A top opera singer has hit the high notes to help Acorns Children's Hospice.

Renowned Herefordshire tenor Ian Storey spends half the year travelling the world singing in some of the most famous opera houses and despite a diary fully booked until 2010, he has found the time for fund-raising.

Every penny earned from sales of his new CD, a recording of a concert held at Hereford Cathedral in 2005, will go to the hospice, in Bath Road, Worcester.

The Leominster-based singer, who is currently touring with the Welsh National Opera, said "I was talking to someone from the Hereford Wye Valley Rotary Club and he told me about Acorn's. I went to the Worcester hospice before it was occupied and I've been back since. I was staggered by

the way they operate and what they achieve, I just got a very good feeling that it was something worthwhile."

Mr Storey said although the acoustics of the Cathedral make it less than ideal to sing in, the quality of the finished CD surprised him. He said: "We had enough for two CDs but we narrowed it down to 14."

He said he was indebted to Walter Scott and Partners of Edinburgh, the firm that paid the £2,000 production costs.

"I actually started my career at Scottish opera and five or six years ago they sponsored me to study at La Scala opera house in Milan for three months. We've kept in touch ever since," he said.

The Acorns CD contains pieces by Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Verdi and features sopranos Charlotte Spink, Helen Ray and Ross Evans plus baritones Whitaker Mills and Jason Howard.

It is available by sending a cheque for £11 (which includes postage) to: Acorns Children's Hospice, Tadcaster House, Keytec 7 Business Park, Wyre Road, Pershore.