On the 15th of November, MCT held its second fundraising concert following the success of last year!

It was a delight to return to St. James Church in Sussex Gardens, Paddington, and it was as beautiful a backdrop as ever. We welcomed old friends to the concert, and also made some new ones, about which we are always thrilled! Nicola Hands, one of the MCT management committee members, did a fantastic job of not only organising and coordinating the concert, but giving us all a beautiful oboe performance and singing in the choir as well! We would like to give Nicola a massive thank you for all of her hard work – we couldn’t have done it without her.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the musicians who gave up their time to treat us to their wonderful music. We had a wide range of performances from organ to clarinet, to classical guitar to a close harmony recital from Cambridge Choral Alumni. David James, countertenor for the internationally acclaimed ‘The Hilliard Ensemble’ ended the first half of the concert with hauntingly beautiful performances of works from Arvo Pärt and Gavin Bryars, accompanied by ‘The Stella Quartet’. We were thrilled to welcome back Hassan from ‘Harir Band’ who led a Moroccan Trio, and was joined by vocalist Mohammed. They gave an exceptionally rousing performance of traditional Jewish Moroccan music, which was a particular highlight of the concert.

The drinks and raffle stall also helped us raise a total of £1,010 for the event! Thank you to all who donated raffle items, all those who came to the concert and to Vicar Paul Thomas from St James Church – you all helped make the evening a true success. The money we raised will go straight into running our Street Children Project in Taroudannt – a huge help.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss this event, don’t worry as we will be holding the next one in Autumn 2014 – come along next time!