The Speaker at the June monthly meeting was Malcolm Lewis and his talk was entitled ‘Signature Tunes’ promising a journey through time when radio was king and we recognised the shows and bands from the signature tunes of radio programmes in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Members braved the scorching sun and the Wulstan Hall was full of members eagerly anticipating the chance to guess the name of the show or band before Malcolm gave us the answers.

Malcolm started with ‘By the Sleepy Lagoon’ by Eric Coates. We all started to smile and nod as we remembered Desert Island Discs. This programme started in 1941 and the first guest was Vic Ivor, Winston Churchill’s son-in-law. One luxury item chosen was a clove of garlic and when Bill Cotton was a guest, he chose a ticket home!

The next tune – Devil’s Gallop brought back memories of Dick Barton, Special Agent.

Everyone knew ‘Barwick Green’, the Archers signature tune. This show has broadcast 18,100 episodes and 5 million listen to the programme daily.

‘With a Song in my Heart’, written by Richard Rogers brought back memories of Sunday lunchtime listening to 2 Way Family Favourites with Cliff Michelmore broadcasting from Hamburg and Jean Metcalfe from London. This show brought the two together.

‘Much Binding in the Marsh’ with Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch brought forth laughter in the hall as did ‘Take it From Here’ featuring Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield. Alma Cogan had a very small part in this show – as Jimmy Edwards’ wife, who was always upstairs and only ever seemed to grunt. Her part was developed when she became more well- known as a singer.

The afternoon ended with Malcolm asking everyone to ‘join in the next song’ and played Annette Mills singing ‘Muffin the Mule’. We all seemed to know the words and joined in, thus finishing a most enjoyable afternoon.

JACKIE PEEK