Months of hard work will come together this month in a community opera put together to celebrate 150 years of Clevedon Pier.

Under the direction of North Somerset Music, Time and Tide is a large-scale, intergenerational music theatre project that will see local adults and children work with professionals to perform this community opera at Clevedon Community Centre on October 24 and 25.

The project is funded largely by the Arts Council, which funds North Somerset Music and the Bristol based Paragon Music Trust. Organisers are now working to raise the final £1,000 required.

The Time and Tide project has been running workshops in schools and among community groups in Clevedon for both writing and performing and organisers have been collecting sound bites of residents' memories of the pier as part of their research for the innovative project.

A spokesman for the production said: "This is truly a community opera in which professional musicians and singers will perform alongside Clevedon's Choral Society, the Lions Brass Ensemble, primary aged children (St Nicholas Chantry, All Saints, Yeo Moor, St John's and Mary Elton) and students from Clevedon School.

"Time and Tide maps the extraordinary life of the pier from conception, building, heyday, decline and destruction, to its triumphant recovery - against the odds of opposition and erosion - to thrive in the 21st century.

Local singing groups are the storytellers and form the core of an open access community choir." n

Time and Tide still requires more volunteers, especially those willing to help sell tickets, stage manage and act as ushers for both performances. If you are interested in getting involved, please email timeandtideclevedon@gmail.com for more information. For more details about the community opera or for ticket information visit www.timeandtideclevedon.wordpress.com