A professional singer who has performed on the West End stage is hosting a special carol singing evening at his local pub to support the couple who recently saved it from closure.
Phil and Julie Dale from Hilderstone stepped in at the end of November when Admiral Taverns were getting ready to board up The Roebuck in their village. The couple have taken on the lease on a temporary basis and appealed to villagers for help and support to secure its long-term future.
Now the couple have arranged a very special Christmas event – a carol singing night on Saturday 22nd December from 8pm with Andy Reiss, a singer with the renowned Beyond The Barricade and Hilderstone resident. Beyond The Barricade perform hits from the West End and Broadway – more information HERE.
Julie said: “We’ve had a very positive response from the local residents and we are in the process of arranging a special event. One of the villagers is a professional entertainer, Andy Reiss of Beyond the Barricades, and he has kindly offered to host a special Carol Singing Evening at the Roebuck on Saturday 22nd December – despite the fact that his wife Kate, who is also a singer in Beyond The Barricades – has just given birth to a baby girl on Tuesday – see Kate, also a singer in Beyond the Barricades! It is also a bit of a coup for us because Andy’s next appearance with Beyond The Barricades is on New Year’s Eve on the Queen Mary for Cunard.”
Julie added that other local Stone entertainers have also offered their help and that she is in the process of putting together an events programme with them.
In a letter to Hilderstone residents at the end of November, Phil wrote: “Julie and I have agreed to take on the lease, on a temporary basis and at considerable financial risk to ourselves, in an attempt to prevent the imminent closure. We have had to act very quickly to prevent the closure and we are determined and committed to ensure that the pub remains open and used for the purposes for which it was intended and is returned for use by the local community.
“Whether you are a pub user or not, we are sure that you will understand the absolute necessity to secure this very important village asset, not to mention the need to prevent the blight on the village community of yet another boarded up and disused building.”
The couple have a 12-month lease and have appealed to villagers to come forward to buy the pub before it runs out.
There’s lots of information HERE about Andy Reiss’s musical career.
