Staffordshire’s Trentham Estate is set to turn the clocks back this June, when the parkland will echo to the nostalgic sounds of 1940s Big Band swing to celebrate the gardens 15thanniversary, and commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D Day Landings.
Britain’s Got Talent finalists the ‘D-Day Darlings’, the UK’s premier wartime act, will headline an evening of music and fireworks, offering a chance to ‘Pack up your Troubles in your Old Kit Bag’ in a special night of nostalgia.
Staged in the week Trentham celebrates the 15thanniversary of the historic gardens re-opening to the public, “We’ll Meet Again’ on Saturday 1st June will also mark this year’s special D-Day anniversary.
Fittingly, as well as patriotic flag waving and wartime musical memories in a beautiful lakeside setting, there will also be a rousing speech from ‘Winston Churchill’ himself, who will also be helping host the event.
In a nod to the history of the centuries-old estate – the Staffordshire seat for the Duke of Sutherland for over 400 years as well as a pleasure garden and a famed Dance Hall – Trentham will travel back to the1940s, when patriotism was the mood of the moment.
During the Second World War, Trentham’s Dance Hall, built just after the First World War and once regarded as one of the best in the country, became the temporary home for the London Clearing Banks, while the grounds also housed army camps too.
The Dance Hall where locals danced the night away may have long gone, but the Big Band sound returns for this one-off event, which will also feature a local University Hospital orchestra along with the D Day Darlings, who were finalists in ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent show in 2018.
The seven-strong 40s themed singing group will take crowds ‘Over the White Cliffs of Dover’ as ‘We’ll Meet Again’ to wave flags to the sounds of the University Hospital Orchestra creating a colourful ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ atmosphere. The night of nostalgia culminates in a fabulous fireworks finale.
Tickets for ‘We’ll Meet Again’ on Saturday 1st June cost £27 in advance (£30 on the day), and go on sale on Monday 8 April at 1pm online and at the Trentham Gardens Entrance. For Annual Ticket Holders, tickets are £24 in advance, or £27 on the day.
Gates open at 4.30pm for the event, the concert starts at 7.15pm and the firework finale will be at 9.30pm.
For more details, andto book tickets, visit www.trentham.co.uk.
[Image of the D-Day Darlings ©Eddie MacDonald]