IT was perhaps inevitable that after a summer of heat and sunshine fit for Jamaica, an evening of reggae music at Castle Howard should be accompanied by drizzle drifting across the lawns of the stately home.

But never mind. Support act Aswad, followed by UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey, weren’t going to let a bit of Yorkshire weather spoil a colourful concert packed with all the latter's greatest hits - and what a lot of great songs there were, from One in Ten and Cherry Oh Baby to I Got You Babe and Red Red Wine– as well as tracks from their new album, A Real Labour of Love.

Music plays the soundtrack to memories of your life, and it all took me back to my early married life in the early 80s, when the band’s songs were always booming out in our flat.

When the Brummie band was formed in 1978, they were all out of work and it was named after Form 40, which people used to apply for Unemployment Benefit. Nowadays they’d have to call themselves UC. It’s good that after 40 years and 70 million records sold, the band is still working and delivering such uplifting music.

Incidentally, the venue's bar apparently sold out of red wine. Not surprising after attracting the longest queue I have ever seen for a bar, at about 100 metres long. I suspect this was due to a perplexing ban on people bringing their own food and drink to the concert.