A VISIT by an African children's choir to Barnsley had to be cancelled at the 11th hour yesterday leaving a charity with a £40,000 loss.

The African Children's Choir, based in a school near Masaka in Uganda, had been due to give three performances in Barnsley next week. They should have arrived in the UK last week for a national tour but a problem with getting visas for the children meant they had to postpone their flight and miss the first part of the trip.

The Norfolk-based charity which had organised the trip paid an extra £3,000 to change the flight to last night so the Barnsley leg could still go ahead - this was on top of money already spent organising the trip including hiring a coach for a month.

Carol Higgins, of Gawber, who is a sponsor of the choir, got the news yesterday that the whole trip had to be cancelled as the visa issue had still not been resolved.

"It's just devastating," she said. "It seems to be a problem with the visa people of not having signatures from two parents to say they can travel.

"What they're not getting hold of is that a lot of these children are orphans, a lot only have one parent.

"They've said they can sort it out but it can take up to 15 days, so the whole trip's had to be cancelled.

"It's so upsetting, because I know how many people have worked so hard up and down the country to make this trip happen."

There was due to be a concerts on Thursday at Netherwood ALC, Wombwell, on Friday at Emmanuel Church, and next Sunday at the Academy Theatre Birdwell.