On behalf of the 26th National Street Choir Festival, I would like to thank Arts Council England, Awards For All, The Co-Operative Community Fund and Brighton and Hove City Council for the generous funding which has enabled us to present this marvellous weekend of song to the people of Brighton.

Highlights of the July 11 to 13 weekend include a "marathon songathon" on July 12 when choirs from around the country will join others from the South Coast to bring their exciting repertoires of jazz, blues, protest, freedom songs and world music to the streets.

The songathon will begin at noon with a massed sing of 26 choirs comprising almost 500 voices in Jubilee Square, Brighton, and continue throughout the afternoon with the individual choirs performing separately in designated spots throughout central Brighton until 3.45pm.

The choirs will rotate between spots until reassembling for another massed sing at the Fishing Museum on the seafront at 4pm. All welcome.

  • Tony Frisby, Abbotsbury Close, Saltdean