DAWN GRACIE: Remembering to keep calm... and rock on!

SEVEN months of planning a Festival of Chichester show with my act Dawn's Vintage Do and full live band was almost for nothing on Saturday night when the worst thing possible happened at the worst possible time.

By The Newsroom

Published 21st Jul 2013, 13:00 BST

Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:19 BST

With a packed venue and temperatures soaring in the fabulous Bracklesham Barn, our show was in full swing and the audience was up bopping around to Blue Suede Shoes when we were plunged into darkness and silence.

At first we thought we had exceeded the capability of the fuse board, but it soon transpired there was a power cut reaching for miles around.

I wasn’t quite sure what was worse, but at least with a blown fuse, it could be fixed easily but no, our whole evening was in jeopardy and at the mercy of the electricity supplier!

I simply could not believe it and I tried my hardest to keep the lovely audience informed, but it really was out of my control.

I will admit it was the longest 15 minutes of my life as this could have meant a very abrupt end to this sold-out event we’d worked so hard on, but to everyone’s delight, the power was eventually restored and we kept calm and simply carried on!

n www.dawnsvintagedo.com