A St Albans choir has presented three charities with substantial sums of money raised by their signing over the festive period.

At their first rehearsal of the New Year, St Albans Bach Choir presented a cheque for £1277.36 raised at the choir’s afternoon carol concert in St Albans Abbey to Helen Cullen of Hands at Work in Africa.

The money will go towards helping vulnerable communities across  eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa, work which has been seen at first hand by choir member Juliet Lyal.

Choir chairman Dr Jean Baillie said: “All the suggestions for charities to support come from choir members, so these are charities that we really do want to help.”

The evening concert raised £1616.22 for The Living Room in St Albans.

Mary Corbett, accepting the cheque on behalf of the charity said it would help to “enable lives in this community to manage themselves and be open to growth.”

For over twenty years, former choir chairman Ken George has organised an evening carol sing by choir members at the Lower Red Lion in Fishpool Street.

This year’s event, plus additional donations also sourced by Mr George, raised £1224 for another local charity, the ADD-vance ADHD and Autism Trust.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the charity, Anne Ross said: “As a small charity helping thousands of children with life-long but largely invisible conditions this donation is most welcome and will support our helpline for two years.”