A TEENAGER has released an album recorded and produced in her own living room to raise money for Haiti earthquake victims.

Didcot Sixth Form pupil Lizzie Payne, 17, started recording her own songs two years ago to help fund a school trip to Ecuador.

Dad Ian Payne, 46, produced her CD, Toss Of A Coin, on a laptop, while school friend Steph Hope, 17, did the album’s artwork.

Having completed her South American adventure before the album was finished, Lizzie has decided to donate profits from sales of the £5 CD to the Haiti appeal and the Sue Ryder Hospice, in Nettlebed, where her grandmother Marian Payne died in 2003.

Lizzie, of Westwater Way, Didcot, said: “When I was 11, I started playing the flute, but moved on to singing when I was 14. That has been my passion ever since.

“I have amazing teachers at school and they have pushed me to go a bit further.

“Most of the songs are about me venting my feelings, and getting things out of my system. I’m really proud of the result.”

Mr Payne, an electrical engineer who plays bass guitar with band Just Kidding!, said: “It’s been done in-house, quite literally.

“I’ve always had the interest not just in music, but also the technical side.

“When I was young, the kit was less user-friendly and very expensive. This was an exercise in what you can do on a laptop.”

He added: “We didn’t want it to sound like everyone who tries to be a pop star.

“Her love is musical theatre, and my interest is to have as many different styles as possible, so that’s what we were trying to do.”

Now the sixth-former, who studies theatre, dance and performing arts, has her sights set on bigger things.

“I don’t just want to go down the music route. It would be nice to end up somewhere like the West End,” she said.

Copies of Toss Of A Coin are available from Didcot Girls School. A website – tossofacoin.co.uk – will be online soon.

  • Marie Jones, who could barely walk a year ago, swam 110 lengths of the Ozone Leisure Centre pool in Oxford to raise money for victims of the earthquake.

Miss Jones, from Headington, took up swimming after two back operations in March last year.

The 37-year-old will hand over more than £400 to the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal.

She said: “It was longer than I’ve ever swam before. It was a great feeling when I had done it.”