An event is being held to raise funds for the renovation of Tudor Street Day Centre.

The Gathering moved back into the building earlier this year, which was covered by The Chronicle. The group had been meeting at the Tourist Information Centre in Abergavenny after a lengthy battle to obtain use of Tudor Street after it was closed during lockdown, five years ago.

Owen Lewis helps at the centre and says it has been at the heart of community life for decades.

“It was once a school, it has been a centre for elderly people, there have been office services here and there have been people based here providing disability support,” he said.

“It was closed during the pandemic, and we soon discovered it was not going to be reopened, and the building was going to be demolished to build new housing. There were protests to save the building. It is important, and we feel like we’re not getting a service elsewhere.”

Now, they need to raise money for the maintenance of the building and bring it to a fully usable standard. Kaz Bolwell, a professional singer working with users at the centre, is going to help.

“I started running my workshop last year and we do vocal warmups, we sing and the group choose their own songs,” Kaz explained.

“Occasionally we’ll do little performances.”

They are about to take on their biggest performance yet when The Gathering hosts its first concert since reopening.

Kaz said: “You have half an hour of great music. What’s great about our singers is that their song choices are very different. They’ve been practising and we’ve nailed our setlist.”

The event takes place on Friday, April 18 at 7pm, with tickets available to purchase at the centre between 10am and 4pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.