IT WAS time to burst into song – and the conductor was determined that everyone would take part.

No-one was going to escape the clutches of Mr WW Allsworth as, hands at the ready, he prepared to keep them in time and in tune.

Some of the singers, mouths agape, already seem to be in full voice, while others seem more intent on looking at the photographer.

The sing-a-long was held during a party of the Darby and Joan Club in Cutteslowe, Oxford, run by the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS).

We don’t know where the event was held – presumably in a local hall – but we know it was a celebration of the club’s birthday and took place in 1954.

There is no clue either what they sang, but no doubt, with the war still in their memories, some wartime favourites, such as Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again and the White Cliffs of Dover, would have featured prominently.

This was one of many Darby and Joan Clubs that sprang up all over the country to provide social activities, particularly for elderly people.

The dictionary defines Darby and Joan as an “old married couple who share a quiet life of mutual devotion”.

John Darby and his wife Joan were first mentioned in print in a poem by Henry Woodfall published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1735.

The phrase Darby and Joan appeared later in other poems as well as stage productions, including Noel Coward’s musical Sail Away – the refrain of the song, Bronxville Darby and Joan, begins: “We’re a dear old couple and we hate one another.”

Meanwhile, the Women’s Voluntary Service, which ran the Cutteslowe Darby and Joan Club, had been formed in 1938 by Lady Reading with a simple motto – “if the job needed doing, it was done”.

It did much vital work during the war, organising first aid courses in cities thought to be likely targets for the German Luftwaffe, helping to evacuate families, collecting clothing for the needy, running mobile canteens and assisting bomb victims.

Members also organised fundraising campaigns such as Salute the Soldier and Warship Week.

After the war, they concentrated on helping isolated and lonely people, particularly the elderly, hence their support for clubs like that at Cutteslowe.

The WVS became the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service in 1966 when the Queen gave permission for ‘Royal’ to be added to its title.

In 2004, the name was changed to the initials WRVS to modernise its image and to reflect the fact that some of its 60,000 volunteers were men.

Does anyone recognise any of the singers above? And does anyone remember other Darby and Joan Clubs? Write and let me know.