Once again the singing group, Soar Valley Singers, entertained us with carols and Christmassy songs at Kingston on Soar in December, conducted by Chris Bowerman and with piano accompaniment by Wendy Miller.

The event raised £224 for Guide Dogs UK. This charity was chosen because one of our u3a members, Jackie Benskin, provides preliminary training for guide dogs for the blind. She often brings a dog along to our singing sessions to help it acclimatise to people and sound. The Labrador ‘Opal’ was one of them, and Jackie wrote the letter below to us. You may remember we featured a story about Jackie and Opal in the August 2023 Newsletter.