Friday 26th February 2010 at the Tunnels, Temple

Meads, a 1940s fancy dress night with authentic period music in aid of Cancer

Research.

 

We marched down the Wells Road all kitted out in our Army

uniforms, hair tucked away under wigs with huge rolls at the front, my fringe

was more of a ginger outcrop on which swallows could happily have nested. We

arrived filled with trepidation lest we were the only ones dressed up for the

occasion.

 

As soon as we turned the corner to the slipway we spotted a

vast US Army truck parked outside the venue, a taxi swerved around us and out

jumped a trio of nattily attired spivs in pin-striped suits. The bouncers – or

door attendants as I suppose we must now call them - were grinning fit to bust

at the sights rolling past them.

 

As soon as we stepped through the doors into the maze of

tunnels we were treated to the sounds of nostalgia as the strains of Glen

Miller filled our ears. The vaulted ceiling was strung with flags, the walls

hung with war time posters and we were transported back down the years to a

time of manners – and hats! Everyone was dressed up to the nines, all the men

were togged up in uniforms, or dressed in sharp suits with a few notable

exceptions of those dressed as women or small boys in evacuee garb. The ladies

all looked stunning with not a hair out of place, whether bewigged or

expensively coiffed. Attics had been raided and fox furs reclined across

shoulders, a forest of legs with tramlines up the back filled the space, with

hardly a pair of the twenty-first century omnipresent black trousers to be seen!

Everyone had made such a huge effort and was justifiably proud of their

carefully constructed rig-outs.

 

The outfits were all marvellous, but it was noticeable how

everyone was not only in costume but in character. There was a jitterbug dance

class, it was enormous fun as the dance-floor was packed with waggling hands

and swaying hips and a selection of  live

music from the era got everyone in the mood.

 

A big thank you to the organisers for what was a marvellous

evening with lots of happy smiling faces as the crowd enjoyed playing the parts

their grandparents had lived.