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Charlotte Church, together with socialist choir Côr Cochion, will lead 100 singers at a musical event to support Palestinian victims of the Israel-Hamas war.

Bedwas Workmen’s Hall will host the megachoir on February 24 to raise money for the Middle East Childrens’ Alliance charity. The afternoon’s collection will help fund an ambulance for Al Awda hospital.

Wendy Lewis, director of Côr Cochion, and the wife of the late Bedwas councillor Ray Davies – who founded the choir, said: “Charlotte Church has been concerned about peace for a long, long, time. We met on a vigil for peace and she mentioned that she wanted to get a large group of choirs together to sing for peace.”

Wendy said her husband dedicated his life to the three causes coming together for the event – Bedwas Workmen’s Hall, choral singing, and Palestinian rights.

She added: “He would have been thrilled to see this culmination, at the end of the hall’s centenary year.”

Cllr Davies, who passed away in 2015 from pancreatic cancer, visited Palestine for the first time in 1994 when he organised a cultural visit for the choir to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

There they witnessed first-hand the effect of the occupation. They came home determined to support Israeli and Palestinian groups working for peace.

Bedwas Workmen’s Hall has had a long history of community action. Ray recalled as a child seeing the Milk for Spain appeal on the steps of the hall during the Spanish Civil war.

The hall also provided soup kitchens during the Miners’ Strike, and more recently, night shelters for respite from cold weather for the homeless.

Building up to the event, Charlotte Church and Cor Cochion will run a series of workshops to teach songs of freedom from many different traditions.

Workshops to learn the songs will be held at the Bangladesh Centre, Machen Place, Riverside, Cardiff, on Tuesday February 6 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, and at St Andrews URC,  Pen-Y-Lan Rd, Cardiff, on Friday February 9, Thursday February 15, and Friday February 23, between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

Tickets for the concert in Bedwas are available from Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/bigsinggaza