Revival of wartime songs (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Revival of wartime songs

OLDER readers of Cotswold history buff Dennis Hughes' latest book are guaranteed a musical trip down memory lane.

For the book, Let the People Sing, is a compilation of song titles, big band names and radio shows from the Second World War.

It contains listings of 1,375 wartime songs, ranging from Amour, Amour to Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah; the names of 111 bands from Henry Hall to the Royal Army Ordnance Band, conducted by Eric Robinson; 22 American bands; and 134 radio shows of the time.

According to compiler Dennis, the aim of the book, which is published under Dennis' own Reminisce imprint, is to act as a memory jogger for those who lived through the Second World War.

"I hope people will see the name of a song, perhaps one that they had forgotten, and it will trigger a memory," said 77-year-old Dennis.

"My sister who's in her 80s said to me that she takes the book to bed and it brings back all the memories for her," he added.

In his introduction to the book, Dennis writes: "I hope it (the book) will bring back memories and pleasure to a lot of people who can recall those hard times and the great comradeship we had for one another; the sad times and the partings."

The idea for the book, which follows hot on the heels of Dennis' book on Campden at War, which was published last year, came as a result of countless conversations Dennis has had with friends at home and abroad.

"It was my hobby, collecting songs from the Second World War. I used to go on holiday, have a drink with people and ask if they knew any wartime songs. The next day at breakfast I would have people coming up to me from all over the hotel with the names of songs," said Dennis.

Dennis, who joined the Navy as a 17-year-old in the latter part of the war and served as a stoker mechanic on HMS Consort, a D-type destroyer that was part of the ACE flotilla of the Pacific Ocean, believes that wartime songs were very important to serving men and women, and those they left behind.

"Chaps during the war would go abroad and not see their wives and girlfriends for three or four years. The songs were something that linked them back to home," said Dennis, who says his own wartime favourite was Vera Lynn's classic rendition of We'll Meet Again.

He is also particularly fond of the song Give Me Five Minutes More, which provided the theme tune to his courting days.

In fact, it was another famous wartime tune that led to his first meeting with Phyllis, the girl who was to become his wife, when Dennis was stationed in Plymouth during the war.

"My mate and me went for a coffee at a caf outside the railway station and there was a young waitress who was talking to some soldiers and said that the song that was being played was Moonlight Serenade. The soldiers said it wasn't and I stood up and said that the young lady was right," recalled Dennis, who eventually married the young waitress.

"All the songs meant something, " he added.

Dennis, who has been a member of Campden's Royal British Legion branch since 1948 and runs the poppy appeal in the area, has organised a free concert at the Legion on Friday, May 6 at 7.30pm, at which Shipston Town Band will play some of the songs from the war era.

He and friend Keith Moule have also arranged an exhibition of Campden at war in the town hall on July 10 to mark the 60th anniversary of VE and VJ Day.

Let the People Sing by Dennis Hughes is printed by Vale Press and published by Reminisce and costs £8. Copies can be ordered from 01386 840013.