A STAR-STUDDED charity concert is all set for Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral this weekend - the first time the annual Christmas event has been held at the historic venue.

Ian Hislop and Rory Bremner will join Vicar of Dibley writer and Parkinson’s sufferer Paul Mayhew Archer for the Christmas Concert event being held in aid of Parkinson's UK.

The festivities will take place on Sunday from 8pm with all proceeds going to the Oxford branch of Parkinson’s UK to support their work across the area.

Chairman of Oxford Parkinson’s UK branch Sally Bromley said that this year’s concert was set to be the biggest yet partly because of the 'stunning' venue.

She said: “This is the third Christmas Concert we have done and up until now we have done it in Summertown.

“This year we applied to the cathedral to see if we could have it there for our Christmas Concert.

“They generously agreed and we were so pleased to get that venue, it is just incredible. We were over the moon.

“So after that we thought we would invite some wonderful guests to come along and make it really special.

“We have done a number of concerts recently and so it has been a very busy but rewarding time.”

Music on the night will be performed by Tom Poster on piano, singer Clemmie Franks and the Commotio choir with the Parkinsingers - made up of people with the condition, also taking to to the stage.

Commotio will sing a world premier carol by choral composer Bob Chilcott dedicated to the Oxford branch of Parkinson’s UK and the Parkinsingers will perform a song titled Refuge, written by the composer of the Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley theme tunes Howard Goodall.

Mrs Bromley added: “People can expect to have some very fine classical music and some rather amusing comedy from the speakers there too.

“And we will round this off with some specially done music and a Parkinson’s version of the 12 days of Christmas.”

She added that the work of Parkinson’s UK was crucial and money raised would help fund several projects aimed at helping Parkinson’s sufferers have a normal life.

She said that some 500 tickets had already been sold at the prestigious concert venue which seats 800 people. Remaining tickets are sold at £15 and £20.

People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of the chemical dopamine because some nerve cells in the brain have died.

Without dopamine people can start to experience symptoms such as tremors, rigidity and slowness of movement.

There is currently no cure and experts do not yet know why people get the condition.