A DANCE group who performed in the first ever series of Britain's Got Talent has got back 'into the groove' after its revival this year.

Burnley's Shell's Belles, a community cheerleading and street dance group, is up and running again six years after manager Michelle Williamson called time on it for personal health reasons.

Following a successful operation on her back last year, the 50-year-old woman from Worsthorne said she decided to relaunch the community group after she published a Facebook post onto her wall asking friends if she should get the group back together.

More than 13,000 people viewed the Burnley gym instructor's post and there was 'overwhelming' support for the return of Shell's Belles, who now hold weekly classes at the Vincent Farrell Community Centre, in Temple Street.

The dance troupe is made up of different age categories spanning from children aged two to five, who learn the songs hokey cokey and music man, to adults who learn how to cheer-lead and street dance.

The Shell's Belles first caught the public eye after they appeared on ITV's hit series Britain's Got Talent in 2007.

Around 13 group members, aged between 12 to 16, along with Ms Williamson, travelled to Manchester for their first performance in front of judges Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell in June 2007. Out of 50,000 acts shortlisted for the auditions, the group made it through to the final 100.

After their success they travelled to London but stumbled at the hurdle of reaching the next stage of the competition and lost the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance as well as claim a £100,000 cash prize.

The of the hit ITV show that year was Paul Pott, but the group did make it to the final 100 and Ms Williamson said a particular highlight was throwing pom poms at Ant and Dec, which was filmed for the show.

She said: "It was a great experience. Most of the children had never been outside Burnley and they got to go to London and stay in a nice hotel and travel on a limousine bus."

Following their brief interlude into stardom, which lasted until 2012, they met with actors from Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks and performed with at a variety of local events and fetes, including the Burnley and Preston Christmas light switch ons.

She said: "It makes a difference to children's lives and made a difference to my own life. I could never have done what I did without Shell's Belles."

The group, which is now made up of 70 members, will be performing in Burnley town centre's Teenage Festival on April 28 as well as Worsthorne's May Festival next month.

If anyone is interested in joining the community dance group, who hold classes every Saturday from 11am at Burnley's St Peter's Leisure Centre, visit https://www.facebook.com/pg/shellsbellesdance/