Julia and John Marshall immediately offered their hospitality and the contents of John’s workshop. “Julia’s sandwiches and home-made chutney kept us going, and we couldn’t have managed without John and his DIY expertise”, says Cathy.

The prototype was Anton. He has a chest made out of an old fashioned shopping basket. “Once we made him the others were much easier. The hardest part was attaching the head to the body via a broom handle and then getting the head to swivel” says Cathy.

When they were first revealed at rehearsal no one in the Chorus could sing for laughing! In fact keeping a straight face while they Tango in front of us has been a big problem, especially when they made their debut at our Regional Convention in Plymouth.

The small cuts from pinking shears still visible on her hands Sue Careless recalls cutting out the costumes for our new 1920’s package. “Janet Hurst did the front row, but I did the rest. Some nights I was still cutting out at one o clock in the morning, and I know Janet was burning the midnight oil as well”.

Daphne Waite with her usual forensic technique was in charge of accessories, tracking down our long black gloves, feathers for our headbands, fringing and our 20’s beads – Ikea Christmas decorations in their previous life. The pink, blue and yellow dresses are the Bee’s Knees, transforming us instantly into 1920’s Shebas displaying our Gams.

So it’s well done to the Costume Committee who can relax for a little while anyway. When she was spending hours cutting and sewing Sue’s 8 year old Grandson said to her, “ It’s a good job you’ve got that job otherwise what would you do all day”? Sam obviously has a lot to learn about being a Sweet Adeline.

Thanks to Cathy McGregor, Kären Lainchbury, John & Julia Marshall, Lynne Monk, Lyn Perry, Joan Felstead and Jackie Olive.

Surrey Harmony on stage at the UK Sweet Adelines convention in Plymouth