A CONCERT at a village hall was broadcast across the world, thanks to an experiment by technical whizzes from Bayston Hill.

Thousands of people worldwide were able to watch a concert by Shropshire’s veteran satirical singing trio Three Men in a Bowtie at Worthen Village Hall on Saturday night – live via the internet.

As a prelude to their 15th anniversary tour, the global performance of the group’s latest songs and monologues was viewed by former Salopians from Chicago to Cambodia.

In a uniquely local experiment, Bayston Hill technology company Microvideo sent a live video feed of the concert to a satellite orbiting over south Shropshire.

The signal was then beamed down to Virtual Shropshire’s internet hub at Much Wenlock, which streamed the free, three-hour show live on the trio’s website www.threemeninabowtie.co.uk.

Among those tuning in were former Pontesbury Players member Vicky Melen and her husband Bruce in Chicago.

She emailed the show to say: “It’s lovely seeing a piece of Salop from the USA. We wish we were there in the village hall.”

Watching in Phnom Penh were ex-pats Jill and Kim Fickry who were delighted when the hall’s 140 strong audience all waved and called out “Hello Cambodia”.

“It was thrilling to hear our names mentioned across cyberspace and made us feel a part of the evening,” they said.

Former Shropshire Wildlife Trust worker Trina Child now lives in New Delhi in India.

She sent a message saying: “The show is really great and it’s fantastic to be able to be in Worthen as well as in Delhi.”

Among the most remote ex-Salopians enjoying the concert were Alan and Tina Powis, who run a 60,000 acre farm in the New South Wales outback.

Their message was read out live on stage saying: “It’s 6.30am here and we’re really enjoying the broadcast. Please bring Three Men in a Bowtie to the bush towns of Australia.”

The transmission is believed to have been the first of its kind from a British village hall.