A world Aids Day concert at a Potters Bar church raised almost £1,500 to help children sufferering from Aids in Romania and Zimbabwe.

The event, at Christ Church, in Little Heath on Monday, was organised by members Elizabeth Wiseman and Judy Almond as part of their fundraising efforts for causes close to their hearts.

The Kuhlau Flute Quartet and the Hertfordshire Cellists played pieces by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Boismortier and Sullivan, and church members organised refreshments, a raffle, and book and craft stalls to raise money.

Mrs Wiseman said: "It went extremely well. We had so many people who said what a wonderful evening of music it was."

About 130 people attended the concert, raising £1,438. The money will be split between Mrs Wiseman's family project in Zimbabwe and Mrs Almond's children's hospice in Romania.

Mrs Almond went to Romania 17 years ago after learning of babies who contracted HIV through injections of infected blood. Determined to help, she raised money to set up the Ashitanoie House hospice under the care of Dr Rodica Matusa, where she helped care for 12 orphans.

Since her return, she has continued to raise money for them from Little Heath.

Donations from the concert will go towards an irrigation project allowing families to grow their own food and sell some of it in the community.

Mrs Wiseman and her husband went to live in Zimbabwe as teachers in 2001, and ended up staying for more than five years. The couple worshipped at St Cuthbert's Anglican Church in Gweru, where many parents in the congregation were affected by the Aids pandemic sweeping the country.

Mrs Wiseman, 66, said: "I was nursing one mother who was worried about her child. I told her I would help and a few hours later she died. I decided I had to do something for the children, they were destitute and were street kids because their extended families couldn't do anything."

Mrs Wiseman set up a project to provide practical care and moral support for the children.

Now the project, run by eight Zimbabweans, helps 50 children and their families with school fees, uniforms, food, rent, and immunity-boosting drugs.

Mrs Wiseman has raised an average of £10,000 a year since she started the project.

The remainder of donations from the concert will go to the St Cuthbert's programme.