Those present to hear the Neyland Ladies in concert at Pembroke Town Hall were treated to an evening of quite special musical entertainment. The well of local talent, as most of those who attend various musical events in Pembrokeshire will know, is a deep one. In Pembroke we heard more evidence to confirm that knowledge.

The concert was promoted by Gareth Hopkins, well-known supporter of Neyland Ladies, for the benefit of Cwm Rhondda Village Project (est 1995), who do extraordinary work in Kenya supporting orphans of the Luo tribe, near Lake Victoria, where Barack Obama can trace his roots. Founder member Dianne Price and her team were present to explain the work they do which affords those orphans a unique opportunity to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

The ladies are always a pleasure to listen to of course. Backed by their superb accompanist Peter Griffiths, their discipline, delivery, choice of material, presence and personality, reflected in the figure of their conductor Lynne Kelleher, is exemplary, always. Your reporter harbours a natural curiosity as to which uniform they will choose to appear in, as they do like to ring the changes, all of them attractive it must be said! The audience did contain a famous face or two, but the consequences of breaking that anonymity is a price too high for your reporter to contemplate!

The ladies began the concert with three items that set the standard for the night (very high!). Following the ladies there appeared a musically gifted, frighteningly young, quartet; 'The Sacsaffonics' (no prizes for guessing which instruments were played!) who, up to then, had been sitting quietly, relatively un-noticed, at the back of the hall. Rhodri Morgan (proud parents present), Ben Thomas, William Cope and Dominic Ciccotti simply 'knocked 'em dead', as is the saying.

Starting with a delightfully witty, toe-tapping, ragtime number, they went on to play The Londonderry Air, containing a kick in the tail. The audience were stunned for a few seconds, before breaking out in wild applause over that contribution. Anonymity will never be theirs again!

A young lady who needs no introduction, and no explanation of her achievements to date, was next to take the stage. The audience know Sarah Benbow well and what to expect from her: complete professionalism, a wonderful voice and the talent to sing all forms of music, and no one was disappointed on this night. The stunning Lisa Shelmerdine Richards was her accompanist, her musicality dovetailing exactly the quality of Sarah's contribution.

The ladies returned to take us to the interval, 'Wonderful World, Habanera and Yfory' outstanding.

At the interval, Andrew Griffiths, secretary to the project, came to the floor to speak quietly, passionately and sincerely of the work being done in Kenya and how grateful he and the project was towards the performers and audience for the contribution to fundraising. The contrast of the provision for our children of every conceivable fashionable electronic bauble with a relatively luxurious lifestyle can be compared to the absence even of basic clean water in theirs. A sobering view of the way others live indeed.

The ladies returned with a wander down Memory Lane, 'Over the Rainbow' (strong solo by Estelle), 'A Nightingale in Berkeley Sq.' and 'As Time Goes By', all beautifully done.

Eager anticipation evident in the listeners, 'Sacsaffonics' returned, 'Someone to Watch Over Me' just spell-binding. There will be much demand for these young men for other concerts, that is certain.

Sarah visited the Musical stage for her return, pieces from 'Cats' and 'Jekyll and Hyde' just superb, before the choir completed the evening with their final items.

Kindly, Lynne invited members in the audience of a local choir, the name just slips the memory for now, to join in with the inspirational 'Rachie'.

Fully deserved bouquets were presented to Sarah, Lisa and Lynne, before most retired to take tea and talk the whole concert through again. We think that concert will live in the memory for quite some time.

A.S.