fight to get their local pub, The Flying Saucer, reopened<\/a>.<\/p>\nSince moving to the States, where she lives with her entertainment attorney husband, Lynne has kept in touch with her roots back home.<\/p>\n
The former Hempstead primary and Rainham School for Girls pupil follows the community on Facebook groups and is an avid supporter of the Let\u2019s Get the Saucer Flying Again campaign.<\/p>\n
When she heard about the contest showcasing local talent, a fundraiser towards taking over the boozer, Lynne did not hesitate to offer her services free of charge.<\/p>\n
![](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
<\/p>\n
She booked her flight from California, where she runs a management company which specialises in nurturing the skills of aspiring actors, to take her place on the panel on Saturday, February 28.<\/p>\n
The mother-of-three has won a reputation for preparing children and young adults to work alongside big stars like Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams in blockbuster movies, like Forrest Gump and The Crossing Guard.<\/p>\n
She also prepares talent for productions featuring stars like Whitney Houston in movies like The Cheetah Girls.<\/p>\n
Joining Lynne on the panel is Steve Ladner, BBC broadcast journalist and producer working with BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Kent, and a keen advocate of saving local boozers from calling time.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI am a big supporter of local pubs and they are so important for communities, small and large.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is a cause I am happy to support\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sherbet Dip, Hempstead\u2019s very own drag queen, has been known to belt out a few tunes in the The Flying Saucer when not performing in live cabaret shows.<\/p>\n
The inaugural Hempstead’s Got Talent will take place next month to raise funds for a pub takeover bit<\/p>\n
Sherbet, 24, who lives in the village, will not only be judging the acts, sipping on her favourite Savvy B tipple, she will also be singing at the end of the evening.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019m totally dedicated to the cause and I can\u2019t wait to see all the incredible acts .\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth judge is Justine Jeffery, now in her 20th year as a teacher and choreographer at Buxton Dance and Drama Studios in Gillingham.<\/p>\n
Justine has worked on a string of television pilot shows and live theatre in and around London.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019m thrilled and very honoured to have been asked to be one of the judges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish all the performers a wonderful evening and the very best of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve acts have so far booked to perform on stage, including singers, dancers, comedians and a choir.<\/p>\n
The talent show is being organised by Beverly Weir. who is also a lead campaigner to get the pints flowing again at the hostelry which she says was \u201cat the heart of the village until it closed in June 2024,<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt promises to be a fun evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have all ages taking part, and everyone either lives in Hempstead or has links.<\/p>\n
Hempstead’s very own drag queen Sherbet Dip will be on the judging panel<\/p>\n
\u201cOur youngest is an 18-year-old who\u2019s doing a Michael Jackson tribute and Barbara, who\u2019s 97 is doing a comedy monologue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the pub closed, punters claim to have offered the owner twice its estimated value – but he has refused to budge from his reported asking price of more than \u00a31million.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, they have been granted Asset of Community Value (ACV) status by Medway Council, making it harder for the freeholder to sell it to a property developer.<\/p>\n
But, despite a massive campaign with up to \u00a3650,000 put forward through grants, loans and hundreds of pledges of donations from nearby residents, the north-London-based businessman is said to have \u201cturned down\u201d their undisclosed \u201csubstantial\u201d offer.<\/p>\n
Beverly, who has lived in Hempstead for more than 40 years, added: \u201cWe have raised a lot and offered much more than the professional valuer estimated, but what is being asked for is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last orders at the much-loved boozer in Hempstead Road, which had been serving customers since the 1950s, sparked a wave of protests among its loyal customers and residents, and a campaign was launched to \u201cGet the Saucer Flying Again\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tickets are on sale online now and can be booked by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\nThey cost \u00a310 each and there\u2019s no admission for children aged between 12 and 16. Children under 12 are not permitted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the glitzy world of Hollywood to a smart residential village in Kent. LA-based talent spotter, Lynne Marks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[6491,96,191,188,649,194,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-388385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-kent","tag-medway","tag-quirky","tag-syndicate","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}