A GROUP of Huddersfield drama students aim to serve up a treat for visitors to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Students from Oscars College of Performance Arts in Fitzwilliam Street hope to take a new production, Egg And Chips For Winston, to the festival from August 8 to 30.

The production tells of the events of the Second World War as seen through the eyes of ordinary people, from soldiers to canteen girls.

The production was written by Oscars principal Paula Danholm and is based on the experiences of her mother, Eva Rowland.

Mrs Rowland, 88, of Scholes, Holmfirth, was a brigadier in the Salvation Army for 40 years.

She spent 35 of those years working with the British forces and saw service in every conflict during that time.

She even managed to serve in the 1991 Gulf War, despite officially retiring from her duties in 1978.

The title, Egg and Chips for Winston, came from an incident which took place in the early 1940s, when Mrs Rowland was a cook on a military train from Perth to Thurso in northern Scotland.

One night she was told the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was on board and wanted food. To which she replied: "He'll have to have what the boys are having - it's egg and chips."

Despite not being allowed to serve the food, as she was a woman, she received some consolation when Churchill sent a thank-you note saying he enjoyed it.

Mrs Rowland's touching, tragic and often comic stories will only be told at the festival if Oscars can raise £4,000. They are asking local people and businesses for sponsorship.

Paula said: "We need help. Taking a show to Edinburgh is very costly. Sponsorship could take the form of money, goods or transport.

"It is a very exciting production. It is the true story of ordinary people who did remarkable things."

If Oscars make it to Edinburgh, it will be the second time they have performed at the Fringe.

Oscars performed their children's production, The Land of No Colour, there in 2001. It received good reviews from critics and the Scottish Press.