More than £2,000 was raised at a concert which aimed to beat the winter blues.

The fundraising event at Symondsbury Tithe Barn was organised by Julia Colfox, Annette Smallwood and Tracey Evans, sparked by concern over the rise in mental health problems, especially suicide in young people.

The event was a sell-out success, raising £2,055, which was split between the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and Mind.

The afternoon concert was opened by Mrs Colfox, and there were short introductions to the two charities being supported.

The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust was set up in memory of Charlie, who suffered from depression and took his own life 20 years ago. His family started this charity to try to prevent others suffering this great loss.

The director of fundraising for Mind in South Somerset then spoke of the local Hardy Appeal for Mind, which is particularly aware locally of the high incidence of depression in farmers. Both were very grateful to the organisers for their generosity in setting up the concert.

The concert programme included singers from Southampton University, with local musicians taking to the stage after the interval offering less classical but equally entertaining songs. They included Duncan Honeybourne, Iona Oliphant and Andrew Dickson.

With snow swirling around the barn the Ridgway Choir took their places to sing traditional Dorset songs, in the manner Hardy wrote of in “Under the Greenwood Tree”. Led by Tim Laycock and Phil Humphries the audience were encouraged to join in with the singers to “Four and Twenty Fiddlers” with the rousing chorus of “It is my Lady’s holiday, so let the lass be merry.”

Philip Colfox closed the afternoon, thanking the many people who had helped to create the afternoon, and ending with a powerful call on the government to shoulder their responsibility to care for the mental health of the young. He particularly pointed out that as a result of mental health not being part of our NHS, when funding is tight, money is removed from mental health leading to the suffering of the most vulnerable in society. The audience then headed home, heartened by communal singing and good company, activities recommended for fighting isolation and depression.