PUPILS at a Havant school think that drama teacher Andrew Bowker is a hard act to follow. He wrote a musical with a pal. Now it is a top contender for a major award. Andrew, 48, wrote the musical July with composer Jon Headon.

Andrew, who teaches at Bosmere Middle School, directed the Dynamo youth theatre when they performed July at Havant Arts Centre.

The musical follows the story of England's 1966 World Cup victory.

Sandra Smith from the Kings Theatre, Southsea, saw the production — and booked it. Last week July was applauded by a near-capacity audience.

The successful youth theatre has been running since 1981 and aleady has a long list of productions to its credit.

Sandra Smith said: "I was so impressed by the professionalism of the company, I asked them if they would like to perform at the Kings for one night."

The story of July is based on events in the Sixties. It is completely fictional, but events are used as inspiration. Writer and director of the show Andrew said: "Few events in the Sixties captured the minds and attention of English people as the process of England winning the World Cup in 1966. Even people who did not have an interest in soccer found themselves immersed in the wave of national pride. Against this background there are the characters of the sixties, when the lives of so many people were dominated by drugs and economic uncertainty. It was also the era of the Beatles, miniskirts, tobacco and motor scooters. The 'hero' in our production of July, Stephen, is a victim of a scooter accident in which his best friend has been killed and he himself has come back to home, wheelchair-bound, after eleven months in hospital. The attitudes of friends, relatives, together with the permanent reminder of England's progress in the Cup, fit together to portray the hopes and humours of the swinging sixties. My own brother, Max, was the inspiration for this part of the storyline. He had a car crash in 1970, at the age of 22 and is a quadraplegic. He only has the use of his hands. He was at Stoke Mandeville hospital for a long time and found it very difficult trying to adjust back into normal society. He has been very impressed by the play and actually came to talk to the kids when we first started rehearsals at Havant Arts Centre. He was in the audience in the Kings. The song The Main Attraction he feels portrays Stephen's - and his - attitude of not wanting to be tucked away in a corner where no one can see them."

Andrew was born and raised in Emsworth and since 1978 has taught at Bosmere Middle School in Havant. He has introduced many young people to the world of drama and theatre through Bosmere's Drama Club and annual plays and was instrumental in the formation of Dynamo in 1981. He has directed more than 40 plays and has an increasing interest in educational dance. July is his first full length play.

Jon Headon was the composer of the music for July. He was born in Plymouth and moved to Havant in 1976, where he was educated at Havant Grammar School. Jon worked for the Pathology Laboratory Service at Queen Alexandra Hospital. He became Dynamo's Musical director in 1987 and has arranged and played the music for every musical since then. This is the fulfilment of a long-harboured ambition to write his own full-length musical. Jon has now moved to Chester to further his career in hospital computer systems, but he returned to Portsmouth last week to see the company performing on the professional stage.

At a celebration after the show Andrew and Jon thanked Sandra Smith and the staff at the Kings for allowing Dynamo the opportunity to stage July. Andrew said: "It was nerve-wracking experience, but I think we all learned a lot from it. We have entered for the Barclays Musical of the Year contest and will find out later in the year if we are one of the finalists. In the meantime it has been very gratifying for Jon and myself to have had so much feedback from the evening at the Kings."