A charity concert was held in Saffron Walden to raise money for Ukraine, with musicians Joanna Eden, Dan Boutwood and their respective band members performing for free.
The Concert for Ukraine took place at Fairycroft House, and both sets started with a performance from The Garden Youth Music Project, which is run by Joanna and fellow organiser Kevin Sporle.
The Garden musicians meet every Monday in term time, and the club is free and open to young people age 13 to 20 with a love of music.
Joanna said: "'We're so proud that the young people wanted to be part of the evening.
"They're embodying the message that music can be a powerful way to bring the community together and raise funds for important causes like this one. They sounded amazing too!"
The Joanna Eden Band featured Andrés Lafone on bass, Carlos Fuentes on percussion and Gerry Hunt on flute, guitar and sax. Their Latin-influenced set was followed by an acapella song by Iranian singer Leela Emadi.
The Spiral G's then followed with a funk-jazz set, featuring Dan Boutwood on guitar, Jim Free on sax, Tom Reavey on drums, Dan Reavey on keyboards and Alan Carruthers on bass. Finally, Leigh McDonald joined Joanna Eden for a moving rendition of 'Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables.
Guitarist Dan has a personal reason for supporting the event, as he has close family members in the Ukrainian city of Poltava.
The event raised £1,800 in total. The audience dug deep to donate to a retiring collection specifically to help organisations in Poltava. Other funds will be donated evenly between the DEC's Ukraine appeal and refugee charity Side by Side Refugees Ukraine.
Tim Atkinson and his team at Fairycroft House provided the venue space and staging for the event without charge.
Joanna's Place - live music, cabaret and comedy hosted by Joanna Eden - will return to Fairycroft House on Saturday, September 10, with a performance from Audley End concert regular Mark Flanagan.
Work will take place at the venue over the summer to remove a wall which had limited audience sizes, and extra sound-proofing will be installed as well as state-of-the-art sound systems and lighting.
Tickets are available from joannasplace.net.
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