Rolling Back the Years

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.