Proudly featured in The Richmond News, Courtyard Gardens Resident and Veteran, Anna Paul shared her brave story & enjoyed War-Time songs.
From The Richmond News article:
I’ll be seeing you,
In every lovely summer’s day,
In everything that’s light and gay,
I’ll always think of you that way…”
It was one of the most popular wartime songs, White Cliffs of Dover, being performed at Courtyard Gardens Retirement Residence last Wednesday.
The performance room was full of poignant music, along with laughter and tears.
It was a special concert given by the Minoru Seniors’ Centre glee club. All the songs performed were from the First and Second World War, when soldiers left their loved ones to fight for their countries.
More than 50 seniors, including Second World War veterans, attended the concert. They were singing along with the choir to popular songs of the day such as I’ll see you againand Land of Hope and Glory, all of which brought tears to the audience’s eyes.
In the end, everyone in the room stood up and sang together, when the choir performed White Cliffs of Dover, a song dreaming about a time when the war would be over and peace would rule over the iconic white cliffs of Dover (Britain’s symbolic border with the European mainland).
“It’s nice for them to get a chance to sing it. It brings back their memories,” said Nan Baardsen, music director of the glee club.
“Lots of songs are very sad and make people cry, but it’s also good for them. It’s their memories; they are part of them,” said Baardsen.
War-time music is not unfamiliar to Baardsen, 91, who was a teenager in Scotland when WWII broke out. Her father, sister and two brothers served in the war, and one of her brothers was kept in an Egyptian camp for four years.
“That was the biggest grief for my family,” said Naardsen. “War is horrible.”
Some songs reflect Baardsen’s own experience during that difficult time, when people dealt with the cruel reality with a positive attitute and a hint of humor, such as the song I did what I could with my gas mask (1941)