The Evergreen Club is sponsoring their fifth annual Memories of the War Years: a Musical Tribute to Veterans Show featuring the memorable music of First and Second World War.
The event – which has played to a capacity audience for the previous four years – takes place at the Florence Filberg Centre Conference Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5 (doors open at 1 p.m.). Tickets are available at the Florence Filberg Centre office or at the door for $10.
Veterans of the Second World War and Korean War along with one companion each are admitted free. Complimentary tickets can be picked up at the door at the sign-in table. Second World War vet Bud Mabbett of Union Bay will read a letter that he wrote home during the war in Italy while serving with the Royal Westminster Regiment as the band plays softly and the choral group hums the tune Lili Marlene, symbolic of the Italian Campaign.
The show this year will honour the milita community and veterans in the Comox Valley as a fundraiser for the local 386 Komox Air Cadets, who will help out with the show.
Dale Erhart of Vimy Flight will also pay tribute to the Allied and Canadian pilots of World War I. Erhart, a retired RCAF pilot, was part of a team who flew WW 1 replica biplanes over the majestic Vimy monument at the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge ceremony in France on April 9, 2017.
Come see the exceptional Jacqueline Lambeth Singers and Kelly Thomas Band play along with the Evergreen Club Choristers. Vocal teacher Jacqueline Lambeth, the ‘Nightingale of the Comox Valley,’ is well-known for her singing talent, participating in various musical activities such as the annual Have a Heart productions.
She is joined by Heather Sprout, June Munro, Maureen Faust, and Holly Davidson. They will perform such numbers as Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, White Cliffs of Dover and many other wartime favourites.
Once again retired Colonel of the 1st Canadian Airborne Regiment Dick Cowling will combine with Jacqueline Lambeth in singing the First World War sentimental favourite If You Were the Only Girl/ Boy in the World. Colonel Cowling will also perform Bring Them Home from Les Miserables in honour of those who served and died in the Afghan Campaign.
Roy Storey, musical comedy extraordinaire, will again cause tears of laughter to break out in the audience with songs such as Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant-Major. Second World War Royal Canadian Naval Reserve veteran Fred Rogers, age 91, will stir the audience with his fine crooning voice.
The Evergreen Club Choristers, led by Val Parmley, who entertain at local senior care homes, will back up the Jacqueline Lambeth Singers and sing many rousing and sentimental choruses such as Has Anyone Seen the Colonel, Bless ‘Em All, and many other songs that were popular during the First and Second World War.
The incredible Kelly Thomas, who plays the keyboard, is the musical arranger for the show and director of the band, which features Bill Street on drums, Jake Maesri on trumpet, Al West on bass, Sheri Campbell on flute, and Ed Jones on clarinet and sax.
This concert will once again be dedicated to Dame Vera Lynn, voted ‘Sweetheart of the Forces’ by British troops in the Second World War. She has corresponded regularly with the Evergreen Club through Ken MacLeod, founding organizer and emcee of the event. An album released by Dame Vera to acknowledge her 100th birthday is currently number one in British album sales.
The show also features military displays from the Comox Valley. Come on out and support present and retired members of Canada’s Armed Forces and those who have given their lives for freedom in service for Canada.
