IF anyone deserves a well-earned festive break it's the girls from the Ward School of Irish Dance in Galashiels.

Over the past couple of months the talented young toe-tappers have danced their way to trophies and titles all over the place.

The cream of Irish dancing converged on the European European Irish Dance Championships in London last month.

No fewer than nine girls from the Ward School of Irish Dance competed– Sinead McLaren, Jane Costello, Aimée Blair, Amelia Hockey, Molly Turnbull, Lauren Hume, Melody O’Brien, Skye Crawford and Gemma Yoxall.

They all did brilliantly well achieving six top ten places and two European titles - Melody O’Brien taking the 15-year-olds trophy and Skye Crawford won the 16-year-olds.

The previous month many more girls from the Galashiels school, including Aimée Blair, Sinead McLaren, Ola Sobczak, Alekse Voroshilova, Cayla Mcardle, Jenna McMillan, Rachel Brown and Erin Turnbull, travelled to Yorkshire for the regional championships.

And they came home with an amazing 86 medals.

Aimee Blair from the Burgh Primary School became the 11-and-under Yorkshire Rose Trophy Champion, Jenna McMillan from Galashiels Academy won the 13-and-under Yorkshire Rose Reel Champion, and Erin Turnbull, also from the Academy, claimed the 15-and-under Yorkshire Rose Champion trophy.

Prior to the European Championships, the girls also performed as part of the touring show ‘Forty Shades of Green meets Country Roads’ at the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh.

The girls were all fantastic and received a great welcome and reception from the audience, cast and crew.