ONE OF Britain’s biggest rock stars officially cut the ribbon on a new music college course in Bournemouth.

Mark King from Level 42, who is patron of Bournemouth’s Academy of Contemporary Music Regional, travelled to Dorset on Thursday to open the new Academy.

He was met by more than 150 music enthusiasts who turned out to take a look around. And he performed the smash hit Running in the Family with a group of ACMR students as his band.

It was a slightly smaller scale of gig than the music legend is used to, but he didn’t seem to mind as one of the performance rooms was named after him – the Mark King Demo Theatre.

Although the Academy has been training students on a part-time basis since January, it will throw open the doors for a full-time government-funded Diploma course in September.

Mark said: “As a young lad growing up on the Isle of Wight, I would have loved a local resource like this, with its excellent tuition and facilities.

“I was very lucky to have a teacher at school, who encouraged me to aspire and improve.

“The best advice he gave me was to get out there and keep performing with other musicians.

“The internet is a great platform for getting your music heard, but I think it also encourages young musicians to cut themselves off, by creating and distributing music alone in their bedroom. ACMR offers the perfect environment for developing artists, by creating opportunities to collaborate, while providing the same type of encouragement that motivated me to strive for success.”

Among the students performing with Mark were Luke Allen, 15, a drummer, and Cormac Nagle, 13, a guitarist, both from Bournemouth.

Cormac said: “Playing guitar with Mark King was brilliant and it was amazing to see his skill and learn from his experience.

“The rehearsals have been a lot of fun too.”

For more information, go to: Acmregional.co.uk/southcoast