South African choir performs at Oxford museum of natural history

Those admiring the replica of the long-extinct beast's bones at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History enjoyed the sweet tones of the Bloemfontein Children’s Choir yesterday morning.

The youngsters were in Oxford to perform with their peers in the Oxford Youth Choirs and made time to visit the museum as part of their trip.

Accompanied by a drummer, the singers performed a traditional song from their home country to onlookers.

The night before they also gave a performance at Oxford Town Hall as part of an African Skies concert compèred by BBC presenter Roderick Williams, which brought together different cultures and genres.

The amateur choir, made up of boys and girls aged eight to 16, come from Bloemfontein in central South Africa and surrounding areas.

Oxford Youth Choirs – a group of six choirs for children aged between four and 18 – have themselves performed abroad and visited Malta last year.

Richard Vendome, musical director of Oxford Youth Choirs said: “We value this opportunity to share in music making and cultural exchange, and hope we can build on this in the future.”

A crowdfunding campaign has been started to cover accommodation costs for the 50-strong Bloemfontein tour group.

Members of the public were invited to help a young singer from the rainbow nation by sponsoring a South African child to sing, and have raised £1,920 of a £2,000 target.