HAMPSHIRE'S prestigious Specialist Music Course has celebrated its 50th anniversary with a charity recital for an African village.

Students at Peter Symonds College are set to visit rural Uganda next summer as part of a long-running development project.

Musicians on the course raised nearly £400 for a new charity called Project Embabazi at an 'impromptu recital' by Roger Owens, head of keyboard.

The programme will see students share their culture with the Bakiga community in Kamuronko village, understand their experiences and help local people develop their community.

Issues identified by village elder Dick Byamukama include famine, alcohol abuse, low levels of education, growing numbers of orphans and lack of healthcare facilities.

More than one in five people in rural Uganda live on less than a dollar a day.

Lauren Lewis, head of geography and project organiser, said: “Many Symonds students have visited the region lending their support to the local communities with funds they have raised in anticipation of their trips.

"The Impromptu Concert has given the 2015-2016 student team a great boost of encouragement from which to start more fundraising events for the 2016 Uganda Expedition.”

HSMC musicians will also celebrate the anniversary tomorrow with a chamber concert in St Mary's Church, Kings Worthy.