A NEW Forest-based singer, musician and composer Louise Jordan tours with her latest project No Petticoats Here and will be performing in Alderholt.

No Petticoats Here tells the real life stories of the varied and remarkable women of the Great War through song and was inspired by the story of Dorothy Lawrence, an aspiring author whose guardian lived in Salisbury Cathedral Close.

Dorothy dressed as a soldier in order to visit the Western Front and pursue her journalistic ambitions. Louise quickly became fascinated by the stories of female ambulance drivers, scientists, footballers and spies. The show is the culmination of 12 months of research that has taken Louise to the battlefields of the Somme, the Belgian frontline at Pervijse and to countless museums and historic research centres. Through contact with the relatives and biographers of some of these extraordinary women Louise has been able to add greater depth and detail to their stories bringing to life their courage and compassion.

Louise, who went to school in Salisbury, said: “The First World War too often remembers women as the mourners of the fallen, as frugal housewives ‘making do’ or angelic nurses caring patiently for the men who returned from the Front Line. Through No Petticoats Here I remember some of the many women whose stories do not fit conveniently into boxes and whose experiences are both astonishing and relatable one hundred years on.”

Louise Jordan will be performing at St James’ Church, Daggons Road, Alderholt on Sunday, July 23. Doors open from 6.30pm with the performance starting at 7pm.

Tickets are £5 or £2 for under 16s and available by going to wegottickets.com/event/406350.