MADAM, Grosmont may be a small village nestling in the border country between Monmouth and Hereford, but it has a big heart - and all it takes to make a place come alive. It has its shop, post office, the village pub and an eating place - but what makes it different is that by a quirk of history it has two special places deriving from its castle: the town hall and an enormous performance area in the huge uncluttered nave of the medieval church. Grosmont is a place where things happen. There's a lot of networking: garden club, shared allotment, the pig project, book club, yoga, bridge, support for our schools, archery - it all happens. There's music too. Most weeks in the pub, there's country music and church choir, regular jazz, and in a keen unattached singing group that calls itself the Kitchen Singers. 'Kitchen' because it all began around the kitchen table of Jean Cooper Smith who 'retired' to the village after a lifetime of working with musicians around the world with the Royal Schools of Music and as an organist and harpsichord player and choir director. Most Sunday evenings Kitchen Singers meet around the table in her home just to sing - and their repertoire has grown with them. This year the summer concert is in Grosmont Church on Saturday 18th July at 7.30pm, with visiting soloists and instrumentalists to support them in Vivaldi's brilliant: 'Gloria' and a very jolly, easy to listen to, birthday ode for Queen Mary by Purcell: 'Come ye sons of art!'  Alongside the choir's pieces Claire Batty, who trained at the Royal Northern, will perform one of Vivaldi's Cello Sonatas.   Admission is free. Licensed refreshments will be available in the interval, no tickets required.   Michael Smith (Grosmont)