PEOPLE with a passion for music are being given a golden opportunity to train as a DJ.

Thanks to DJ Kingdom in Worcester, one person could win DJ training worth £400 if they win a Nightlife competition.

The Worcester shop, which offers courses and equipment to budding DJs, officially opened at the beginning of March.

The shop, which is owned by Damien Deighan and former DJ of the year Andy King, is offering one person the chance to take part in a 10-week course run by the DJ Academy organisation for free.

DJ Academy, run by Andy, started two years ago and runs on Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm to 10pm, at The Arts Workshop, Sansome Walk, Worcester.

It teaches beat mixing, scratching, microphone use, music programming, marketing, promotion of nightclub gigs, tax and accounts, self employment, how to get work, producing demos tapes and CD's, ticket design and dealing with management among other areas of DJing.

"You do need your own equipment, a couple of turntables and a mixer," says Andy.

"We expect our students to go home and practise. Some people do two or three hours a night.

"We teach them and get them up to a standard where we rent a nightclub in Worcester, and the students design a flyer, we give them a contact number to print, and we give them an opportunity to promote a club event. They play live and take the money on the door."

Andy stresses the course is not only about the practicalities of DJing but about teaching the students how to market and promote themselves.

"It's about how to put a DJing night on. We teach every style of music, we teach mixing with funky house, hard house, drum and bass," he said.

"People who want to become party DJs can do so.

"The criterion is that students have to be 100 per cent committed."

The next course is set to start at the beginning of June, but no date has been set. People need to be over 14 to apply for both the course and the Nightlife competition.

To enter, answer this question:

What tutor from DJ Kingdom will be in this September's Guinness Book of Records for six-deck mixing?

Send your answers, with your name, address and telephone number, to Liz Freeth, DJ Competition, Nightlife, Evening News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX. Answers should arrive no later than Tuesday, May 13.

For more details about DJ Academy, ring Andy on 01905 22551 or 07980 915424, or visit www.djacademy.org.uk