A BURY theatre group reaped the fruits of its hard work by picking up its first award at a ceremony to honour the region's top talent.

The Hard Graft Theatre Company, based in Brandlesholme Road, took home the gong for Best Fringe Production at the Manchester Theatre Awards for the play 'Thick as Thieves', beating stiff competition from hundreds of productions staged over 2014.

The comedy, performed in a disused pram shop in Oldham town centre, received glowing reviews when it was staged last September.

It starred actors Steven Arnold and Jonny Dixon, better known as Coronation Street's Ashley Peacock and Darryl Morton, as a pair of hapless career convicts.

Company founder Mark Whiteley, who wrote the play, said: "It's so exciting. I've been producing plays for 20 years, but never been lost for words on stage.

"I was absolutely gobsmacked. There are literally hundreds of fringe shows across Greater Manchester - it's almost easier to win Best Production because there isn't as much competition.

"The sheer number of fringe venues out there makes me doubly proud that we've been honoured, because it was such a tough category.

"We've been nominated a few times but never won before, so Friday was an absolutely fabulous day."

The event was held at the Royal Northern College of Music on Friday, and among other nominees for Best Fringe Production were Great Northern Playhouse's production of Watching Goldfish Suffocate and Life's a Gatecrash, staged at The Kings Arms, Salford.

Hard Graft were last seen in Bury at The Met with their hit comedy 'I Love Bury', about a charity shop in the town.

Grass, the sequel to Thick as Thieves, will be performed later in the year again in Oldham, at another unconventional venue.