WHEN pianist and jazz-singer Judy Blair saw the plight of the Haiti earthquake victims, her response was swift: she started organising a benefit concert, just as she had for the Katrina disaster in summer 2005.

The musicians she contacted, including Gary Brooker (the founder of Procol Harum and composer of the most broadcast single of all time, A Whiter Shade of Pale) were enthusiastic.

The Katrina benefit concert had been in the 350-seater auditorium of the music school in Cahors – this time she aimed higher, and obtained permission to use the 700-seater Espace Valentré.

Ms Blair called for help from the Rotary Club in organising the concert, and a team of volunteers swung into action. The resulting concert exceeded all expectations, attracting more than 700 people, who braved a blizzard to get there and raising more than €10,000 for Haiti.

Ms Blair said: “Special mention must go to all the selfless individuals, from the Rotary Club and elsewhere, who contributed so much to the evening’s success – and especially to Laurent Casas, who provided and engineered the sound-system. An essential role, rarely acknowledged.”

Meanwhile, three British women in the Aude helped raise €1,400 for Oxfam to help victims of the Haiti earthquake with a “Champagne and shepherds pie evening” in the village of Antugnac.

More than 30 people, both French and English, came along to the event organised by Jo Hayes, Jane Hunt and Lorraine Barnes and a team of helpers on March 1. Auction lots generously donated included a week’s holiday in the Alps.