STUDENTS at a sixth form have organised an evening of music to raise money for a women's refuge charity.

Alex Dunn, 17, of Yarm School, was inspired after a visit from Middlesbrough charity The Halo Project.

The charity, which supports victims of forced marriage, FGM and domestic-based violence, spoke to the students about its work and upcoming projects.

The lower sixth student and his friend, Aislinn Kalya, 16, wanted to find a way to rally support for the charity.

Together, the pair have spent the last five months organising an Influential Women concert which will be held at the school's auditorium next week.

Following the theme of influential women in music, Alex and Aislinn contacted local performing groups and musicians and have put together a jam-packed lineup of variety performance.

Alex said: "We thought it was really incredible what The Halo Project are doing and we decided to raise some money to help them.

"We’re hoping to raise a few thousand pounds to help them refurbish some of the safe houses and house some more.

“We have spoken to local acts who agreed to be part of it.

“I have been choreographing some dances for school pupils and putting together some performances.

“We have done all the brand and promotion ourselves. We have been out and handed out fliers in the local area. We made a trailer for the concert.

“Hopefully it will have a good result for The Halo Project."

The concert will feature performances from The Red Shoes School Of Dance, Ingleby Barwick Community Choir, an orchestral band, dance groups, cello soloists, piano duets, a live band and musical theatre performances.

Each act will have music by women such as Madonna, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Nina Simone, Billie Eilish and Adele.

Alex said: “We were thinking about what kind of theme would compliment the charity and there’s a lot of talk about big influential women in music at the moment.

"We’re really looking forward to it.

"So far we have raised about £1,000 through ticket sales.

"We want to say thank you to The Halo Project for letting us use their charity and support them."

The concert will be held at Yarm School Princess Alexandra Auditorium on Wednesday 19th June at 7pm.

Tickets are £5 for concessions and children and £7 for adults and can be bought via the box office 01642 792587 or online at

thepaaonline.org/whats-on/influential-women-concert/