FRENCH choral music, including the masses by Widor and Vierne for choir and two organs, is on the bill for Kendal South Choir's next concert on Saturday, June 14 (7.30pm).

Conducted by Hugh Davies, the winners of the Mary Wakefield Music Festival's choral class are augmented by the prestigious, 35-strong baritone ensemble drawn from north Lancashire and Cumbria, called Kendale Choeur Des Barytons, adding even more oomph to the Kendal South sound.

Popular local organist and Windermere Choral Society conductor Ian Pattinson, and Damian Howard, who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Paris Conservatoire, are both at the organs for the Kendal Parish Church, Musique Religieuse Parisienne concert.

Sounds like a performance to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Tickets are £8 / £6 OAPs/students and school children free, and available at the door or on 01524-811579.

KENDAL and District Gilbert and Sullivan Society perform an evening of G & S at Kendal Town Hall tonight (Friday, 7.30pm) in aid of the Winged Fellowship Trust, South Lakeland Support Group. The show includes Trial by Jury and posh nibbles' in the interval.

Tickets are £6 from Kendal and Windermere tourist information centres, and John Wood, the chemist on Main Street, Staveley. For further details, contact 01539-821854.

WFT provides breaks at residential centres in England for people with disabilities and their carers.

SOME of the amazing creations by members of the International Feltmakers Association (north of England group) are on show at Farfield Mill Arts and Heritage Centre, Sedbergh, until July 9, including felt-making demonstrations each Sunday. And believe me, the work is well worth seeing, particularly the skilfully crafted Pennine Stone Wall.

The Garsdale Road arts centre is open seven days a week 10.30am-5pm. For further details, contact 015396-21958.

FREERANGE Theatre Company brings an award-winning piece of theatre to Grasmere Village Hall tomorrow night (Saturday, 7.30pm).

Written by Hollywood screenwriter Wendy Hammond, Absence is a compelling and controversial tale of enduring love and impossible odds, which recently played five nights at Staveley Roundhouse.

It is also staged at Arkholme Village Hall tonight (Friday, 7.30pm); Lancaster's Gregson Community Centre, on Tuesday, June 10 (7.30pm); the People's Hall, Sedbergh, on June 13 (7.30pm); and the Victoria Institute, Caton, on June 14 (7.30pm).

KIRKBY Lonsdale Choral Society performs its summer concert on Saturday, June 14 (7.30pm) at St Mary's Church, with a programme including Handel's Zadok the Priest, Elgar's Coronation Ode, and Evergreen Landscapes by local composer and respected musician and conductor, Roger Cann. Young musicians from Queen Elizabeth School also feature. Tickets are £5 / concessions £4 available from choir members or at the door.

June 5, 2003 11:00