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Volunteers were called for — men and women who had some musical or showbusiness background to form a group to entertain others on station.

I started to learn the piano when I was 7 and was taught to be a classical pianist and reached teacher’s certificate standard. My father was a keen musician and I had also had singing lessons and voice training. I played the piano and he and I sang at local concerts and wedding receptions.

I was, therefore, happy to volunteer for this entertainment group. Fortunately we also had a few professional and part time players on the station so, after a few false starts and a good deal of effort, we were able to out on shows and eventually visited other stations. On some occasions we were taken into a London recording studio to broadcast on the radio in Forces entertainment programme. It was a very busy time what with my normal routine work, rehearsing and appearing in these shows and also playing the piano in the NAAFI but I enjoyed it and felt it to be most rewarding.

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