A PENARTH-based a cappella group celebrating 20 years of singing together has made a £700 donation to charity.

“Sound Women”, a 30 strong women’s community choir, recently made the £700 donation to the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth.

The money was raised from sales of ‘Crossing the Bar’, a CD of songs that, in the last few years, has inspired the choir and reflected hope and joy in both sad and happy times.

It was released to coincide with the ‘Before I Die Festival’ organised by Professor Jenny Kitzinger of Cardiff University in May 2013.

“Sound Women” often performs locally for fundraising events, singing songs from a diverse range of world traditions.

The group has also made several excursions outside Wales during the last two decades, including visits to the annual Street Choirs Festival and, in 2012, to an international choir festival in Frankfurt.

The Marie Curie Hospice Cardiff and the Vale costs more than £3.9 million a year to fund and provides free specialist medical care for those with serious illnesses, and emotional support for their families giving them the best quality of life. People can come there to stay or visit regularly for pain relief, physio, complementary therapies and more. And because the hospice works hand in hand with nurses in the community it can also help people return to their own homes and be looked after there.

Further celebrations for 'Sound Women" are planned this summer.

For more information about “Sound Women”, or to obtain one of the few remaining copies of the CD, please contact their Musical Director, Tracey Gummow on 07779 230726.