Cancer charity hosting family Christmas concert - and looking forward to tractor run in 'Choc's' memory

Both the orchestra and choir will be performing a range of festive classics at the Bayston Hill event, with a chance for people to enjoy a seasonal singalong.

Organised as a fundraiser by Lingen Davies, the charity exists to enhance and improve the situation for local cancer patients.

Tickets for the all-age fundraising event, which takes place from 5pm to 7pm on Sunday, December 8, at Christ Church in Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury, cost £10 and include a hot drink and mince pie. Under 12s are free.

Bluebird Care, based in Bayston Hill, which provides at-home care to people living in Shropshire, Oswestry, Church Stretton and Telford are Wrekin, and Shropshire-based John Dawson Painting & Decorating, are event sponsors.

Brian Harper, 86, a longstanding Lingen Davies volunteer who was crowned Volunteer of the Year in the national Third Sector awards earlier this year, is a member of the Shrewsbury Male Voice Choir.

Later this month, Lingen Davies is also supporting the second illuminated Oswestry Tractor Run.

The Tractor Run, organised by Whittington and Oswestry Young Farmers Club returns on December 14 at Oswestry Livestock Market.

This is the second year the event has been held in memory of Will “Choc” Roberts, a local farmer who died from a brain tumour aged 26. 

Will was known as Choc because of his love of chocolate. 

This year there is a special children’s tractor category with a £5 entry and all entries get a certificate and some chocolate - with the winner receiving a remote-controlled tractor.

Tractors leave at 5pm from the livestock market with the children’s competition at 2.30pm.

The event is free and Lingen Davies staff and volunteers will have collection buckets on the night. The event has already reached its capacity of 100 tractors entered.

Anna Williams, Communications Manager at Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, said: “This is the first time we have held our annual Christmas concert at Christ Church in Bayston Hill and we are really looking forward to welcoming members of the community we serve to come and join in the festive spirit with music from these very talented Shrewsbury groups, whom we are very grateful to for giving us their time.

“We are also extremely grateful to our sponsors Bluebird Care and John Dawson Painting and Decorating for their generous gifts which have provided a meaningful contribution towards the work we do supporting services and people living with and beyond cancer in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Mid Wales.”

The charity is also selling a range of Christmas cards, including a Celtic cross card designed exclusively for Lingen Davies by renowned Shrewsbury artist Lyn Evans, who has herself been treated for breast cancer.

They can be purchased at the Lingen Davies online shop along with other items and gifts at www.lingendavies.co.uk/shop or in person from the charity's office at The Hamar Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Shrewsbury Hospital.

Tickets for the Christmas Concert can be purchased online at www.lingendavies.co.uk/christmasconcert2024 or by calling 01743 492396.

More details and timings for the Oswestry Tractor Run can be found at www.facebook.com/oswestryilluminatedtractorrun.