Standing in the classroom where she taught a Strictly Come Dancing finalist as a year six pupil, Joanne Morris reflects on the enormity of his achievements. St Paul's CE Primary School stands to the west of the Dickie Bird estate, on the edge of Bury.
Famous for being split in the middle by the M66 motorway, the Dickie Bird is in the top one percent most deprived areas in the country. It's the estate where stage and screen actor Layton Williams grew up as a young boy - and St Paul's is where his talent first shone.
"I think the biggest thing is how proud we are," Joanne, now headteacher at St Paul's, tells the Manchester Evening News. She looks towards the Dickie Bird estate and says: "I'm very emotional, I could cry thinking about how that tiny boy, that lives on a back street up there, from one of the most deprived areas in the country, is now on Strictly Come Dancing."
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As a young boy, Layton 'never really had dreams' of the career he would go on to enjoy. It was his performance of Captain Hook, in a school production of Peter Pan, with parts Joanne had re-written for the school's pupils, that set Layton on a path that would ultimately lead to the Strictly final tonight (Saturday, December 16).
"He played Captain Hook and had a standing ovation," Michelle Forshaw, Layton's mum, told the M.E.N this week. "People were throwing roses at him. I was like 'woah, this boy has got to get on stage'."
Joanne recalls being approached by Layton's watching relatives moments after the play ended, and told 'we didn't realise how good he was'.
'He lit up the room'
Having wowed St Paul's as Captain Hook, Layton set to work developing his natural talents. He attended Carol Godby's Theatre Workshop in Bury, where the likes of Ralf Little, Jennie McAlpine and Helen Flanagan had previously worked on their craft.
Proud mum Michelle says Layton has 'always been a performer'. He was one of five who grew up at their home on the Dickie Bird.
Carol remembers him walking through the door at her workshop as a 'very smiley 10-year-old'. He lit up the room when he was 10 and he still lights up the room now," she said.
"I hope that people see the same thing. There are very few people that have really touched my heart walking through the door [like Layton]. I've had some huge successes and I'm very, very proud of each and every one of them, but he is something else.
"He made friends easily, but what stood out was just how friendly he was and how easily he mixed. He really wanted to be there - in our industry it's not always the child that wants to be there, but Layton wanted to be there."
As he continued to push himself, Layton went for an open audition to star in Billy Elliot, while still at primary school. As part of the process to secure a role, he attended weekly classes at a specialist school for Billy Elliot training in Leeds.
'I was doing all the things a mum does'
Michelle recalls travelling 'back and forth' across the Pennines with her young star. "We had to take him to all his training for a long time," she said. "[I was] doing all the things a mum does."
While he had been acting and dancing during his time at Carol Godby's, to get the role of Billy, Layton needed to develop another new skill. He took on ballet, training up as a 'bare beginner' at Centre Pointe, in Denton.
Principal Caroline Wright told the M.E.N.: "He was just a joy, absolutely lovely, with a big endearing smile. He was quite cheeky, he had the most amazing energy, 110% the whole time.
"He was just very engaging. He was very endearing and just so hungry to learn... he had no experience at all, but just came to me with so much charm and charisma."
'His family has made him grounded - he wants to do us proud'
Old newspaper cuttings from the local press chart Layton's path to stardom. In March 2005, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph described how 'Bury boy Layton Williams has the world at his feet' as he trained for the role of Billy Elliot, and 12 months later the Bolton Evening News reported how he had secured the role.
Layton moved down to London ahead of his run on the West End, and he was 'back and forth' between his two homes. Mum Michelle recalls: "He didn't grow up here all the time because he was in London, but he always came back.
"He has had to be grounded, his family have made him grounded. He is a humble boy that loves his family and wants to do us all proud.... I'm just proud of everything he does, all of us as a family."
Layton followed Billy Elliot with national tours of the renowned musicals Rent and Hairspray. He also found fame on BBC television, first on 2008 series Beautiful People, before becoming a household name as he starred alongside Jack Whitehall in comedy series Bad Education from 2012.
In 2018, he took on the lead role in Everybody's Talking About Jamie, and brought the show home to Greater Manchester three years later with a performance at Salford's Lowry Theatre. Throughout his success, and despite settling in London, Layton has never forgotten his Bury roots.
Carol Godby believes he is 'very much for' the town. She recalls bumping into him for a 'good old chat' both on The Rock in Bury and in London, and still meets up with Layton for coffee. "We're still very, very close friends to this day," she said.
"I still see him on a regular basis. I think that shows what kind of person he is - very, very grounded, with the biggest heart. I can't tell you just what a sweet, loving person he is.... just talking about him makes me smile."
Caroline, who taught Layton ballet at Centre Pointe, shares the sentiment. "He's one of the nicest people," she said. "He came to teach with me not so long ago, he's such a humble person.
"I don't know if that comes across on TV - he's the most humble, gracious, hard-working young man I probably know. He talked to our students about always being humble, both in and out of the studio, because you never know who you are going to meet again. If you are that kind, decent person, they will take care of you."
'It's an amazing success story'
Layton previously told the M.E.N. how it is 'so vital for people to see others being their true authentic selves', and his visibility in the LGBTQ+ community has seen him win an Attitude Award. Each week, he has wowed judges on Strictly alongside dance partner Nikita Kuzmin.
Their performances have left Carol 'glued to her telly', and, in his old neighbourhood, there is a buzz of excitement that a lad from the Dickie Bird could win this weekend. Cath Robertson, of the local tenants and residents association, said: "I think he's done great.
"To say people say it's the worst estate to live on, it just goes to show you can make it. It doesn't matter where you live, does it? The fact that he is who he is, it's just terrific."
It hasn't been an entirely smooth journey for Layton and Nikita though. Layton has spoken out about about being 'overwhelmed' by comments from online trolls, with the 29-year-old facing criticism for having stage and dance experience before the BBC series.
Mum Michelle says the criticism has been 'hard to read and see'. "He's just gone to do something he loves, have fun, enjoy himself and learn something new," she told the M.E.N.
Caroline, who has decades of experience in ballet, added: "He's a born performer, a natural, but there's no way... I'm classically trained, there's no way I could do the amount that he has had to pick up [on Strictly], they are totally different genres. I wouldn't have a clue."
Layton's appearance in the final could be 'third time lucky' for Carol Godby, who has twice seen her alumni appear on Strictly, former Coronation Street stars Georgia May Foote in 2015 and Katie McGlynn in 2021. But for the star of the Dicky Bird estate, the Strictly final is just the latest challenge in a young career which has already seen him achieve so much, from humble beginnings.
"I wouldn’t be the person I am if it wasn’t for growing up in Bury," he recently told the Guardian. "Without the support system that I had there, I wouldn’t have been able to spread my wings."
You always hope as a teacher that you might teach someone famous and you can go, 'I taught them'
First as a teacher, and now headteacher at St Paul's, Joanne has spent years working with children from the Dicky Bird estate. She said: "People live on this estate, have children on this estate, die on this estate. Only the odd one goes somewhere else."
Joanne added: "You always hope as a teacher that you might teach someone famous and you can go, 'I taught them'. I was at a meeting the other day where they said 'what are you proud of', and I said that I taught Layton Williams. I'm living in his fame.
"I guess we're just pleased, why not? We are a tiny backstreet school in the middle of nowhere. It's an enormous achievement. We're in the bottom one percent for deprivation in the whole country. It's an amazing success story."
