A special concert is being held in Wilmslow next month which will take the audience on a trip round the world without moving them from their seats.
The Laurence Singers will perform a wide range of songs, from sacred to show-stoppers and classics, which will be accompanied by screened pictures from all over the globe.
The concert is being staged at the United Reformed Church in Wilmslow on Saturday October 15th, in aid of the Wilmslow Wells for Africa charity - which provides much-needed clean drinking water to drought-hit villagers.
Cliff Crewe, conductor of the 33-strong choir, said: "The idea of linking pictures to the music came up as a result of a casual conversation with Ann Drackley, a founder member of the choir who has now retired. It was a novel idea and a very different approach. When we tried it out at the URC last year everybody found it wonderfully atmospheric.
"All the pictures are by Ann and her husband David. They have travelled extensively, and their photos range from shots in the Antarctic, in South America, Africa, France, and Australia. There's humour as well as sheer beauty in the tie-up between the songs and the pictures, but it requires careful timing and tailoring of much of the music.
"Penguins waddling across the Antarctic ice feature to comic orchestral music, dawn breaking over Ayers Rock to a background of the choir singing 'Sun Arise,' and the bustle of New York to a hectic rendering of 'The Rhythm of Life,' are the kind of things I mean."
Helen Battilana, chairman of the charity, which over the last quarter of a century has raised over £800,000 to provide around 140 wells and other life-saving water systems in Africa, said: "It should be a fantastic evening, which will not only be for the audience to enjoy, but will also help us to provide more clean water to people who are desperately in need of it. Being forced to use polluted surface water is causing sickness and death in many African villages.
"We are hugely grateful to the Laurence Singers for giving this concert for us."
Tickets, costing £8 for adults and £6 for children and pensioners, can be obtained from Helen Battilana on 01625 250368, or Alan Parfett, former chairman of Wilmslow Wells for Africa on 01625 590700.
Photo: Cliff Crewe, conductor of The Laurence Singers, with Helen Battilana, chairman of Wilmslow Wells for Africa.
