Music students at a Blackpool college were left star-struck when two top musicians paid them a visit.

Mike Heaton, the drummer from the band Embrace, and Tom Hingley, the frontman of legendary 90s band Inspiral Carpets, both spoke to students at Blackpool and The Fylde College.

The duo each ran a seminar and workshop on the music industry, before answering questions from students, ranging from topics relating to song writing, relationships with record companies, to band members and industry attitudes and approaches.

Chris Parsonage, the group’s tutor, said: “It was striking in that both Mike and Tom kept hammering home the importance of attitude and hard work, things we say here, but coming from people who have really walked the walk at such a high level, it was of huge value.

“They both really impressed the students. They proved to be excellent teachers, and were so motivational and inspiring throughout the day.”

The morning session, last Monday, covered lyrical aspects of song-writing, and students eventually split into groups and used the techniques that had been demonstrated to write three songs, one of which had to include the phrase Blackpool Tower.

The songs were recorded and the students will soon be putting together videos for them.

Mr Parsonage added: “To get people of this calibre to come to our college is a tremendous coup. We’re look forward to following it up with further visits from equally well-qualified practitioners from the music industry next year.”

Both musicians only asked for expenses from the college, and the visits were funded by the HERO project, an enterprise education project for Blackpool, funded by the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative.