VILLAGE hall entertainment is quintessentially English and a sizeable chunk of the packed audience had evidently walked from home to support relatives, friends and neighbours on stage.

Tying-in with the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, this collection of sketches, songs and monologues presented the various aspects of the conflict, mixing gallows humour with grief.

In Helen Gard and Jo Stokes, the company is blessed with a remarkable double act that could rival the likes of French and Saunders, given the opportunity.

Taking deserved credit for everything from script-writing, set design and wardrobe, through to musical direction, the dynamic duo also star as singers and comediennes.

The reverently-delivered readings of letters from the front to distant loved-ones, their work again, were authentic and emotional, but there was laughter too, in Land Army shovelfulls.

With no elaborate scenery or technical wizardry, just John Purver’s piano and some atmospheric battleground effects, the words were especially poignant.