What a night was Saturday night - it really was such a special night...

Saturday night March 28th was billed as a ‘Bunny Hop’ at the Chorleywood Tennis Club and ticket sales were a tad slow as some said isn’t this Bunny Hop just for our kids.

The Singing Surgeons Julian, Barry and Rob, got us off to a good start at eight with some cool tunes and slowly the clubhouse filled and folk gathered at their tables and at the Bar munching, drinking and chatting until there were over Fabulous Forty souls present. Just before 1/2 time the Surgeons gave us some classical Rockers and the girls and some boys pirouetted their stuff all over the dance floor.

Then to the soloists. Ian Senior kicked off with a stunning song about Prostates, yes Prostates and yes it was funny, thoughtful and should have been played on Radio 4. Then Jim Spence treated us to a great version of the Country and Western song about a Gambler and finally the sometime conductor of the Royal Philharmonic and star of 100 lives .com Vartan Melkonian took us all on a trip to another world... a wonderful world... by spiritually massaging our senses as he superbly played and sang the Louis Armstrong version of the very best song of the evening if not in the world.

The applause rang out and on and on after Vartan finished on a diminished seventh - for he is both an outstanding player and singer, once starring at the London Palladium, so he then treated us to the Jazz Classic ‘Just the Way you are'... before starting off the Sing-along's with the Beatles classic 'Can't Buy me Love'.

Judy Young's and her team set out some marvelously tasty, tempting and filling finger food, whilst her husband Stuart projected the words of classical sing-along's like Sloop John B such that the The Hon Secretary and Jimmy Spence got the Fabulous Forty to sing together and belt out the words and melodies aided and abetted by Mikey Crowe on his keyboard... at the end the Singing Surgeons joined in encouraging the Fabulous Forty to lift the roof off the club house with another Beatles classic ‘She was Just 17’

Then everyone at some time was up and dancing during the final session as the Fabulous Forty were as one …. But like all good things this special magical evening had to come to an end.

Bob Arthy