Throwback to the 80s with Mersey Harmony by Thel

Every week in our virtual rehearsal we watch a barbershop chorus of the week together and discuss the performance. Last week it was the 1985 Liverpool Ladies Barbershop Singers performance (our name back then), prompting this throwback…

In 1985 Liverpool was in deep recession. The shipping and manufacturing industries were greatly reduced. But Liverpool Ladies Barbershop Singers were crowned British Champions for the third time! We lifted up our heads and sang “Smile, darn ya, smile.  You know the whole world is a great world after all ……

We were pictured in the Liverpool Echo wearing our fabulous pink and black costume. Ruth Dean, who managed the Coffee House pub in Woolton Village saw us. Ruth was the first woman Lord Mayor of Liverpool at the time. She wrote to me (I was Public Relations Officer) congratulating us for showing the image of lovely, smiling women representing Liverpool as British Champions.

I attended Ruth’s funeral at St. Peter’s church just a couple of years ago. She was 90.  In the congregation was the Lord Mayor Malcolm Kennedy. I had heard that his favourite Beatles song was “She Loves You”, which his friends had sung to him when he first met his wife.

I caught up with him on the steps and quietly sang the first few lines of the song to him. He turned round to me with a big grin – “yeah!”  he said.

Thel x