WELSHPOOL takes a step back into the past for its annual 1940s Weekend with events starting tonight (Friday, September 28), and including the local Castle Belles in The Belles Do The Blitz concert at the Methodist Church.

The ladies' choir will be singing songs from the 1940s for a nostalgic evening performing the Miller Medley, Sentimental Journey, Swing on a Star and many more songs of the wartime era.

It starts at 7.30pm, with tickets at £7.50 available from Alexander’s in Welshpool.

Another highlight of the weekend will a touring theatrical performance of The Unknown Soldier by Grist to the Mill Productions, written and performed by Ross Ericson.

This tribute to the centenary of the end of the First World War tells the story of J​ack who stayed on when the guns fell silent, to search the battlefields for the boys that could not go home - for the dead and the missing, for both enemy and friend.

Among the rusty wire and unexploded bombs Jack is looking for something, looking for someone. He has a promise to keep and a debt to repay, and now there is this strange request from the generals.

The new theatre piece by the award nominated writer of Casualties, this is a story of comradeship, betrayal and of promises both broken and kept following the carnage of the First World War.

Doors open at 1.30pm. Tickets at £5.50 can be had from Welshpool Jewellers or the The Hafren theatre box office.

Friday also includes the Salute to the 40s show of wartime tribute entertainment at Weshpool Town Hall at 2pm; and the 1940s Theme Dinner with live music at The Bay Tree vintage restaurant at 7.30pm.

Saturday includes a Big Band Concert with Newtown Silver Band at the COWSHAAC at 7.30pm; a Tea Dance swinging at the Church House at 2pm, and the Blitz Ball with the Ashby Little Big Band at 7.30pm at the Town Hall.

The closing concert on Sunday features the RAF Shawbury Military Wives Choir with the RAF Cosford Band, at 7.30pm at the Methodist Church.

The weekend will also include numerous other events and attractions - Bluebird Belles, George Formby Experience, Moonlight Serenade, Kitten Von Mew, Johnny Victor and Joules Noble, plus vintage vehicles including a Spitfire, and a Make Do And Mend wartime craft fair in Puzzle Square.