SOME of the Army’s finest musicians will be on song when they perform an orchestral concert in aid of soldiers and their families.

The concert will be performed at the Haileybury School chapel on Tuesday, November 23 in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.

The event will be particularly poignant for Brigadier John Palmer, the chairman of the charity’s Hertfordshire committee, and his family.

For it was at that venue that a thanksgiving service was held for his son, Richard, a lieutenant in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.

Now the Herts committee of the charity (formerly known as the Army Benevolent Fund) is hoping to fill the chapel once more, this time to raise vital funds for soldiers, former soldiers and their families who are in need.

Brigadier Palmer said: “When I was serving I saw what a difference support from the ABF was able to make to individuals.

“When Richard died we wanted donations in his memory to go to a cause that was relevant to him and of which we knew he would have approved.”

Led by principal violinist lance corporal Helen Betteridge, the Army’s Sinfonietta orchestra will showcase a concert consisting of famous works by Earl Otto Nicolai, Samuel Barber, Carl Heinrich Reinecke and Robert Schumann.

Sinfonietta’s musicians are drawn from the 22 bands of the Corps of Army Music and are directed by the Army’s principal director of music, Lt Col Bob Meldrum.

The concert starts at 7.30pm in the chapel, in the Hertford Heath school’s grounds.

Tickets for the concert cost �15 (OAPs �10) and can be obtained by sending a cheque (payable to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity) to: ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, The Hollies, Mill Lane, Broxbourne, Herts EN10 7AZ.

For more details contact John Palmer on 01920 823683 or email johnandsuep@tiscali.co.uk