A capacity sell-out crowd enjoyed a feast of top class musical entertainment at the Rotary Club of Narberth and Whitland’s Charity Concert at the Follies Theatre, Folly Farm, on Saturday night.

The concert was headlined by Paul Potts, who performed a stunning 18 songs, ranging from top operatic favourites to songs from the Foo Fighters and stage and screen.

The concert also featured Whitland Male Choir, led by Juliet Rossiter and accompanied by Mrs Hefina Jones, who were also in fine voice and sang magnificently, along with the soloists Sioned Llewelyn (soprano), of Efailwen, currently studying at The Royal Academy of Music in London, and violinist Lily Whitehurst from Tenby and currently at the Royal Northern College of Music at Manchester .

Both Sioned and Lily were excellently accompanied by Seimon Morris, of Haverfordwest.

All performers performed magnificently on their own, but the collaborative pieces left everyone spellbound. In the first half, Lily accompanied Whitland Male Choir in a moving rendition of the First World War song ‘Tell My Father’, while Sioned and Paul sang the joyous duet Libiamo from Tosti.

In the second half, Sioned accompanied Whitland Male Choir to sing Anfonaf Angel, the Wales Air Ambulance anthem by Hywel Gwynfryn and Robat Arwyn, while Lily accompanied Paul in ‘Quattro Canzoni d’Amaranta’, another fantastic Tosti piece.

At the end of the evening, with the audience on their feet and asking for more, all the performers came to the stage to sing an unforgettable joint version of Britain’s most popular carol, ‘Oh Holy Night’, under the direction and accompaniment of Paul Potts’s musical director, Mr Chris Taylor, and Juliet Rossiter. A fantastic finalé which showed the professionalism of all the performers.

That would usually be more than enough, but there was more to come and what other way could there be to finish the night than by Paul singing the Aria that had made him famous 10 years ago, Puccini’s Nessun Dorma. This earned Paul a well-deserved third standing ovation, who along with his guests had given the audience a night they would never forget.

At the end of the evening, Paul was also more than happy to meet the audience and sign autographs whilst copies of his new and fifth album, ‘On Stage’, were in high demand.

The concert was of course a charity fundraiser and president of the Rotary Club of Narberth and Whitland was delighted to ask Paul Potts to present a cheque for £2,000 each to the three main charities being supported, the Wales Air Ambulance (represented by Rhys Watkins), the Paul Sartori Foundation, (represented by chairman of the trustees, Mr. Charles Clewitt) and the Treat Trust Wales, who were represented by their founder, Mrs. Melanie Davies.

The club is also delighted that a similar amount will go into the Rotary Club’s charity account to support their charitable work throughout the year.

The Rotary Club would like to sincerely thank all who supported the concert, the audience, the performers, their main sponsor Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo for providing the magnificent venue, Castell Howell Foods, Mr. Lloyd James, of Lloyd’s Jewellers, Pembroke Dock, (Steinway piano hire sponsor), Gravells Kia, Narberth, (transfer car and driver sponsor) and the Giltar Hotel, Tenby, (accommodation sponsors for Mr. Paul Potts and Mr. Chris Taylor) and of course all programme advertisers. Huge thanks are also due to Laurie Dale and Richard Westmacott at Dales Music Tenby and Donna Jones at the Creative Café, Haverfordwest, for selling the tickets for us along with the local media for publicising the event - we couldn’t have done it without all your support guys, thank you all so much.

Pics. Powerpix Photography