OUR SHIRL BACK ON HOME TURF

DAME Shirley Bassey brought some glamour to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama stage last night. The Tiger Bay diva gave a rare performance on home turf in Cardiff while students at the college gave a special performance in tribute to the Welsh musical legend.

The show was held in honour of Dame Shirley Bassey – who joined the public audience in her home city.

Guests at the gala, which included the Cabinet Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams, Tim Rhys Evans, from Only Men Aloud, and TV’s Sian Lloyd, enjoyed classic numbers including Goldfinger and Big Spender, performed by the college’s Big Band, musical theatre students and graduates in the college’s Dora Stoutzker Hall.

Dame Shirley, pictured left, took the opportunity to donate the Jenny Packham gown she was wear- ing – which she had previously worn to the premiere of the James Bond film Spectre – to raise further funds for the Dame Shirley Bassey Scholarship Fund.

The star said: “I started off with nobody supporting me, there was nothing when I started, there were no schools or college for me.

“I made it, and I wanted to give that back to my home town, where I came from in the docks of Cardiff.”

The fund was launched back in 2003, when she auctioned off 50 of her iconic dresses in a bid to raise money for both the college and the children’s charity Noah’s Ark.

From this investment, a scholarship is now awarded every year to an outstanding Welsh singer to help further their musical development.

Previous recipients of the Dame Shirley Scholarship include Trystan Llyr Griffiths, who won the college’s Ian Stoutzker Prize, and is now on the Young Artists programme at Opernhaus Zurich.

Trystan said: “I am truly grateful that I received the Shirley Bassey scholarship.

“I wouldn’t have been able to study at RWCMD without it.

“I had many great experiences while at the college, performing for Prince Charles and many other high-profile concerts, and this has been great for me going forward as a performer.”

During a special tribute to Dame Shirley, college principal Hilary Boulding also revealed the naming of the Shirley Bassey Studio in celebration of the singer’s long-standing support of young Welsh singers studying at the college.

To take part in the auction visit the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama website.