Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch

Our first theatre gig at the Queen's for quite a long time, and how things have changed! A new stage, new lighting and a lovely intimate atmosphere with the audience much closer to the stage, which is what we love.

The ‘Long Walk’ from the dressing rooms still inspires trepidation in me, but it’s a healthy trickle of nerves rather than a paralysis of fear.

Even that trickle disappears as soon as the first chord of ‘One Day Like This’ rings out and this evening was especially enjoyable because of the enthusiastic, near-capacity audience, some of whom had been through our workshops barely two hours earlier!

We launched a new song – ‘A Design For Life’ by the Manic Street Preachers, and introduced some new twists to ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Duelling Ukes’.

It’s encouraging to know the ukulele is still an extremely popular instrument and that there are so many people eager to learn it and form their own groups.

As ever, a big thank-you to the helpful staff at Queen's, who ensured things ran smoothly and made our lives a lot easier!