When her husband of 42 years died four months ago, Amy Micallef was faced with a funeral bill she could not afford.

But the charity of her husband's fellow musicians and songwriters came to the rescue and helped Ms Micallef during a very difficult time - the Performing Rights Society (UK), the British agency that collects royalties, paid for Johnny Micallef's funeral.

This was not the first time the British agency had come to the aid of the Micallefs.

"They were there whenever I needed them," Ms Micallef told The Sunday Times.

The society's benevolent fund, set up 76 years ago, had been sending the elderly couple a weekly cheque for a number of years, helping them make ends meet after Mr Micallef, known as Johnny Mick, stopped performing.

"He had been suffering from chest pains for five years but never wanted to see a doctor," the distraught widow said.

But she found a way to give him medication without him knowing. "I described to the family doctor what he was feeling and he would prescribe what my husband needed. I used to tell him they were vitamins which the pharmacist had given me."

But the medication did not come cheap and Ms Micallef needed financial help to keep her husband alive. It was then that she applied for help from the PRS Members Benevolent Fund.

"They even gave us a soft loan of €1,165," Ms Micallef said.

Mr Micallef had been a member of PRS since 1963, some 10 years after starting his 53-year music career, first playing the accordion and moving to other string instruments over the years. "He was Jack of all trades and master of all," his proud widow said. He even spent around seven years working as an entertainer on cruise liners.

But in recent Mr Micallef had put away his instruments. "He was not feeling well and I think he fell into depression," Ms Micallef said.

His condition deteriorated last December when he fell and broke his hip bone. While he was hospital he suffered a stroke and died 23 days later, on January 9.

However, PRS continued to send Ms Micallef the weekly cheque. John Logan, who runs the fund, said that in the past 10 years PRS had been helping Maltese members, it had handed out almost €29,000 in grants.

"We help our elderly members who are suffering financial hardship, giving them money to top up their income and allowing them to have a better quality of life," said Mr Logan, who was in Malta last week.

Mr Logan said the fund runs on the benevolence of members who make voluntary donations and others who have left their royalties to the charity in their wills.

"Every penny is donated to help members in distress," he said.