Marsh Ladies Choir promises a sparkling concert of uplifting song, swing and organ music to celebrate the group’s Diamond Jubilee this autumn.

The Dazzling Diamonds event on Saturday, October 3, at Huddersfield Parish Church will pack in nearly 30 numbers, many of them well-known favourites and inspiring classics – from Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend and Alexander’s Ragtime Band to the lilting You Raise Me Up.

Joined by the Sundown Swing band and Kirklees borough organist Gordon Stewart, who will compere as well as play the parish church organ, the ladies will be looking back at six decades of entertainment and companionship.

As chairman Hilary Robertshaw says: “The choir has a real community feel. We always have a charity of the year that we support and we have outings and social events.

“We recently held a choir tea with our Friends of the Choir and we travel to festivals together. In 2007 the choir went to Tallinn (the Estonian capital) and more recently we’ve been to the Isle of Man Music Festival.”

The choir, which has 40 members, has enjoyed success in competitions over the years. As recently as last year it took the prize for the ladies’ class at the Mrs Sunderland Festival in Huddersfield.

Choir membership is drawn from all generations. The longest-serving choir member, Celia Warner, has been a Marsh chorister for 50 years, while the youngest singer, Emma McDowell, is in her early twenties.

Marsh Ladies Choir was founded in 1955, with Muriel Walker as its Conductor and Barbara Todd as Accompanist. It was formed by members of the Marsh Townswomen’s Guild.

Today the choir is conducted by musical director Ian Abbott, who is organist at Trinity Methodist Church in Mirfield, and has been with the Ladies since 2009.

The accompanist is Kim Kaye, who is also Musical Director for the Holme Valley Singers. Choristers practice weekly on Thursdays at Salendine Nook Baptist Church, Huddersfield, from 7.30 to 9.30pm and the choir welcomes new members.

The choir has enjoyed many collaborations with other vocal groups, including a number of male voice choirs, and is currently working with the Halifax Young Singers.

However, the Dazzling Diamonds concert, which will support the Yorkshire Cancer Centre (the choir’s charity of the year), is a collaboration with the Sundown Swing ensemble, a group of Huddersfield-based musicians who play music from the 1920s to the 1970s.

The band recently returned from gigs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and will be entertaining with numbers such as Moonlight Serenade, New York New York, In The Mood and Tuxedo Junction.

The two-part programme will also include solos by Gordon Stewart – March on a Yorkshire Tune and Hornpipe Humoresque, both by Noel Rawsthorne.

Tickets for the evening, which begins at 7.30pm, are £6 and £10 from ticketsmlc@outlook.com, by calling 07866 909634 or on the door.