A MEMORIAL concert will be held next week to mark a year since the death of a much-loved hotelier who, along with her husband, brought a Michelin star to Ceredigion.

Joan Reen, who, alongside her husband Rob, transformed Ynyshir Hall, near Eglwysfach, into one of the country’s finest country house hotels, died on Friday, 12 February 2016, after losing a brave battle with cancer aged just 67.

At Y Tabernacl in Machynlleth on Saturday, 11 February, a fundraising concert, featuring vocalist Deborah Rose, triple harpist Robin Huw Bowen, English National Opera mezzo-soprano Stephanie Windsor-Lewis and Côr Meibion Dysynni, will be held in Joan’s honour.

All the proceeds from the concert will go to raise money for the cancer unit at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth.

During the last year of her life, Joan – a former geography teacher who took ownership of Ynyshir Hall in 1989 – busily raised money for Bronglais Hospital’s Leri chemotherapy ward and the Myeloma, Lymphoma and Leukaemia Research Fund at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital.

The memorial concert will take place at Y Tabernacl on Saturday, 11 February, at 7.30pm.

Admission is £10 with all proceeds to Bronglais Hospital’s cancer unit.

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