A South Craven village is preparing itself for a fundraising event featuring 14 hours of non-stop music.

Residents of Cononley are signing up for the Raise the Roof music marathon that will take place from 10am to midnight on Saturday October 16.

The event is a fundraiser for Cononley Village Institute and the name Raise the Roof stems from the intention that most of the money raised will go towards a £30,000 project to repair the building’s roof.

The music marathon is the brainchild of Cononley resident Joan Nicholson, who took part in a similar event in Birch, a village in Essex where Mrs Nicholson used to live.

“The idea of getting people together and making music is lost these days, but we’re reviving it here in Cononley,” said Mrs Nicholson.

She also said that inspiration for the marathon came from a highly successful Music Hall event held at the institute in the run-up to Christmas last year.

“There is so much musical talent in this village,” said Mrs Nicholson.

She said Cononley Singers, of which she is a member, formed in March of this year because the Music Hall had been deemed such a success.

The Cononley Singers now boasts a membership of 35, many of whom will be performing in the music marathon.

“We’ll have villagers playing the drums, trombone, euphonium, saxophone, piano, guitar, cello, violin, triangle and tambourine,” said Mrs Nicholson.

“The youngest person will be two and the oldest 75.”

Tickets cost £1 and Mrs Nicholson said organisers were asking the performers to secure sponsorship.

Money will also be raised through the sale of coffee, tea, cakes, biscuits, a soup lunch and a bar in the evening.

She said various performances would be held throughout the day, with people keeping the music going by playing fill-in instruments during the intervals. She anticipated it could be difficult to keep the music going after 10pm, but she was hoping to end the event with a mass sing-along of Auld Lang Syne.