THEY may not make the Christmas number one spot but these children will be singing their little hearts out for charity.

THEY may not make the Christmas number one spot but these children will be singing their little hearts out for charity.

Youngsters from 42 schools in Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Ipswich, Debenham, and Framlingham are filming and recording songs to raise money for Christian relief and development charity Tearfund.

Over three weekends, 1,800 children will be creating a professionally-produced CD and DVD with sessions at Woodbridge Primary School, Causton Junior in Felixstowe, Debenham High, Kesgrave High and St Joseph's in Ipswich.

The youngsters, aged seven to 11 years, have been practising the songs at school in preparation for the recording days.

The final part of the project will be seven nights of concerts - from December 7 to 13 - at Felixstowe's Spa Pavilion, with 200 children on stage singing from different schools each night, with a full live band, singers, dancers and actors and many video inserts.

The main aims of the project, organised by a team of Christians from churches in the Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Ipswich, are to provide a creative focus for schools leading up to Christmas, raise awareness of poverty and injustice, and raise money for charity, which helps children in the poorest countries.

Over the past few years, the group's six previous projects, including Heaven2Earth, 4un2us, and Countdown for the King, have raised more than £60,000 for Tearfund.

Andrew Thomas, project spokesman, said: “The money from One Christmas is going to help projects focussed at helping children in some of the poorest countries in the world.

“The aim is to raise a further £30,000 with this project.

“The One Christmas CD will have 20 tracks and features many Christmas songs old and new, with six new songs specially written for the project.

“The DVD will contain music videos of several of the songs on the CD, featuring the children performing the songs.”

The CD is set to be released on November 29, and the music DVD at the concerts.

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FASTFACTS: Tearfund

Tearfund has a ten-year vision to see 50 million people released from poverty through support from a worldwide network of 100,000 churches.

The charity works in a wide variety of countries on projects to help people overcome drought problems, deal with HIV and AIDS, and other health issues, helping in disasters and providing clean water and sanitation.

It also campaigns on issues affecting the poorest countries - especially on injustice and poverty, seeking fairer deals for people who produce goods and crops in the Third World.

It encourages Christians from all over the world to take part in campaigns, badgering their MPs and governments to take action.