I recently visited the Corbridge Corstopitum Social Club in Northumberland to perform my wartime tribute show at their Battle of the Somme Centenery commemoration.
The Battle of the Somme represented a defining moment of the First World War, as it was the first major engagement in the history of the war, and caused a great deal of tragic loss and bloodshed. 2016 marks its centenary, so all across the UK there has been a big surge of interest in this historical period as people pay their respects to the brave soldiers who gave their lives.
It was a great pleasure to meet the lovely people at the Corstopitum Club. They had made a big effort to transform the club into a cool vintage style, complete with sandbags, flags, and even ration tins of pickled onions. There were some great outfits on show – one very glamorous lady in particular came up to me at the end of the night and announced that ‘she’ was really a he!
I love my wartime show as I have to admit the old songs from those days are among my very favourites. Music from the First World War includes lots of cheerful sing-alongs – it’s easy to see why they needed cheering up, during such dark days. I included ‘Bless em all’, ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag’, and a few Al Jolson numbers that prompted many pairs of ‘jazz hands’ to start waving!
I received some lovely feedback posted on my Facebook page from audience members, such as:
‘Awesome night thank you’
‘The singer was amazing’
‘Fantastic night thank you’
‘Fantastic singer. Lovely lady definitely book her again. Thank you Lisa’
It’s great to know that everybody enjoyed themselves, and all for such a good cause.
Many thanks to Kate and her team for organising such a fabulous night, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again soon 🙂