Monmouth Orchestra’s summer concert raised £500 for the Bannau Brycheiniog Mountain Rescue team. A capacity audience in Llangynidr New Village Hall were treated to an afternoon of musical favourites on the theme of love.

 There were two renditions of Romeo and Juliet – one by Tchaikovsky and one by Prokofiev. Plus the modern version of the Romeo and Juliet tale, Bernstein’s West Side Story. Other programmed works included The King and I, the Sound of Music, Porgy and Bes, Oliver and Humperdink’s Evening Prayer.

 As an encore the orchestra performed a version of John Miles’ Music was my first love, which had been arranged by the MCO’s violin and viola player, Ken Hunt.

 Monmouth Concert Orchestra consists of amateur musicians from Ross on Wye, Chepstow, Abergavenny, Raglan, the Forest of Dean and Monmouth. It meets once a fortnight during term times and is always keen to hear from potential new players. Its members range from 18 – 80 and there are no auditions although players are usually Grade V standard or above. Find out more about the orchestra at www.monmouthorchestra.co.uk

Work on a new £1 million headquarters for Brecon Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) was completed in January this year.

Following planning and raising the initial funds for the new HQ, the team launched a major campaign to raise the remaining funds for the £1.1 million project.