Sunderland school children's Take That surprise

The band made a surprise appearance at the Stage School, based at Castle View Academy, to invite the students to join them on stage to be part of their celebratory homecoming show at the Sunderland Empire on June 14.

Re-Take That, managed by Sunderland business I-Stage Group, stunned hundreds of students, by turning up at the end of their classes to sing a selection of hits to the four to 16-year-olds. The students were also given the opportunity to ask questions about singing, dancing and performing.

Everyone sang and danced their way through the performance, which culminated in Re-Take That’s very own Gary Barlow, asking the school if they would like to join the band on stage at the Sunderland Empire as part their Wonderland Tour.

Gemma Waite, principal of Inspire Stage School, said: “This is an incredible opportunity for our students. We have such a powerful, energetic production in mind to open the show and I know the children are going to blow the audience away.

“I think there will be plenty of proud parents in the Sunderland Empire that night.”

Re-Take That decided to offer the opportunity to the local Stage School as the band also hail from Sunderland.

They are celebrating a 10-year anniversary year and they can recall the early days of dreaming to be on stage.

Ross Petty, Re-Take That’s Robbie Williams, said: “We can’t tell you how excited we are to be getting on that stage at the Sunderland Empire.

“We have travelled all over the world as Re-Take That but to be putting on a show of this magnitude in Sunderland is just incredible.

“We have been in the industry for a long time but we still get a buzz when we go on stage.

“We are local lads so we want to share this opportunity with local people.

“We decided to ask Inspire if they would like to be part of it. We are delighted that the response was so great.

“All of band members have young children and we want to inspire the next generation of local performers.”