Thank you with all my heart, George. I was understudy in The Widow's Uniform to Brian Peters, who played Tommy Atkins, which meant that I missed out on Sidmouth but had a chance to sing and act in the stage in Scarborough!

Tommy Atkins was the universal soldier; he was also a good melodeon player. Towards the end of the play, the playwright transported Tommy into the future to the first World War, where I sung Gethsemane:

The Garden called Gethsemane
In Picardy it was,
And there the people came to see
The English soldiers pass.
We used to pass - we used to pass
Or halt, as it might be,
And ship our masks in case of gas
Beyond Gethsemane.

The Garden called Gethsemane,
It held a pretty lass,
But all the time she talked to me
I prayed my cup might pass.
The officers sat on the chair,
The men lay on the grass,
And all the time we halted there
I prayed my cup might pass.

It didn't pass - it didn't pass -
It didn't pass from me.
I drank it when we met the gas
Beyond Gethsemane.

Such moving poetry - such stunning music.

Mick Tems