A SOLVA-born entrepreneur has raised more than £1 million for a children’s cancer charity by organising a series of major concerts.

Young Voices was founded in 1996 by David Lewis, aged 73. Even though the company, which is now based in Cardiff, only has seven full-time members of staff, it has still managed to raise a staggering £1.3 million for CLIC Sargent over the last ten years.

Half of the money has been raised through bucket collections at its concerts and the other half has been raised through the CLIC Sargent Christmas Celebration held in partnership with Young Voices, which takes place at the Royal Albert Hall each December.

Young Voices stages 21 concerts across the UK and Ireland every year, involving more than 120,000 children, selling-out mass venues such as the LG arena in Birmingham, the Motorpoint arena in Sheffield, the Manchester Phones 4 U arena, as well as holding five consecutive nights in London’s O2.

Thousands of primary school children take part in each concert, after learning the music and dance moves at home and with their teachers. They are joined on stage by some of the music industry’s biggest names, with past performers including Katherine Jenkins, Joss Stone, Gary Barlow, David Gray, Miss Dynamite, Lemar, Michael Ball and Beverley Knight.

Young Voices has grown to be the largest choir organiser in the world, with a turnover of £2.5million.

David Lewis said: “Our concerts are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our young performers, and we firmly believe that performing in a choir empowers children to become more confident, more responsible and better team players. We are delighted to be able to further our support of young people by helping this vibrant, young charity.

“Above all, Young Voices is a family business, with my own three children now working for the company, and CLIC Sargent provides young children and their families with much-needed support during a traumatic time. Everyone is thrilled to have raised so much for such a valuable cause to help them continue their vital work in the future.”

Mr Lewis added: “As a businessman, I think it’s really important to give something back to the wider community in which we operate. I’m very lucky in that I spend my time doing something I love, working very closely with my family. I appreciate that not everyone is that fortunate, so it’s good to be able to help in any way we can through our concerts.”