A CHOIR of over 40 singers will gather to perform in the 2005 Voices for Hospices concert at Malvern Priory on Saturday, October 8.

The concert is in aid of UK charity Hospice Care Kenya and will be a celebration of choral and organ music, including works from Tallis to Tippett.

Other popular favourites, such as Mozart's Ave Verum and Parry's I was Glad, will be performed and local interest will be provided by Elgar's setting of the Ave Verum.

The concert opens with Gorecki's spectacular Totus Tuus, which is ideally suited to the acoustics of Malvern Priory. A message from Desmond Tutu, a patron of Hospice Care Kenya, will also be read out at the event, which starts at 7.30pm.

Organiser and conductor Iain Sloan, director of Music at Malvern College and of Malvern Festival Chorus, said: "We are delighted to be part of this exciting event when the wonderful work that is done by the hospice movement world-wide is supported by fine music."

This will be the fourth Voices for Hospices event conducted by Mr Sloan.

Mr Sloan and his wife Gwyn have been fundraising for Hospice Care Kenya for nearly 10 years and this year Mrs Sloan was appointed as the charity's vice-chairman.

For further information or tickets, contact Mrs Sloan on 01684 561074, also if you are willing to sponsor the event. Tickets are also available at Lyttelton Well Book Shop and on the door, priced £8 (£5 concs).