THE Circus Tavern, in Purfleet, has pulled out all the stops to host a rip-roaring night of music and comedy in support of heroes who fight for our country.

Variety Club award-winner and platinum album singer Joe Longthorne will be headlining a night of old-fashioned variety, along with singer Gary Driscoll.

Joe is one of the few classic crooners to have received the Variety Club Lifetime Achievement Award, alongside Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald.

He will performaselection of his classic covers, including Days Like This and Especially for You, with support from one of the UK’s foremost ska bands, the Dualers’ Ska Band.

Comedians Duncan “Chase Me”

Norvelle and Stewart Masters will also be on hand to provide some comic entertainment.

Organiser Tommy Brown, who also performed for the troops in the Gulf War, is putting on the night to raise awareness of mental health problems – and to raise money for the charity Combat Stress, which works tohelp servicemen and women with post traumatic stress syndrome.

Mr Brown, 58, from Chadwell Heath, said: “It’s a taboo subject to talk about what they’ve seen or be seen to be ‘weak’. But some of the things they’ve been through are just terrible. If you need help, you need help.”

The night, which starts at 7pm on Saturday, May 23, with the show starting at 8pm, is £20 a ticket.

Call 01708 863838.