RESIDENTS near Presteigne raised £712 for a good cause by joining together for an evening of music and food at Aymestrey Village Hall last Friday (January 16).

Around 75 people gathered for Yatton poet Tony Walton’s Sing Out! 4 event to raise money for the Cuban Five, a group of men thought to be trying to infiltrate a Cuban terrorist ring in Miami when they were jailed for crimes including espionage in 2001.

Tony read poems he had sent to the men in prison before live music came from Emma and The Professor and others.

Authentic Cuban food was also provided and a raffle held.

Tony’s next beneficiary is the British Red Cross, with a performance from Polly Bolton and Sue Harris arranged at Wigmore Abbey for February 28. Sing Out! 5 will then take place at Bromyard May Day Festival on May 4 in support of St Michael’s Hospice.