ONE’S a headteacher and the other develops green energies, but in their spare time Peter O’Hare and Jessica Wild are competing in a top music contest.

The musical duo have made it to the next round of the Open Mic UK 2012 contest.

And they’re asking music lovers to help them pick their next song to impress Open Mic judges.

Peter, headteacher at St Andrew’s CE Junior School in Brighouse, said: “I write songs, play guitar and sing and Jessica is the main singer and we’ve performed gigs together for about 18 months.

“We entered the Open Mic at Dewsbury Town Hall and they said we were a good duo, original and praised us for writing songs, but they said we were a bit more Radio 2 and this is more Radio 1.

“So we’ve performed a number of songs, some covers and some originals, which we think will appeal. We’ve put them on our Facebook page and we’re hoping people will pick what song to play at the next round.”

Songs include Labrinth and Emeli Sande’s See Beneath Your Beautiful, Maroon 5’s This Love and Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kids.

The duo will appear before the Open Mic judges again at the area final at Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday November 24 at 7pm.

In the meantime, Peter and Jessica’s rock ’n’ roll dreams are on hold as the day jobs continue – for Peter his hobby is useful in his job as head of the Brighouse school.

“I’ve been writing songs for years now and been performing them in assemblies and getting the children involved in music,’’ he said.

“I sent some off to publishers and one got back to me and said they wanted to publish them so our album Assemblies Are Live is now out and I’m proud of that.

“I think music is important to children. It’s right that English and maths is a focus in schools because it does set children up for the future, but there’s so much artistic talent in this country and it’s right that we support that.”

Before joining forces with Jessica, Peter performed in the band Time and Tide with his daughters Rosie and Rachel, who have both moved away to university.

He met Jessica through a mutual friend and she works in Hebden Bridge as a project manager for Craggs Energy Fuel Oil and Renewable Energy.

If they get through the area final they’re in with the chance of performing at the O2 arena.

Visit their Facebook page – facebook.com/JessicaWildAndPeterOHare – to pick the song to help them get further in the competition.

You can see them play live at The Star, Roberttown, on New Year’s Eve. More details about the duo’s next gigs are on their website.