THE roof at Malvern Priory will take some lifting but carol singers will be doing their best at a charity concert next week.

The annual Malvern Festival Chorus 'Carols for All' event is being held at the Priory on Wednesday (December 27) at 3pm.

The event is being conducted by Carole Davies and will be a mixture of audience singing and some choir and choral works, including a tenor solo by Iain Sloan, the chorus' musical director.

This year's event is in aid of the Acorns Children's Hospice, which is looking to build a new hospice in Worcester to provided residential respite, emergency and terminal care for children from Worcestershire, Herefordshire and north Gloucestershire.

The provision of the unit will mean children and families will no longer have to travel to hospices in Birmingham or Walsall, which currently help more than 250 children a year.

Planning permission has been granted for the development and the £4.5 million fundraising is underway, boosted by a £750,000 donation by Worcester millionaire philanthropist Cecil Duckworth and the donation of land at Bath Road. It is hoped to have the new hospice built by 2003.

Admission to the Malvern concert is £1.50, or £1 if wearing an Acorn, and there will also be a retiring collection.

After that, Malvern Festival Chorus has a break until March 24, when it will be performing Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Malvern Theatres.

Its 82nd season will then be completed on Saturday, June 2, with Mendelssohn's Elijah, featuring Malvern soprano Susan Black, at the Theatres.