HUNDREDS of people will celebrate the tenth anniversary of a Wantage institution by raising the roof with a rousing rendition of Handel's Messiah – just like they do every year.

Amateur singers and musicians have been invited to come and join in the performance of the 1741 oratorio at the tenth anniversary 'Wantage Come and Sing Messiah'.

From 11am on Saturday, February 11, hundreds of music lovers will descend on The Beacon hall in Portway to start warming up their vocal cords and violins.

By late afternoon they hope to be ready to run through the 100-minute piece, then break for dinner in time to perform the work to the world at an evening concert from 7pm.

The small group of friends who have been running the same workshop for a decade hope this this year's will be the biggest and brassiest yet.

Former piano teacher Gill Skidmore, who helped found the institution over drinks in her living room in 2007, said: "We're very excited about it – it's going to be really good.

"We've got lots of local sponsorship from all sorts of people like the mayor.

"We're just praying that the weather doesn't let us down."

It all started at Mrs Skidmore's home over some Christmas drinks in December 2007.

She and her husband Gordon, both keen amateur singers, had a few friends over when one of them said: "We used to have a 'come and sing Messiah' event in Yorkshire, why can't we do that?'"

Mrs Skidmore recalls: "We took a deep breath, then we ended up holding the first event in January 2008 after just 15 days planning – with Christmas in between."

That year there were just over 50 singers as well as a handful of volunteer soloists.

Mr and Mrs Skidmore used the opportunity to collect £55 for Oxford's Sobell House Hospice along the way.

She said: "Everybody said 'why don't you do it again?' so we took another deep breath and said 'ok, but we must be more organised: we'll get proper soloists and advertise it' and it basically just went from there'."

For the first few years the show was held in Wantage Methodist Church Hall in Newbury Street, but as its popularity grew they were forced to upgrade to St John Vianney RC Church on Charlton Road.

This year, expecting the biggest crowd yet, they have moved again to the biggest venue in town – The Beacon.

The concert has always raised money for a different charity including local causes like the Methodist Church refurbishment and national charities Prostate Cancer UK.

This year they hope to raise enough money to give a little bit to each one.

Places are still available to join in: all-day tickets to join the choir workshop cost £20, while audience tickets for the evening are £12.

To buy tickets call booking secretary Ann Summers on 01235 763756.