A WORCESTERSHIRE choir is preparing for its new season of concerts - and its latest fund-raising mission.

Cradley Singers, based on the Herefordshire and Worcestershire border, has adopted the County Air Ambulance as its charity for the year.

The choir's chairman, Brigadier Bill Backhouse, said he was enthusiastic about their choice of charity.

"In recent years, we have supported cancer care, helped to renovate church bells and provided clean water in India," he said.

"It gives an extra dimension to our singing and makes our concerts even more worthwhile.

"I'm especially pleased we have chosen the air ambulance this year because, without it, some of our members and their families would not be alive today."

The choir's next event takes place on Saturday, April 12, at Bodenham Church, north of Hereford.

Last season's charity, the Foundation for Conductive Education, will receive their cheque, after which there will be a concert of music for voices and percussion.

The choir, under the director Dr Stefan Scot, will be joined by the sopranos Jane English and Sue Hughes, the pianist Paul James and the Hereford Youth Percussion Ensemble.

The programme will include songs from Rossini to Faure and Gershwin, music for percussion ensemble and a first performance of poems by Walter de la Mare, specially commissioned from local composer and musician Adrian Sutcliffe.

The concert will finish with a performance of the Congolese "Missa Luba", full of vibrant African rhythms.

To hear the music as well as supporting a local charity, call 01905 831054 for tickets priced £6. The concert will start at 7.30pm at Bodenham Church.