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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Stars of Barnes
Stars of Barnes, on Sunday evening (2 October) at St Mary's Barnes, was a sell-out and it deserved to be. From the moment the evening's host Gyles Brandreth came on stage and told the first of his highly amusing anecdotes, the audience knew they were in for a great evening. Barnes is fortunate in having many talented and well-known show business people living in the village and they came together to mark the tenth anniversary of the formation of The Friends of St Mary's Barnes. The show's producer Moray Watson started the evening with a stylish rendition of Don't put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington, setting the scene for cameo acts of music, words and comedy. Kevin O'Brien crooned his way through Frank Sinatra hits sounding just like the old man himself. Isla Blair read poems on Young Love and Mature Love which had the audience spell-bound. Carolyn Allen managed to sing Bizet's Carmen in six minutes with all the verve and emotion of the full opera, whilst Laura Mayhew sang arias from Norma, Madam Butterfly and Tosca which used the full acoustic of the church. Paul Smith on the piano accompanied all the singers with great variety and verve. Jan Ravens, star of TV show Dead Ringers, had the audience laughing continuously with her impersonations of a host of famous faces as if they were visiting this genteel suburb of South West London. To finish the evening, all the stars came together to sing There's no village like Barnes village (adapted from There's no business like show business). It was a highly entertaining evening and, as Gyles Brandreth frequently said "you were marvellous". |
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