Around 30 youngsters, aged between six and 12, from Sussex Musical Productions were at the museum to perform two numbers from their forthcoming show, Lionel Bart's wartime musical Blitz! (Worthing's Pavilion Theatre, Tuesday, May 13 to Saturday, May 17).

Blitz! takes its audiences back to the wartime 1940s where the East End is taking a terrible pounding from Hitler's bombs.

Despite the rubble and rationing, the matriarchal Mrs Blitztein has a market stall to run and a large family to feed.

Meanwhile, her draft-dodging son is forging himself a life of crime and her daughter has fallen for Georgie Locke, the boy-next-door whose father happens to be a rival trader to Mrs B and her mortal enemy.

Blitz! was Lionel Bart's next piece after the hugely-successful Oliver, opening on May 8, 1962 at London's Adelphi Theatre.

Tim Ede, who is playing the wayward son, is delighted at the way it is all coming together – and at the reception the children got at Tangmere.

Proud mums and dads were there to listen, as were visitors and staff at the museum.

To buy tickets for the show, call 01903 206206.