The musical youngsters from LS18 Rocks - based in Horsforth - are hoping to storm to the top of the charts with their song Virtual Hugs (There’s No One Quite Like Grandma) which uses the spirit of the memorable 1980’s St Winifred’s Choir classic to promise their grandparents a dose of Yuletide joy.

The music school was launched in Leeds in 2017 when professional musician Jonnie Khan decided his music students needed an output for their learning.

From hiring a room in a scout hut on a Saturday morning and starting with just one band, LS18 Rocks now boasts eight bands rehearsing – and performing - every weekend.

In January 2019 the project moved into its own studio based in the heart of the Leeds suburb Horsforth – which has a LS18 postcode and gives them their name.

The song has been written, recorded, performed and played entirely by children.

Despite the challenges of lockdown, the children - aged between six and 14 - have released the single without any help from adults and now profits will be donated to charity to help combat loneliness in older people this winter.

Virtual Hugs was written by Abby Warner and created in collaboration with fellow 14-year-old Jimmy North and features an array of musicians from the Leeds-based music school – all recorded in one socially distanced day during last month’s half-term holidays.

Abby said: “I took the sentiment of the original and applied it to this very strange year we have lived through. The idea is that although we haven’t been able to be physically close to our grandparents, we have found other ways to keep them close to our hearts.

“I’ve not been able to see one set of grandparents since February and the other set, who live fairly close-by, since August. I can’t wait for them to hear the song – hopefully it will make their Christmas.”

Jimmy added: “I’m so proud of how the song has turned out and can’t wait for grandparents to hear it.”

LS18 Rocks, which boasts a stable of eight bands, was forced to close their doors in March and has spent the majority of the year delivering lessons online.

The children said they had missed their grandparents the most after they resumed rehearsals.

LS18 Rocks musical director Jonnie Khan said: “We played them the St Winifred’s Choir song – which everybody of a certain generation can obviously remember. The young people had never heard it before, but there was a suggestion we could maybe do a ‘rocked-up version’.

“We set a challenge to see what lyrics they could come up with – and were blown away when Abby came up with an original song that captures absolutely everything the children had been talking about. Jimmy then added some magic and the finished track is simply breath-taking.”

The original There’s No-One Quite Like Grandma topped the Christmas chart four decades ago after being recorded by the choir from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in Stockport to mark the 80th birthday of the Queen Mother.

It became an anthem for grandparents across the country and spent two weeks at number one having knocked former John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over) off the top spot.

At their peak the choir even performed with Abba, met Margaret Thatcher and sold more than one million copies.

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Children from Leeds real life 'School of Rock' recreate classic Christmas song There’s No One Quite Like Grandma