X Factor star to sing at ball

The headline act at a charity ball to raise money to finish a Newark school for children with autism will be a finalist from this year’s X Factor.

Country and rock and roll singer Carolynne Poole was the first contestant to be voted out of this year’s live finals.

She will be performing at the Hope House School ball in the Cedric Ford Pavilion, Newark Showground, on December 1.

Carolynne, mentored by Gary Barlow, found herself in the bottom two sing-off against Rylan, and with the judges deadlocked over who to save, she went home as the one with the lowest public vote.

The school’s head, Mrs Terri Westmoreland, said: “I think fans of the X Factor and of good music will really enjoy seeing her perform.”

The ball will also see the launch of a raffle to win the Paralympic torch that Mrs Westmoreland carried as part of the torch relay before this year’s London Olympic Games.

It will cost another £250,000 to finish the school, involving the conversion of six bungalows and the Edwardian house at the front of the Barnby Road site, which used to be the isolation building of the former Balderton Hospital.

The main site is former council accommodation for the homeless.

Tickets for the ball are £39.95 or £37.95 when bought as a table of ten.

Among the guests will be the school’s Paralympian patron, Sophie Wells, who won gold at London 2012 in the team dressage event and two individual silvers.

There will be another patron, the actress, Anjli Mohindra, who plays Rani Chandra in the science fiction CBBC series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Mrs Westmoreland said they also hoped Olympian gymnast Louis Smith might attend the ball, but it depended on his commitment to Strictly Come Dancing.