DECEMBER 2025
Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.
Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm
Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.
Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.
Vera Lynn seemed timeless, almost immortal, wars and pandemics may come and go but "Our Vera" would always be there to remind us that we'll meet again. Well we may or may not meet again, certainly not in the way the song she was so associated with would have wanted us to do, but her passing earlier today served as a reminder of the rich legacy she left behind. Not just as a singer but as a person.
9 comments :
We really don't make enough of these people, and not just people like Dame Vera and Churchill, who were never really in harm's way, but people like the FEW, without who most of us wouldn't exist, yet I don't even know how many are still alive, but I think you can count them on one hand. I sometimes imagine what it would be like if you were working a door somewhere and one of them turned up and you were expected to ask them for money.
I'm embarrassed when when people of my generation and older claim they worked hard for their retirement, unlike our parents swanning around the airfields waiting for the Luftwaffe or sunbathing on the Normandy beaches; or their parents partying in the trenches.
We all could do with a little humility.
I was born in 1946. I think our generation have been so very fortunate, in so many ways.
Roly
That must be a mistake Roly; surely it was 1956.
Ah very kind Steve. Next time take a closer look!
R
I don't think Vera was out of harm's way performing in India and North Africa - she didn't get there by tube - and I certainly wasn't out of harm's way as two streets near where I lived were bombed and over thirty were killed. This was in 1941 and, even though I was 3 year old I don't remember it. Jarrow bus station now occupies the site and there is a commemorative plaque on the wall of the nearby Home Bargains.
I agree Lance, she went to Burma to entertain the troops, when very few others did that. She was an ordinary East End girl who was just at the right age to fill in that "Forces Sweetheart " role. I was born in East Ham as was she. I also have been in her company some years ago, and am in possession of a lovely letter from her. I am familiar with Ditchling where she has lived for many years. She was a familiar face to the village, and contributed to charities there. I also once stayed in her former home in Clayton which, at the time I stayed there, had become a Guest House. RIP
Well said Liz, her passing obviously meant a lot to you as it has done to so many. Although vocally Anne Shelton was my favourite back then I've always loved how Vera kept in the limelight over the years without really trying to.
Can anyone think of another singer who made it to 103?
I don't think we should compare civilians - including politicians - with soldiers, sailors and airmen. I've no doubt Vera didn't get many home comforts in Burma, but doubt she saw much action in the jungle, which isn't to minimise her contribution, but I get sick of hearing about Churchill being the greatest Briton ever for delivering speeches.
Well I saw a programme yesterday by one of the Burma soldiers who got home, and he said she was right in the danger zone, sorry I cannot be more explicit. She simply went there because no other entertainers wanted to. She asked the authorities which was the least visited , and Burma was the answer, so off she went. As regards Churchill , in my opinion he was great orator. However, to each his own.
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