AMATEUR musicians gathered at Level 3 in Commercial Road on Friday to strut their stuff in front of talent scouts from ITV’s The Voice UK.

Guitarists, pianists and talented vocalists performed in front of friends and strangers in the hope of catching the eyes of the assembled judges.

Lauren Jensch, the show’s assistant producer, had a video recorder trained on the stage in a bid to capture any magical moments that presented themselves.

Lauren said: “We are currently travelling around the country on a scouting tour looking for local talent ahead of the auditions.

“We have a chat to everyone and we take our footage back to the office to see what’s out there. It’s just a great opportunity to travel around and see all the talent.”

One man hoping to entertain the crowds was 20-year-old guitarist George Lewis Todd, who received a huge round of applause for his touching rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Sunburn.

George, who describes himself as a “Swindon busker”, said: “I have been busking in town today and I was approached and asked to come down tonight.

“I just wanted to play and enjoy the evening and meet some new people and hopefully get my face out there.

“I really enjoyed performing and I hope everybody else enjoyed it as well.”

Thirty-year-old Matt Fry had turned up to watch the evening’s talent with his girlfriend Charlie Clements, 27.

Matt said: “I think this is a really good opportunity for people to show us what they can do. I always support local talent and it would be good if somebody from Swindon could really go far.

“I thought about signing up myself because I play a bit of guitar, but I don’t think I’m good enough to make the grade.”

The evening worked on a first-come-first-serve basis in which anyone could roll in off the street, sign up and join the queue.

Plenty of people came through the doors – around 20 had signed up within the first half an hour.

Lauren said: “We see so many different people performing a wide range of genres and with a wide variety of instruments. There are so many amazing people out there.”

To find out more information or to audition for the TV show, log on to www.itv.com/thevoice.