Shropshire Star

Historic Shropshire hall excited to be gig venue for first time

The manager of a stately home in the Shropshire countryside has spoken of her excitement at the prospect of a double header concert in the summer.

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Walcot Hall will become a concert venue for two nights, with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe one night and Sir Cliff Richard the other.

The two stars of the stage will be appearing together at the venue in south Shropshire, the night before Sir Cliff comes to play outside the local landmark.

It was confirmed that the unusual gig venue would be among the locations selected for Sir Cliff's "Just ... Fabulous Rock n Roll" tour in November, as part of his comeback having been cleared of sex abuse allegations.

The tour has been designed to take in picturesque locations such as castles and country houses, with an outdoor stage put up at each to accommodate thousands of fans.

The Shropshire Star revealed yesterday that Ball and Boe have announced their 2017 tour will make use of some of the same locations, shadowing Sir Cliff's tour for part of its run. The move means that the pair will play Walcot Hall on June 20, with Sir Cliff following on June 21.

Walcot Hall is a Georgian country house in the village of Lydbury North, near Bishop's Castle, that has a population of about just 300 people.

It was once owned by Clive of India and is today the home of the Parish family and best known as a wedding venue and holiday cottage location.

Caitlin Hoare, manager at Walcot Hall, said: "Originally the focus was on Sir Cliff. It's only in the past couple of weeks that they approached us and asked if we would be interested to put on a second concert the day before Cliff.

"There will be slightly fewer seats, 3,000 rather than the 5,000 for Sir Cliff.

"We thought, as long as it's in the same week, why not? Fingers crossed that the weather will be good."

She said tickets for Sir Cliff had not yet sold out, but were selling well. "When it got around that he was coming here our phone was ringing off the hook," she said., "And lots of local people have bought them as well. It's nice to have something so high profile for the area.

"We haven't done anything this large before."

The 76-year-old announced his 101st album upon having been cleared of historic sex abuse accusations this summer. He said that he broke down and wept after learning that police would not pursue charges against him.

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