Spinettes take vintage singing extravaganza across Sussex

Melanie Cripps, who is married to fellow singer Matthew Goodgame, said: “We sing songs from the ’40s to the present day. We do have some modern songs, but we put a vintage twist on them.

“Matthew sings anything from Elvis to Rat Pack, to musical theatre and rock ’n’ roll, and we have a lot of banter between us. Matthew is amazing with the audience, but it is really good that it is not just him and that it is not just us. There is also something for the men and for the women. And the children absolutely love us. I think the youngest we have in the audience is two… and they go right the way on up to 92!

“Everybody loves us and they can dance if they want to.

“We run our own bar and it is very relaxed. We have an interval where people can stretch their legs. People say to us: ‘Oh! I wish my friend had known about this!’ But it is just really hard to get the word out. But the more people hear about us, the more they come along.

“The group has been going since 2010,” Melanie continued.

“It was really something that we put together while we were between shows. We started off doing a small yacht club and we have gone on to perform in some amazing places like 10 Downing Street. We have grown a lot since then. It has been a lot of hard work, but we have also put a lot of passion into it.”

The village-hall shows are part of their fund-raising for the Alzheimer’s Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk).

“Matthew lost his mum five years ago to Alzheimer’s. She was in her early 50s when she discovered that she had it, and she had just turned 60 when she died. Fundraising was something that we felt we wanted to do. We started about three years ago, doing village halls, and the word has spread. We started out with maybe 12 people and now we can get anything from 50 up to 160.

“And over the three years we have raised more than £6,500 for Alzheimer’s. We are really proud that we have been able to do that.

“We have found that in the village halls you get people can’t get to London because to see a show there is too expensive or they can’t physically get there. For them, it is good to just be able to walk down to the village hall.

“We love doing it, and they love the show.”

Dates coming up include: Sunday, August 12 – Crowborough Community Centre; Sunday, September 9 – Angmering Village Hall; Sunday, September 23 – Hartfield Village Hall; Sunday, October 7 – King Edward Hall, Lindfield; Sunday, October 14 – Subud Hall, Reigate; and Sunday, October 21 – Salfords Village Hall, Redhill.

Reserve your tickets via by emailing [email protected] or calling 0751 5552491.

As always, there will be refreshments available prior to and at the interval of the show.

To find out more about The Spinettes visit www.thespinettes.co.uk or follow the group on Twitter or Facebook.

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