LONGPARISH church was packed for a fundraising concert to help fight the proposed heat to power incinerator nearby.

US company Wheelabrator is planning to build a waste-to-energy facility on the Enviropark owned by Raymond Brown near the A303.

The business is looking to occupy vacant land on waste solutions company Raymond Brown’s site off the A303, to process around 450,000 tonnes of waste a year which will power around 110,000 homes.

Longparish choir rehearsed for weeks and presented a programme of traditional choral music and songs from shows and films earlier this month.

The event ended with a rousing rendition of the rallying theme from Les Miserables “Do You Hear The People Sing?” which was echoed by the audience of 170 drawn from the whole area including Andover, Whitchurch and Barton Stacey, among them was MP for Romsey and Southampton North Caroline Nokes.

Choir leader Cathy Yelf said: “It was all designed to send a message to the US company Wheelabrator that they have a struggle on their hands.”

The event raised £2,500 towards the bintheincinerator.com fighting fund and a few days earlier an auction of promises held at the Cricketers pub in Longparish brought in almost £2,000.