Penarth's chamber choir Spectrum Singers has announced its annual Christmas concert will take place on Sunday, 3 December.

'Nativity' celebrates the sacred moment of birth and the mystery of new life as seen through the eyes of mother and child.

The concert is twinned with Tabernacle's Christmas Crib Competition.

Schools, groups and organisations in the community are invited to create a nativity scene out of recyclable materials.

'Many children don't know the nativity story and why we celebrate Christmas,' says competition organiser Jeannette Minns. 'It is a fun and engaging way to discover the real meaning of Christmas.'

Closing date for entries is Friday, 1 December when all cribs must be delivered to Tabernacle Baptist Church on Plassey Street, Penarth ready for preview at Spectrum Singers' concert on the afternoon of Advent Sunday, 3 December.

For more information and an entry form email [email protected].

Spectrum Singers is planning its own entry to the Christmas crib competition constructed from origami using obsolete paper scores.

'We're moving towards a digital music library to save paper in future so thought this was the perfect way to give some old scores a new lease of life,' says choir librarian, Suzanne Jones.

'The idea came from one of our Christmas pieces "Mother's Song", which sets an anonymous Japanese text as a lullaby, asking the cranes to "warm my child in your wings". Origami cranes have become a powerful symbol of peace and healing thanks to the legacy of Sadako Sasaki.

'She survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb as an infant but developed leukaemia from radiation poisoning and died on 25 October 1955, aged 12. During her illness, she began to fold a garland of 1,000 paper cranes in the belief that it would grant her one wish: world peace. That's an idea that we can all get behind, although we'll be folding sheep rather than birds!'

'Nativity' is on Sunday, 3 December at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Plassey Street, Penarth from 3-5pm.

Tickets £11 (under 18s free) can be booked at www.ticketsource.co.uk/spectrum-singers