A SELL-OUT Charity Concert held at King’s Ely last term has raised more than £1,100 for two important local charities.

Ely Foodbank, the charity that provides emergency food and support to local families in crisis, and the Ely Community Service Committee (ECSC), which runs the Old Dispensary community centre in Ely, both received donations totalling £553. Alan Williams from Ely Foodbank and John Smith from ECSC visited the school yesterday (29) to collect their cheques from Performing Arts Administrator, Sophie Collier.

The funds will help Ely Foodbank to ensure that people living in Littleport, Soham, Chatteris, March and Ely have equal access to its services, which, since the launch of the Ely branch last year, have provided emergency supplies to more than 3,000 local people who have struggled to put food on the table. ECSC will use the donation to continue providing local societies, community groups and other services which greatly benefit the local community with affordable accommodation for meetings and events, with rates of just £17 for three hours.

Director of Music, Martin Leigh, commented: “The musical achievements of our pupils here are astonishing. Through the Charity Concert we are delighted to support two such fine causes. We have been supporting ECSC for over 20 years, providing an estimated £30,000 in the process, and, in the Junior section of the school alone, have donated approximately 5,000 teabags, 100 litres of milk, 80 cartons of orange juice, 70 packets of pasta, 60 cans of soup, 20 boxes of cereal and 30 bags of rice to Ely Foodback in the last 12 months. Sixth From students also donated over 100 Easter Eggs last spring, to ensure that families in need would still receive something nice at Easter.”

The Charity Concert saw over 200 guests enjoying a programme of many popular performers, including the King’s Ely Barbers, the Minstrels, Spikes Cello Group, the King’s Ely Orchestra, the jazz and concert bands, and percussion and brass ensembles.

The school is now preparing for the upcoming Gala Concert on Saturday 1 March, which will celebrate the end of the King’s Ely Senior Music Festival. For further information and tickets, please email boxoffice@kingsely.org or call Sophie Collier on 01353 653931.

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