Nerina Pallot to headline a night of free entertainment for Liberation Day – see the full lineup

• Night of free entertainment in People’s Park to mark Liberation 70
• Jersey singing star Nerina Pallot will headline the event
• A number of local acts are also on the lineup
• Find out more about Nerina and watch her videos below

LOCAL singing star Nerina Pallot will be headlining a night of free entertainment in People’s Park on Liberation Day.

• 5 pm – 5.30 pm: First walkabout act from SWANK.
• 5.30 pm – 6.15 pm: Jersey Big Band (for the last 15 minutes, 6 pm – 6.15 pm, there will be freestyle dancing from Jersey Hoppers)
• 6.15 pm – 6.45 pm: Second walkabout act from SWANK
• 6.20 pm – 6.45 pm: The Polka Dot Dolls
• 6.45 pm – 7pm: Music from the Jersey Scout Band
• 7 pm – 7.15 pm: Jersey Hoppers
• 7.15 pm – 7.55 pm: Optimistic Voices & The Plus Fours
• 7.30 pm – 8 pm: Third walkabout act from SWANK
• 7.55 pm – 8 pm: Tap dance from Emma Jane Griffiths Street Dance School
• 8.05 pm – 8.30 pm: Acappella Brass
• 8.35 pm – 9 pm: The Polka Dot Dolls
• 9.15 pm – 9.45 pm: Nerina Pallot
• 10 pm – Liberation beacon and fireworks

The singer and songwriter will be the finale act at the event on Saturday 9 May, following a day of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the Island’s liberation.

Following her performance the lighting of the Liberation will take place, followed by a firework display in St Aubin’s Bay.

The songstress, who has previously been nominated for both Brit and Ivor Novello award, said that it was ‘an honour’ to be able to play a part in such a special day for the Island.

‘It is such an honour to be asked to get involved with the Liberation Day celebrations,’ she said.

‘It’s something that means a lot to my family – as I’m sure it does to so many Jersey families who still have memories of the Second World War.

‘As a child growing up in the Island, Liberation Day was always a very vivid reminder of how much Islanders went through during the war, and what incredible sacrifices were made so that my generation could grow up with freedom and democracy.

‘I’ve always experienced it as a day of joyful commemoration, and as such it will be great fun to sing a few songs – old and new – with my band, and to be back in the Island for the 70th anniversary.’

Perhaps giving an indication of what her Liberation set may entail, the singer recently tweeted: ‘A question: what are your favourite sings about freedom?’

The evening’s entertainment starts at 5 pm, following the day’s formal commemorations.

Food and drink concessions, a children’s area and other concessions will stay open throughout the late afternoon and evening.

Also on the bill for the evening of free entertainment are the Jersey Scout Band, who are the Island’s only marching youth band, and the Polka Dot Dolls, a trio of singers who capture the romance and emotion of the war era.

There will also be a number of performances from SWANK, a newly-developed walkabout 1940s act which organisers say fits in perfectly with the Liberation theme.

Acappella Brass – aka trumpeter Luke Brown and his brass quintet and percussion – will also be entertaining the crowd, with a programme of music ranging from Renaissance and Baroque, via classical and romantic all the way to dixieland jazz and their twist on modern pop music.

There will also be performances from tap dancers from the Emma Jane Griffiths Street Dance School and from the Jersey Hoppers dance group.

In addition, the Optimistic Voices and the Plus Fours will form a seven-piece band for the evening and will provide a programme of musical entertainment that will include some 1940s favourites.

• Nerina (41) was born in London – but only because her mother was visiting family there at the time.
• She returned to Jersey at two weeks old and lived here until she was 18.
• She proudly describes herself as a ‘St Ouennais’ and her grandparents ran the Trafalgar Bay Hotel in Gorey.
• She was encouraged into music by her mother, who had been a successful jazz singer in the 1970s.
• Nerina met Jersey-born record-producer Andrew Chatterley, an Old Victorian, in 2007 and immediately thought, ‘I’m going to marry this man’. Half an hour later they were in the pub and he proposed to her and the couple married six weeks later on Valentine’s Day 2007
• Immediately after the ceremony the newlyweds headed to Earl’s Court for the Brit Awards, where Nerina was up for Best Female.
• Nerina was educated at St Christopher’s School – where she first met Andrew – then St George’s and Jersey College for Girls.

• She went on to study art at Chelsea Art College, then music at City and Guildhall.
• She released her first album, Dear Frustrated Superstar, in 2001.
• She re-mortgaged her flat to fund her follow-up, Fires. Released in 2005 it sold more than 200,000 copies and featured her most successful single to date, Everybody’s Gone To War, which charted at number 14.
• Her third album, The Graduate, was released in September 2009.
• She released her fourth album, Year of the Wolf, in 2011 and it charted at number 31.
• Nerina and Andrew had a son, Wolfgang Amadeus, in September 2010 and the family live in Camden, London.
• In 2010, Nerina and Andrew wrote hits for Kylie Minogue, with Kylie even naming her album, Aphrodite, after one of the couple’s tracks.
• Her 2011 single Put Your Hands Up, has a video that was filmed in just one take. It received nearly 900,000 YouTube views within 24 hours of going online, thanks to a plug on Twitter by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles.
• Throughout 2014 she set herself the ambitious challenge of releasing an EP of new music every month. A track from one of the EPs was used on an international advertising campaign for Hyundai cars.
• She regularly returns to perform at the Jersey Opera House, which she describes as her ‘favourite performing venue’.

Friday 8 May

• 7 pm: Service of thanksgiving, led by the Dean of Jersey, the Right Rev Bob Key, at the Town Church.

Saturday 9 May

• 10.30 am: Liberation Square open for the re-enactment ceremony.
• 11 am: Re-enactment of the Liberation at Liberation Square.
• 11.30 am: Flag handover, conclusion of the re-enactment ceremony at Liberation Square.
• 11.30 am to noon: Gates open for ticket holders and public at People’s Park.
• Noon: Slave workers’ memorial service at Westmount.
• 1 pm onwards: Grand Liberation Parade, mustering of the four parade contingents around Liberation Square.
• 1.45 pm: Grand Liberation Parade departs Liberation Square area, travelling through town to the People’s Park.
• 3 pm: Liberation ceremony in the presence of HRH the Countess of Wessex at People’s Park. Events includea States meeting, message from the Queen, freedom ceremony, poetry, community contributions, Bailiff’s Liberation address, creative productions, flag ceremony and act of remembrance.
• 5.30 pm: Departure from People’s Park of the Countess of Wessex. Entertainment at People’s Park for the public until 9.45 pm.
• 10 pm: Liberation beacon and firework display in St Aubin’s Bay

• Tickets for the People’s Park event for Occupation survivors, evacuees or internees and those who served in the armed forces are available from parish halls until 10 April.
• Public tickets will be available from 15 April from the front desk at Jersey Tourism and the Bailiff’s Chambers.
• A free shuttle bus service will run from Liberation Square to the People’s Park from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm.

WORLD-renowned classical musicians and performers will feature in the Liberation International Music Festival, which this year is expected to be bigger than ever before.

Tickets have gone on sale for the numerous concerts and events that are planned for the festival, which has been extended to take place over ten days from 7 to 17 May at various venues.

The central theme of the festival, which will mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Occupation, is reconciliation.

Tickets for the ballet are available from Fort Regent on 449827, while tickets for all other events are available from the Jersey Opera House on 511115, or through this wesbsite.

The festival line-up

Thursday 7 May – Band of the Royal Marines, at Jersey Opera House

Saturday 9 May – Berlin Philharmonic Octet, at Jersey Opera House

Wednesday 13 May – Concert by soloist Sarah Fox and the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, at Jersey Opera House

Saturday 16 May – Ballet Gala with the Royal Ballet’s Sarah Lamb, at Fort Regent

Sunday 17 May – Jazz at Hamptonne, featuring Clare Teal, at Hamptonne