Gospel concert to help new refugees

THE Reading Community Gospel Choir has partnered with the Reading Refugee Support Group for a concert tomorrow (Saturday) to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees who have started arriving in Berkshire.

The Spring Gospel Concert will take place at Reading Minster and all the proceeds will go the support group’s Ukraine Emergency Appeal.

The choir was named the Songs of Praise gospel choir of the year in 2019.

But its Christmas concerts in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic so members are keen to sing live in public once more.

The support group, which was nearly overwhelmed by the Afghanistan crisis last year, needs to boost its funds so it can help the Ukrainian families with information, advice, mental health support and in other practical ways.

Nick Harborne, the group’s chief executive, says: “We’ve barely managed to cope with the crisis in Afghanistan and the hundreds of people being housed in hotels locally as a result. Now, with the horrific war in Ukraine, we’re seeing more and more families arriving in the area.

“We’re already supporting those families but we’re expecting many more to arrive and we need the public’s help to give them the support they urgently need.”

• The Spring Gospel Concert is at Reading Minster RG1 2HX, tomorrow (May 14), from 7pm to 8pm (doors open at 6.30pm). Tickets cost £10, concessions £5, under-11s and refugees free. For more information and to buy tickets, visit refugeesupport
group.org.uk/rescheduled-
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