THE West of Scotland Military Wives Choir and the HMS Neptune Volunteer Band will take to the stage at a charity concert in Helensburgh next month to raise money for two leading service charities.

The two groups will perform at the Victoria Halls on Tuesday, June 6 at a night of musical entertainment organised by Helensburgh Rotary Club in aid of Help for Heroes and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

It'll be the first time since 2014 that the choir and the band have performed on the same bill – and the first time for almost ten years that Helensburgh's Rotarians have organised a concert in the town.

Jacqui King from the West of Scotland Military Wives Choir said: “We'll be singing a range of songs, from wartime Vera Lynn classics to songs that have been in the charts very recently.

“We were the first Military Wives Choir in Scotland – we started very soon after the Gareth Malone TV programme about the first choir – and we're still the only one on the west coast.

“We have about 40 members, from as far away as Glasgow and of all sorts of ages and backgrounds.

“We've sung at Stirling Castle, at the Edinburgh Festival and on STV, and we still sing locally at care homes and at events such as this one.

“Many of our members haven't sung since school, but they enjoy the companionship and the opportunity to have some support and friendship while the ships are away at sea.”

Sergeant Annabelinda 'AJ' Hardy, who runs the HMS Neptune Volunteer Band, said: “Of the eight volunteer bands on shore in the UK we're the only one not on the south coast of England.

“As well as serving military personnel we now have MoD and Babcock personnel and their families as members, as well as quite a few people from the local area who are making the most of the opportunity to return to music.”

The band, whose members are aged from 16 to 80, have a busy summer calendar which has already featured a performance at the Loch Fyne Food Fair at Cairndow and will include dates at Benmore Botanic Gardens, near Dunoon, and the annual UK-wide volunteer band competition, taking place this year in Porstmouth on Saturday, July 1.

“It's been a couple of years since we did a joint concert with the choir,” AJ added.

“We have around 20 regular members from as far afield as Inverness and Plymouth, and although we're primarily there to provide musical support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel at HMS Neptune, we've done a lot more in Helensburgh since the Battle of Jutland parade last year.”

Help For Heroes was established in 2007 and has raised more than £200 million since then to help UK service personnel injured in the line of duty and their families.

The RNRMC, meanwhile, distributed more than £8.1 million in 2015 to projects, charities, causes and individuals in support of Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel.

Derek Hall from Helensburgh Rotary Club said: “Helensburgh Rotary Club has run concerts in the past, particularly jazz concerts, but the last one was almost ten years ago.

“I'm a big fan of the base, and we've done concerts with the volunteer band before. The West of Scotland Military Wives Choir is very well known now, and we thought it would be nice if we could get both together.

“Then we decided to hold it on the anniversary of D-Day and to use the event to raise money for Help for Heroes, which is ten years old this year and which we've supported in the past, and for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.”

The concert will take place on the 73rd anniversary of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy which began the liberation of German-occupied north-western Europe from Nazi control.

Tickets for the concert – which begins at 7.30pm on June 6 – are available from Stewart Travel, G&S Coyle and Helensburgh Trophy Centre and, subject to availability, at the door on the night.