A SWINDON couple celebrated their 60th birthdays at the weekend with a special concert to raise funds for charities in Madagascar.

Organist Tim Eyles and trumpet player Lauraine Phelan led the birthday celebrations of Neil and Frances Cullen.

On Saturday, Christ Church in Old Town, was floodlit for the free concert.

“My brief to Tim was make it loud, raise the roof,’’ said Neil.

And raise it they did, with a variety of organ tunes including Trumpet Scherzo, Elegy and Intrada, by Robert Jones, Trumpet Tune by John Stanley and Misty by Errol Garner.

Neil and Frances, from Maidstone Road, are passionate about raising cash for projects in Madagascar, such as a water pump that is now in daily use refuelling MAF Cessna light aircraft, or digging wells to stop the spread of cholera for people in the remote villages.

In 2008 Neil worked as a volunteer with the Mission Aviation Fellowship on the water project in Ankavandra.

He saw the women carrying buckets of water from the river which they share with the cattle, livestock and wildlife of the area.

The Christian Engineering In Development organisation has strong links with church groups and the Immanuel Church in Upham Road, Swindon, raised £2,500 for the three wells.

Neil is also involved with HoverAid, which provides essential transport when the roads are inaccessible – and he had personal experience of it.

“When we got to the river I expected the hovercraft, “ he said. But, no, it was a dug-out canoe to take me to the hovercraft.

“Once I was in the canoe they told me to keep very still as there were crocodiles in the river.’’ The concert was also raising funds for Mandritsara Hospital.

“I took out knitted balaclava hats made by the dinner ladies of King William Street School on my last trip in 2009,’’ said Neil.

“They were for the premature baby unit in the hospital.’’ To donate to the charities visit www.mandritsara.org.uk, www.

hoveraid.co.uk or www.

maf-madagascar.org.