A Sentimental Evening in Song

September 2015 Art | Culture

Grant and Daniella Crankshaw entertain the guests. Photos by Flori Cohen

A delightful get-together of over fifty members, friends and guests met in the beautiful garden of Helen and Chaim Brandwein, who welcomed all warmly to our end of season sing-a-long. The atmosphere and ambience of the idyllic summer evening engendered camaraderie and joy. Guests were welcomed with wine and soft drinks, followed by a magnificent spread arranged by Beverly Auerbach and Bev Rockman, with the assistance of other members of our committee who prepared a sumptuous supper of savory quiches, delicious pastas, salads, a light and fragrant ambrosia, a variety of cakes, hot coffee and tea.

We then settled down to enjoy the rest of the evening in song with Grant and Daniella Crankshaw of Desert Rose Productions, who set about recreating a WWII radio studio in the garden, finding humor in the adverts of the time and singing 'requests from the troops'. These were all well-known songs that aroused a gentle nostalgia for days gone by, such as "Wish Me Luck", "Pack Up Your Troubles", "We'll Meet Again", "This the Army Mr. Jones", "When the Lights Go On Again", "Sentimental Journey" and more, which the audience happily sang along from song sheets they provided.

It was a most enjoyable evening and we all left still humming some of the tunes.

About the author

Flori Cohen

Flori Cohen was born and raised in Shanghai, China. She studied at the Shanghai Public School for Girls, then at the British School to Matriculation Level. Wanting to enter the business world she enrolled at the Pitman's Commercial School for Business in Shanghai. Shanghai, says Flori, was known as the Paris of the East - a wonderful and exciting place to be. She married Isaiah (Shaya) Cohen in 1951 in Shanghai.

That year they left Shanghai for London due to the intolerable situation there because of the Communist takeover. They remained in London for five years.

In 1956 they immigrated to Israel to join her mother and other members of her family who had already settled there after having left Shanghai in 1953.

Flori has four children, eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren - some are in Israel and the others in the States.

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