The Kent Music Youth Orchestra performing at the Rotary Club's charity gala concert

Valentine's Day prompted a change in format when the Rotary Club of Whitstable joined forces with students from Kent Music to present its annual charity concert.

The long-standing event at the Whitstable Playhouse saw the Last Night of the Proms being replaced by An Evening of Romance.

The concert band played a number of romantic pieces to a capacity audience in the first half, including an Abba medley and Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

Pianist Tom Liddle performed a selection of romantic pieces that were followed by the youth choir’s renditions of Kiss Me Honey Baby and Goodnite Sweetheart.

After the interval, the Youth Orchestra tackled a couple of difficult Russian pieces. Tchaikovsky’s overture from Romeo and Juliet and Rimsky Korsakov’s third movement from Scheherazade preceded a finale featuring selections from the film Titanic and Schonberg’s Les Miserables.

Organiser Kim Foster said: "We have raised around £1,600 which will go to Kent Music and Rotary charities and our thanks go to Kerry Boyle, Christos Andreou, Steve Wassell and the students of Kent Music for making it a success.

"Bearing in mind the students only had about five weeks to rehearse some difficult pieces, they did really well."