TO celebrate the 40th anniversary of Farms for City Children, the charity founded by Michael and Clare Morpurgo in 1976, there will be a unique Christmas concert performed by Michael Morpurgo, Virginia McKenna and acapella group, "Voices at the Door" at 7.30pm on Friday, December 2 at Exeter Cathedral. The event is being sponsored by Every’s Solicitors.

Michael Morpurgo and Virginia McKenna will be narrating Michael’s story “The Best Christmas Present in the World” which revisits the trenches and tells the haunting story of Christmas 1914 when soldiers on both sides put down their weapons in honour of Christmas Day. This heart-warming tale of humanity and courage, a vivid and emotive story is thoughtfully interspersed with traditional songs of Christmas including "While Shepherds Watched", "Good King Wenceslas" and the "Boar’s Head Carol".

The event will be performed by candlelight.

It will start at 7.30pm promptly, doors open at 6.30pm and it will last for approximately one hour and 15 minutes.

At 6.30pm, Michael Morpurgo and Virginia McKenna will be hosting a drinks reception in the Chapterhouse. Tickets to include drinks and priority seating are £50 each.

Tickets for the performance only are £25 (£18.75 for 12 and under) and £20 (£15 for 12 and under).

Knight Frank, Stormpress, Simpkins Edwards, Mercure Hotels and Devon Life are all supporters of the event.

Tickets are available through the Farms for City Children website at: farmsforcitychildren.org or telephone 01392 276381.

• Farms for City Children was founded in 1976 by Michael and Clare Morpurgo in order to give urban children from across the country, a unique opportunity to live and work together for a week at a time on a real farm, in the heart of the countryside near Winkleigh.

Forty years on, Farms for City Children is still providing an intense "learning through doing" experience of a different life for children who may not know where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to explore the outside world.

Since 1976, more than 100,000 children have spent a week at one of the three farms now run by the charity - still one near Winkleigh, one in Wales and one in Gloucestershire – and they continue to welcome nearly 3,250 eight-to-11 year old, primary school children every year from towns and cities across the UK.

Alan Quick