Family's performances keep village smiling through lockdown

Vicky Crofts said her family had been inspired to start the string of performances following the nationwide NHS Clap for Carers each Thursday evening.

Along with dad Kevin, nephew George and husband Rob, Vicky has now performed from her front step every week for almost two months.

She said: “They started with the clap and we’re quite spaced apart from our neighbours. Some are quite elderly.

“Some were coming out the first couple of weeks and one week I just thought we could do a bit of music.

“My mum and dad live next door and have amplifiers and things. We played some music and it progressed from there.”

Accompanied by a guitar and amplified music, the family have performed songs by Lewis Capaldi, Passenger and many more, much to the delight of their neighbours, who gather in their own doorways to sing and dance along.

The performances are particularly poignant for Vicky’s family, who are almost all classed as key workers during the pandemic, with jobs in hospitals and schools.

Videos of the family’s songs, known as the South Hiendley Show, have now been viewed thousands of times online.

Vicky said: “On a Thursday we’re generally like ‘what should we do today?’

“We’ve done themes from movies and the theatre shows, then this week we thought my dad and nephew play bass guitar so we thought let’s make it all about bass.

“It has been really nice because there’s always the bus that goes through and a few ambulances over the weeks.

“Now we have a lot more people coming out, it has gone from being 10 minutes to an hour.

“More and more people have come to the front. We can see people on top of their sheds and stuff.”