Our 40th anniversary celebrations kicked off with a fantastic evening of entertainment at Potter Heigham village hall, ably organised by John Burton (whose idea it was) and Julia, who had the mammoth task of organising a ploughman’s meal for 70 people. An enthusiastic gang of members turned up mid afternoon to make the preparations, which ranged from peeling boiled eggs to erecting the lighting gantry, with arranging chairs and building the bar also being essential tasks.

Once the doors opened, there was a brisk service at the bar, with real ale courtesy of the Humpty Dumpty brewery, before Nigel Boy Syer opened the evening with some jolly songs and some slightly naughty (but very funny) jokes. All good innocent fun. He was followed by Sadie Louise, who seemed to think we were all totally ancient and sang a number of songs from the 40s - having said which, everyone knew the words and it was very appropriate for VE Day weekend.

The ploughman’s was very efficiently served during the interval, more drinks were purchased and then we were off into part two, with more innocent-but-risqué jokes from Nigel and some familiar tunes from both him and Sadie, who ventured to be more modern with songs from the 50s and 60s. Then we had the unscheduled treat: Hayley Moss, a classically trained soprano, who has sung at the London Palladium and other posh places, treated us to an electrifying rendition of Nessun dorma which enthralled the audience and led to the strongest applause of the evening.

The second interval saw the drawing of the raffle, with 28 prizes on offer and our Commodore, Bill Clark, also stood to thank both the audience for their support and John for his organisation. Then into part three, with more amusing entertainment and a rousing finale featuring Rod Stewart’s “Sailing” with all three singers on stage and full audience participation. A very special and appropriate ending to a superb evening.