Last weekend I sang at a beautiful Golden Wedding Anniversary party at Douglas Park Golf Club. It was a nice local booking for me as Bearsden is less than an hour away.
It’s the first time I’ve performed at Douglas Park Golf Club, and I must say I was very impressed, not only by the stunning views of the golf course, but also by the lovely staff, who were genuinely friendly and very welcoming. A big thank you goes out to Moses and Lisa for all their help and hospitality on the night.
The clubhouse itself was very nice indeed: a perfect venue for an intimate gathering. The room was a nice comfortable size for a small party, plus it also featured a good-sized dancefloor. Excellent use of lighting gave the room that extra-special touch too.
I always love to perform at Golden Wedding Anniversary functions, as it feels such a wonderful and important thing to celebrate a couple who have stayed happily together for such a long time. It’s so lovely to be part of that very special celebration.
When I look around at all the guests I wonder who was originally present at the wedding and imagine what life was like for them on that day 50 years ago; how they have changed, and how the world around them has changed too.
In this case it would have been 1964, and the world was indeed a very different place back then. The average weekly wage was £16, BBC2 made its first broadcast (which was Play School!), the Forth Road Bridge was opened, and Harold Wilson was poised to become Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister in 13 years.
Music was very different back then too. Whenever I sing at a Wedding Anniversary party I like to look back and see what was in the ‘Hit Parade’ back then, so I can include some of the songs that would have been around when the happy couple were in the first blush of romance.
In 1964 Beatlemania was in full flow, and they had pretty much taken over the charts. Their first film, A Hard Day’s Night, was released in July of that year. The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and Cilla Black were also very popular.
James Bond featured in the cinema and in the charts too, as there were two ‘007’ movies out that year: ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘From Russia with Love’, with their respective theme tunes becoming huge hits for Shirley Bassey and Matt Monro.
On this occasion however, I had been asked to perform music from a slightly earlier era: Swing songs and other classic easy-listening standards. I was glad to do so as this is my personal favourite genre of music!
I chose a mixed program that included plenty of lovely old romantic songs such as ‘Fly me to the moon’ by Frank Sinatra, ‘I only have eyes for you’ by Ella Fitzgerald, and the 1950s Jo Stafford hit ‘You belong to me’.
I soon realised that the guests were really up for a party as they were up on the dance floor from the word go. So as the night went on I shifted from swing music to timeless pop classics such as ‘Baby Love’ by The Supremes and ‘Kissin’ in the back row’ by The Drifters, to keep everybody happy on the dancefloor. I also got a request for some country music, so I added a bit of Dolly Parton into the mix, plus a Boney M medley in response to numerous ‘Slosh’ requests!
I finished off a lovely evening with what is in my opinion the perfect Golden Wedding Anniversary song: ‘The Anniversary Waltz’ by Vera Lynn.
My warmest congratulations go out to Andrew and Brenda. May they enjoy many more happy years together.
