If Saturday night TV talent shows are one of your weekly treats then you may well have already seen Eliza Gutteridge. Last weekend the 16 year old singer wowed the judges during the blind audition stage of The Voice UK on ITV, and the familiar local surname is no co-incidence because her family is from here. In fact the Gutteridges can trace their Ruddington roots back to 1640!
Several relatives, who’re still in Ruddington, were glued to her performance of “Wild Horses” by Birdy last Saturday night as the self-confessed Tom Jones superfan showed her dream coach what she’s made of! Village viewers included her Great Uncle Richard and Great Auntie Linda and her dad’s cousin Jonny Gutteridge, who tweeted” “Hey #Ruddington check out Mike and Maureen Gutteridge’s granddaughter on #TheVoiceUK this season!” Grandma Maureen was watching over in Edwalton but, sadly, her grandad Mike has passed away. The last time Eliza came here was actually to sing at his funeral in St Peter’s Church.
Ruddington born dad Nick Gutteridge moved to Cumbria which is why Eliza is herself a Penrith girl. Nevertheless there was understandable jubilation in both Cumbria AND in Rushcliffe when her idol Sir Tom’s chair turned around and her place on #TeamTom made her dream of bagging a recording contract much closer to reality!
An emotional Eliza confessed to her idol Tom, after the performance: “I’m not gonna lie to you… I do have a cardboard cutout of you in my room! You’re the team that I wanted to be on!”
So remember to vote for Eliza as Series 7 of The Voice UK continues! You can watch it on Saturday nights at 8pm on ITV.
{Main photo courtesy of Daily Express. Bottom photo courtesy of ITV.com}
