele Orchestra will be on at 12.40pm, and Funkstar at 3pm.

There will be catwalk fashion shows at 11.20am, 1.30pm, and 3.20pm. Juice FM DJs will also be spinning tracks during sessions starting at 11.50am, 1.10pm, 2.30pm and 3.50pm.