After a successful pilot of their Cake and Cabaret programme, which was to have toured parish halls, the arts charity has responded to public-health restrictions by recording performances which would otherwise have entertained parishioners live during the course of the year.

Cake and Cabaret was planned to be a monthly variety show featuring music, singing and other performances at parish halls, presented against the backdrop of a traditional afternoon tea, with participants appropriately costumed for the occasion.

The charity is working with Age Concern, parish halls and Jersey Post’s Call and Check service to distribute a newly produced DVD which allows care homes and community groups for the elderly to access some of the artistic activity which would have been delivered to live audience.

According to ArtHouse Jersey’s director, Tom Dingle, the DVD’s production constitutes one of their latest efforts to deliver a full programme in spite of the virus.

‘The community is at the very heart of so much that we do and, with Cake and Cabaret being one of the first officially cancelled aspects of our 2020 offering, it was very important to us that we could somehow still offer those who would have attended those events an alternative way of enjoying this type of entertainment,’ he said.

Cake and Cabaret aimed to raise the bar of what was offered to the elderly in Jersey while encouraging them to forge new connections within their community, ArtHouse Jersey said.

The new DVD features performances of nostalgic songs, including a selection of tracks from the Optimistic Voices – filmed in the gardens of Government House – with the Lieutenant-Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, introducing the DVD.

The songs are interspersed with familiar poems performed by students of speech and drama teacher Julie McLoughlin. They were filmed in key locations highlighting Jersey’s beautiful scenery.

The poems include instantly recognisable works such as Wordsworth’s On Westminster Bridge, Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott and You Are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll.

Also featured is a modern take on Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better from the Lovers in Lockdown.

Copies of the DVD are available through parish halls.