FUNKY jazz and smooth soul entertained an audience at The Anvil on Saturday night, helping to raise thousands of pounds for three Basingstoke charities.

A Night of All That Jazz and Sensational Soul attracted a large crowd to the Basingstoke theatre to pull in the pounds for The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane’s three chosen charities – Ark Cancer Centre Charity, Inspero and Basingstoke Multicultural Forum.

The Clive Fortune Big Band entertained the audience in the first act, playing a variety of popular songs from across the decades, including Moon Dance, The Very Thought of You, Mack the Knife and Save the Last Dance.

Two singers accompanied the 17-piece band for some of the numbers, one of whom was the talented Ellie Smith who received a huge round-of-applause following her beautiful and powerful rendition of the James Bond theme-tune Skyfall.

The second half saw Basingstoke soul-singer Natasha Watts take to the stage.

The singer/songwriter, who has supported Motown legend Gladys Knight on her UK tour, was clearly delighted to be performing in her hometown, and was well supported by family and friends in the audience.

Wearing a glamorous, sparkly red dress, she sashayed around on stage belting out various numbers, and was accompanied by a sixpiece band including saxaphone, trombone and base, and two backing singers.

Natasha, who is a great supporter of Ark Cancer Centre Charity, told the audience why the fundraising concert was so important to her, and said: “The reason I’m so determined to raise money for this charity is because my mum had to go through a lot of stress getting treatment for cancer. Basingstoke needs this centre.”

The charity needs to raise £5 million towards a new cancer treatment centre for the borough, to be built by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Natasha’s mother died of cancer eight years ago, and the singer added: “I’m doing this for my mum.”

The audience were encouraged to join in with some of Natasha’s songs in the second half, and by the end of the show the audience were on their feet clapping and dancing to the music.

Cllr Anne Court, mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, took to the stage at the end of the concert to thank everyone for coming. She gave special thanks to Mark Jones, director of fundraising and communications at Ark Cancer Centre Charity, who expertly compered the evening and helped organise the event. “Without all his hard work we wouldn’t have had this night,” she said.

The concert also featured a raffle, which pulled in more than £800, and while the final total raised from the night has still to be confirmed, it is hoped that the event will have boosted the appeal by more than £4,000.