A FORMER lead violinist with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is putting on Whole Joys, a charity evening of words and music at Dent's St Andrew's Church, on Friday, September 16 (7.30pm).

The concert features the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Catherine Dyer, Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas, Edward Lear, and passages from the Bible, with music for unaccompanied violin by Bach, performed by distinguished violinist, Vincent Raven.

Vincent - whose family has home in Dentdale - began learning the violin at school at the age of 12. Two years later, he joined the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music and at 18 went on to study at Trinity College of Music with Bela Katona.

After graduating, he played with the BBC before becoming a full-time member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, where he rubbed shoulders with some of great musicians of the time - Menuhin, Oistrakh, Rubenstein, Boult, Rostrapovitch, and Campoli.

While working in Liverpool he coached Merseyside Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Charles Groves and Simon Rattle, enjoying the magic of amateur young people making music.

He took a career side-step into teaching, studying at Middlesex University going on to join London Borough of Hillingdon Music Service eventually becoming its head. In 2012 he was presented with the Michael Craxton Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by the Mayor of London Borough of Hillingdon.

He has put together various programmes of words and music, including Whole Joys, which he performs to raise money for good causes.

A donation from Friday's concert will go towards Dent Methodist Chapel.