TWO Coleford sisters, Laura and Claire Cave, will be watched by millions on TV as they sing a new composition for the major event of the closing century, the opening of the Millennium Dome.

Their voices will be raised with those of 18 fellow chorists in the Royal School of Church Music's Millennium Youth Choir just before Big Ben begins to strike midnight on New Year's Eve and the £758 million dome is officially opened by the Queen.

Laura, 19, and Claire, 17, were thrilled to learn that they had been chosen to sing John Taverner's specially written piece for the opening ceremony, which will also include a reading of the Lord's Prayer by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The event will be transmitted live on TV to 16 other countries.

Both sisters have enjoyed a great deal of success as singers. They attended St John's on the Hill, Chepstow, before moving to the School of St Mary and St Anne's in Staffordshire which has a strong choral tradition and gave them the opportunity to perform regularly.

They have toured with Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO and in summer joined a choral course at Eton College chapel and St John's College, Cambridge.

Laura gained a music scholarship and was head of choir two years ago, and she is now studying for a degree in nursing at Nottingham University.

Claire is in the upper sixth and is current head of choir. She also plays the piano, pipe organ and saxophone!

Both girls are members of the congregation of Newland and Redbrook Churches and their school choir recently visited Newland Church to sing at the dedication of the new Ludlam Window.

The girls' grandparents were Henry and Joan Ludlam who founded Bells Hotel in Coleford, and sadly their grandmother died suddenly on the day of the dedication.

Their mother, Kathleen, is a member of the parish's local ministry team and organist at Redbrook. She and her husband Michael are very, very proud of the girls' achievements, and their role in the event of the age.