Perth operatic group donating £10,000 to charities.

Farewell party raises more than £10,000 for aspiring musicians

Perth City Operatic Group has raised more than £10,000 for charities during its final farewell party.

The company was forced to wrap up their performances after 55 years due to dwindling attendance numbers.

Money raised from the event at the Tulloch Institute at the weekend will be evenly split to give three charities supporting young musicians £3,500 each.

Group member Holly Cammidge said the last performance was bittersweet.

“It was a sad occasion but it was one we wanted to celebrate,” she said.

“It was a really nice evening. “We made our donations to three charities to distribute the money in our account.”

The group members decided to donate to Perth Youth Orchestra, the Perth and Kinross Music Foundation and the Young Musicians Parents Association.

On choosing the charities, Ms Cammidge said: “It was decided at that we wanted to support up and coming musicians.

“All of our productions have had a live orchestra and we wouldn’t have managed without one, so we feel that this is giving something back.”

The opera group had to cancel its final show last autumn and was unable to form a committee at its annual general meeting in the spring.

They had previously put on a major show once a year but the pressures of doing this have become too great for the remaining organisers of the group.

Ms Cammidge said: “We had also recently tried to put on a production at Perth Theatre, like our sister organisation Perth Amateur Operatic Society have managed, but it proved too expensive.

“At our meeting in March, we couldn’t get enough people to form a committee, so the group had to stop.”

On Friday night, past members and their families and friends were invited to join the group, to celebrate the 55 years of the opera group’s work.

As the Perth City Operatic Group said its final farewell, they remained grateful to everyone who supported them.

Ms Cammidge said: “We would like to thank our audiences and members over the years for their support.”

All of our productions have had a live orchestra and we wouldn’t have managed without one, so we feel that this is giving something back. HOLLY CAMMIDGE

Picture: Mhairi Edwards. Ola Stanton from Perth Youth Orchestra, Jonathan Cammidge, treasurer at PCOG, and Mhairi MacKinnon from Perth and Kinross Music Foundation at the party.