Pearl Beach Singers and Friends present A Night of Song for Glee Club

It was originally a Glee Club formed in the 1950s to raise funds to complete the building of the Pearl Beach Memorial Hall by staging a number of "grand concerts".

In the days before television and when sound recordings consisted of large unwieldy 78rpm discs that played only for a few minutes on a wind-up gramophone, people created their own entertainment at home.

Pearl Beach in 1951 was a small community with about 90 houses and a permanent population of about 130 who were proud of the recently opened Memorial Hall that then, as now, required a steady flow of funds to pay for rates, electricity, and other essential services.

It was decided to give a concert during the holiday weekend in June 1950 to raise money for the hall.

Publicity officer Lynne Lillico said the inspiration for the Glee Club probably came from a popular radio show of the time called The Village Glee Club.

"But the driving force in Pearl Beach came almost certainly from local residents. The first concert in 1950 with 'nine ladies and six gents' met for regular practice sessions in the Hall on Tuesday evenings. Others joined them and the Glee Club continued to meet for several years," she said.

That first concert in 1950 was made up of songs, comedy sketches, a recitation and solo on guitar backed by the Glee Club Orchestra and ended with community singing and the national anthem.

"It was evidently a success because another was arranged for the long weekend in October the same year," Mrs Lillico said.

The next performance in March 1951 showed signs of increasing experience and professionalism. Now the Glee Club Orchestra opened the proceedings with the Song of Australia and Advance Australia Fair before ending the evening with the national anthem. For its New Year holiday production in 1952 the Glee Club tackled something different - a musical version in two acts of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

"The Glee Club concerts provided opportunity for a group of local music lovers to re-form in 2010 as The Pearl Beach Singers to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the original Glee Club, continuing the tradition to entertain enthusiastic audiences always filling the Pearl Beach Memorial Hall," Mrs Lillico said.

Together they have been able to invite amateur and professional guest musicians and provided performance opportunity for young music students, who with the Pearl Beach Singers, have continued to produce exciting and innovative concerts.

The success of the 60th anniversary concert encouraged the tradition to continue, and each year new members are welcomed and maintain the pleasure of regular meetings around the piano until 2020 when the COVID pandemic forced their shutdown.

Building on this tradition, the 2022 program includes a great variety of local talent performed by enthusiastic musicians - young and old, amateur and professional.

"We can't wait to re-open our doors and invite the community, family and friends to come and Singalong with the Pearl Beach Singers to have some fun and enjoy a variety of local performances," Mrs Lillico said.

A Night of Song is on Friday, August 19, at 7.30pm and Saturday, August 20, at 2.30pm at Pearl Beach Memorial Hall, 9 Diamond Rd, Pearl Beach.