YORK soprano Rebecca Newman is to give a concert in aid of ChildLine tomorrow evening at 7pm at the Bar Convent, Micklegate.

Already she has raised £1,800 for the charity from 2,500 sales of her albums, 2008’s Cantare and this year’s Memory.

“This concert will be another part of my fundraising efforts and I hope to have reached the £2,000 mark by then,” says Rebecca, who will present a cheque to a ChildLine representative tomorrow.

“I’ve never been able to hand over that sort of amount of money to charity before. I feel very lucky to be able to make fund-raising work such an integral part of my career.

“I still keep up with the voluntary work with children as well, particularly with The Island, a York charity aimed at one-to-one mentoring for eight to 12 year olds, and I hope to increase this next year with some more fund-raising events.”

Rebecca has been street-performing all over Britain this autumn in the company of “The People’s Tenor”, Scotsman John Innes, in support of Help For Heroes. “We were part of the Remembrance Day event in Northampton on November 11 when we raised more than £1,300 for the charity in just two hours,” she says.

Earlier, on October 2, Rebecca joined John for another benefit concert for the Help The Heroes at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. “The 2,000-capacity venue was 90 per cent full and we received a standing ovation,” says Rebecca. “It was such a massive success – Scottish national newspapers and even Scottish television reported on it – that we have decided to tour the concert format next year, taking it to venues in Britain and keeping the Help For Heroes focus with some of the proceeds going to the charity.

“It’s very exiting. We’re already booking the venues at the moment and I’m even trying to persuade the producer to include York on the tour, so watch this space!”

A DVD of the Glasgow concert will come out next year with 100 per cent of the profits going to Help For Heroes.

Tickets for tomorrow are available at £10 from The Roman Bath, in St Sampson’s Square, or from Rebecca’s website, www.rebeccanewman.net, or on the door.