A PRAYERFUL youngster is preparing to fight it out in a prayer book reading competition.

Sam Pearce-Davies, of Croydon Road, Anerley, has reached the finals of the Cranmer Awards, which is run by the Prayer Book Society.

It aims to introduce a younger generation to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Eighteen-year-old Sam has to recite, from memory, Psalm 115 and Psalm 138 at the finals at London Charterhouse, East London, on February 25.

The BRIT Performing Arts and Technology School pupil will be judged on his delivery of the two pieces.

He said: “I have always been interested in the differences between the religious text to the more contemporary pieces I do.”