IT helps save lives, and now residents in a Hampshire village are rallying together to buy a new one for a nearby hospital.

A charity concert in June will help raise the £250,000 needed for a new portable CT scanner at Southampton General Hospital.

It comes after the death of 47-year-old Twyford resident Richard Percival in 2013, and all funds raised from the night will go towards the vital equipment that could save others from the same fate.

The charity in his memory, Percy’s Pals, has set up the event with folk singer-songwriter Darren Black, who also lives in the village near Winchester.

The Wessex Neurological Intensive Care Unit, a wing of Southampton General Hospital, specialises in treating victims of stroke and brain injury from all over the south, and the portable brain scanner could shave minutes off treatment time which is crucial to survival and recovery.

Darren, who has recently released his third album Rise Above The Mumblings, said he is pleased to combine his love of music with charity.

“I thought that a gig was a good way of raising money which is why I put it to Percy’s Pals about organising it and they were keen to do it,” he said. “People are behind it. I’m ecstatic because I gig all over the place, and this is a good opportunity to bring charity and music together in Twyford, which isn’t something that happens often here.”

The folk performer has worked with the likes of legendary Dave Swarbrick, Joe Broughton and Kevin Dempsey, and admits he has written most of his fourth album already.

Tickets for the concert on Saturday at 7.15pm cost £8, or £4 for under-16s, and are available on the door or in advance from Roger Walker Travel, The Phoenix, The Bugle and Twyford Stores.