TWENTY-NINE Community Choir members joined representatives from choirs all around the world for a concert to mark Martin Luther King Day at America's prestigious Carnegie Hall.

Composer Karl Jenkins was present to see them get a standing ovation after performing his work, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, conducted by Jonathan Griffith.

Among those taking part were the renowned Pro Cantu youth choir from South Africa, who sang the Armed Man with the Community Choir on their visit to Cape Town last spring, and who will be visiting Salisbury to perform with them again in July.

The Salisbury singers are looking forward to hearing more of the youngsters' traditional African songs, which went down a storm at the post-concert party.

The tour got off to an eventful start as the plane taking most of the SCC group to New York was delayed by the Heathrow crash. Watching the emergency services race into action on the tarmac did nothing to calm any pre-flight nerves. There was an early wake-up call next morning too, as SCC musical director Fiona Clarke had arranged a singing workshop with young people from deprived backgrounds in the Bronx.

The Mott Haven High School caters for 330 pupils who would otherwise be in danger of dropping out. Its policy of "wraparound care" for the whole family, with social workers, counsellors and even a clinic on campus, has produced dramatic results.

When it opened as a joint venture between a charitable foundation and the state system seven years ago, the drop-out rate was 70 per cent. Now, 95 per cent of pupils graduate.

Working with a large group of tough 16 to 17-year-olds proved a challenge, but an inspiring one for the Salisbury contingent, who were treated to impromptu displays of break dancing and hip-hop poetry.

In the days that followed, shopping and sightseeing were squeezed in around rehearsals. For the first time in the US, the work was performed together with its accompanying powerful film backdrop of war footage.

The tour was an emotionally draining but exhilarating experience. The party saw life in the Big Apple from both sides, and came away the better for it.