A Shropshire choir has raised £3,000 for three local charities in the county.

Shropshire Charity Concerts, which performs as Shrewsbury School Community Choir [SSCC], has donated £1000 each for Shropshire Wildlife Trust, PALZ (Professionals with Alzheimers) and Foodbank PLUS.

Presenting a cheque to each of the charities at one of its regular rehearsals last month in the Maidment Building at Shrewsbury School, Chairman Paul Bisson said: “We are delighted that by doing something we enjoy – singing – we can bring huge pleasure to a lot of people who come to our concerts, enrich the musical life of the county, and at the same time support some wonderful charitable causes.”

Gary de Saram from Shropshire Wildlife Trust said: “The crucial support we receive from our members, donors and organisations like SSCC enables us to fight for nature’s recovery across our county”.

Karen Williams of Foodbank PLUS, based at Barnabas Community Projects in Shrewsbury, said: “As a community organisation Foodbank PLUS thanks the Shrewsbury School Community Choir for their part in serving the wider community through the generous donation to the FRESH Campaign. This will help towards our ambition of providing fresh fruit, vegetables and bread to every one of the thousands of people that benefit from receiving foodbank parcels every year.”

Liz Holdsworth, Chair of PALZ UK, said: “The very generous donation, given by the talented members of SSCC, will enable PALZ UK to provide more bright people with dementia with much needed mental and social stimulation, together with the support of others on the same challenging journey.”

Under conductor Richard Robbins, Director of Choral Music at Shrewsbury School, the choir has performed a range of music over the past nine months: “Materna Requiem” by Rebecca Dale, “Messiah” by Handel and “A German Requiem” by Brahms. The choir will be performing a modern piece, “To Shiver The Sky” by Christopher Tin in November at the School for its annual St Cecilia Concert and Handel’s “Messiah” in Shrewsbury Abbey on Saturday 21 December 2024.

Paul continued: “We are a friendly, unauditioned choir of about 100 singers and we welcome new voices, especially tenors, whether experienced singers or beginners who would like to try their hand at singing in a choir.”

Further details can be found on the choir’s website shropshirecharityconcerts.org.uk.