Atherstone can now 'feel the luv' as radio station helps town keep smiling through Covid torment

VETERAN DJ KARL LYON BRINGS MORALE-LIFTING MESSAGE OF WARTIME FAVOURITE VERA LYNN THROUGH ONLINE MUSIC

FORCES' Sweetheart Vera Lynn is helping Atherstone through another 'war' with her messages of hope inspiring the birth of a radio station for the town as it battles deadly enemy Covid-19.

One of the 103-year-old dame's famous songs – We'll Meet Again – was the sign-off for the Queen's speech when the UK went into lockdown on March 23.

But another from the repertoire of Dame Vera, whose outdoor concerts lifted the morale of allied troops during World War Two, is the sentiment of the new Luv2Disco online station.

Launched just after coronavirus restrictions were introduced it wants the whole of Atherstone and district to "keep smiling through" all this and "feel the luv".

The streaming radio is the brainchild of dyed-in-the-wool DJ Karl Lyon, a turntables veteran of than 30 years who normally provides discotheque music for pubs, clubs, parties and wedding in Atherstone, Nuneaton and Tamworth.

The Luv2Disco name has been around five years but the radio station is an invention purely born out of the need to shake down the frustrations of being forced to 'stay at home' with unprecedented restrictions on our personal liberty as well coming to terms with the enormity of Covid deaths in the community.

Eight people in Atherstone and Mancetter have lost their lives with six more in the villages of Baddesley, Baxterley, Bentley and Grendon up to April 17, according to newly-released figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed by Nub News on Friday.

Luv2 jock Ryan Nash says the station wants to "relax our way out of this", adding :"We are here to cheer people up and there is nothing like music to soothe people."

The station, to be found on Luv2Disco.radio12345.com, plays everything from the 1940s through to the present day, taking in remixes, club and garage music genre.

"We'll certainly play Dame Vera Lynn as we are trying achieve a 'keep smiling through' philosophy to get us through these Covid times," added Ryan, 21, who as a 'day job' estate agent finds himself "on hold" in terms of selling or letting properties until lockdown is eased.

"We're still selling properties but people just can't move at the moment."

Back on the music front, listeners to the radio station can enjoy club nights on Wednesday, party night on Friday from 70s music finishing with a club set, while Saturday is 1980s-dominated repeat party theme.

Ryan says listeners number anything from 100 to a potential of 10,000.

In addition to the radio station, with another website to be found on Luv2Disco.co.uk, for the past three weeks Ryan has been keeping his neighbours entertained with a two-hour 'dance on your doorstep' session – live from his Westwood Crescent home in Atherstone – remembering to invoke social distancing regulations

That starts 1pm today and you can also listen on Twitch, he told Nub news.

He added: "Again that's to keep the music going through coronavirus.

"Dance on your doorstep is a bit like clapping with your feet."

Disco boss Karl has deliberated resisted introducing 'dance on your doorstep' into his Atherstone district as he lives close to elderly residents and wants to keep the volume down, added Ryan.

If you don't live within earshot of Westwood Crescent, then boogie away those coronavirus blues by listening to the session on the online Luv2Disco radio station.