A STAR-STUDDED concert will be staged next month to raise money for a teenage cancer charity.

Britain’s Got Talent winner Jai McDowell, NSPCC Christmas single singer Shauna Gallon and Emmerdale’s Charlie Hardwick are to perform at St Nicholas Cathedral, in Newcastle on December 6.

The Christmas at the Cathedral event will raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and will feature performances by British tenor Ian Storey from Chilton, in County Durham, and Lindisfarne’s Billy Mitchell.

There will also be readings by Tim Healy, David Leon from the television crime show Vera, ITV presenter Ian Payne, Simon Davies the chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, Lord-Lieutenant Nigel Sherlock OBE and The Bishop of Newcastle the Right Rev Martin Wharton.

The concert is expected to raise thousands of pounds for the unit at the Freeman Hospital, which opened earlier this year and caters for young people between 18 and 24 with cancer, and the second Teenage Cancer Trust unit at the Great North Childrens’ Hospital at the RVI.

Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw, who is producing the event, said "I am very pleased to be working with Teenage Cancer Trust on this elegant concert which will be the most high profile event to the held in the north east this Christmas.

"We have secured an excellent line up and are very pleased to have support from a number of talented performers who will perform in one of the most outstanding settings in Newcastle".

Tickets for Christmas at the Cathedral are available, priced £15, via www.ticketweb.co.uk or 0844 4771000.