Concert is a success (From Free Press Series)

Concert is a success

A PUPIL at a Pontypool school has helped raise more than £3000 for charity.

Sarah Jones, a pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, organised a concert at St Mary's Church, Abergavenny, featuring singing from pupils at Llantilio Pertholey Primary school and leading male voice choir the Gwalia Singers of Swansea.

The event was in aid of the Joshua Foundation, which supports children who are terminally ill, and Sarah has now managed to raise more than £3,000 in just six months.

The charity believes in giving children and young people opportunities of a lifetime, and over half the money she has raised will go directly to help families who have a child with cancer to create memories by visiting Disneyland or Lapland, for example.

The remainder of the money will help fund Sarah's trip to Australia with other young people on a three-week trip called the Oz Experience to carry out conservation work and visit terminally ill children in hospital.

St. Mary's Church was packed with family and friends for the concert in which the children performed a variety of songs, including Streets of London, No Matter What and You've Got a Friend In Me.

Drummers from the school helped accompany When The Saints Go Marching In. The biggest cheer of the evening was for a rousing rendition of Any Dream Will Do, while the harmonies of We Are The Young prompted a spontaneous standing ovation from the audience.

The choir, which was conducted by teachers Aysha Waghorn and Simon Oram, who is also musical director of the Gwalia Singers, combined with the Gwalia Singers to sing a medley of Abba Songs and When I'm Sixty Four.

Said Mr Oram: "The support we had for the concert was overwhelming. The parents really helped make this a successful evening."

The children were joined by three past pupils, Charlotte Connell, Charlotte le Moignan and Matthew von Pokorny who made up a woodwind trio and the school recorder group.