A wall of yellow hit you as you entered the hall - made up of a mass of adrenalin - fuelled schoolchildren led by young musical director Nathan Jones. The school choirs, from across South Wales, come together for an annual event to raise money for the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital appeal organised by HYBU Ltd.

Holding such an enormous group together is a major challenge and early on the conductor struggled to hold back keep the enthusiastic singers and the young accompanying orchestra together – this he managed, just. It was in the slower numbers such as ‘Silent Night’ and particularly in the version of Lloyd-Webber and Barlow’s anthemic ‘Sing’ that the choir were heard at their best. Local schools featured prominently and included pupils from Rogerstone Primary School , Monmouth Comprehensive School and Ysgol Ifor Hael from Newport who provided four excellent soloists – Sienna Crowson, Efa Maher, Tomos Baker and Sam Davies ( how is it that nine year olds are so nerveless when singing to an audience of over 3000 people?).

Between their songs we had the excellent R.C.T. drummers who impressed audibly and visually via their fluorescent drumsticks; Nu Sxool were great crowd pleasers with their intricate and athletic dance routines and the Britain’s Got Talent finalists Bars& Melody had the audience (and particularly the choir) in raptures.