Alfie Boe preparing for his own Prom night at Lytham Hall

The Blackpool-born international singing sensation, who grew up in Fleetwood will headline the one-night Proms at Lytham Hall on Sunday, August 28 and will be his first Lytham show in a decade, since he took to the stage at the original Lytham Proms in 2012.

“I do hope to see some familiar faces for this one. If there’s nothing good on the telly, then my family might come out to support,” he joked.

Alfie Boe

“It’s always a joy to get back to the North West, to my roots and to that crowd – especially in Lancashire – it’s home from home when I play there.

“Everybody seems to appreciate you making the effort to come home and play back in Lancashire, and just being there is wonderful.

“Fleetwood is where I was born and brought up, and I don’t think you can ever class the place where you grew up as anything other than ‘home’.

“But actually, for me, ‘home’ is a number of things. It’s not necessarily a region or a town, not necessarily a house; it’s the people you’re with and that can be anywhere around the world, whether you’re with friends, children, a partner, whatever.

“I spend a lot of time on the road, I’m living out of bags right now, but when I get to be with my children – that’s ‘going home’ for me at this time.”

Joined by fellow Les Misérables star, John Owen-Jones, for the exclusive picnic party at Lytham Hall, Alfie’s promising a “huge celebratory concert – full of music to get people on their feet” while raising money for the ongoing restoration of the Grade I-listed property.

John Owen-Jones will be joining Alfie Boe for the Last Night of the Proms event

The Lytham show follows a summer tour with Michael Ball, who Alfie has been recording and performing with since 2016 – and he’s looking forward to being back on stage in beautiful outdoors venues.

“We all need fun and entertainment in our lives after going through the pandemic,” the former singer who was ‘discovered’ while singing on the shopfloor while working at Blackpool car maker TVR.

“It’s time we started to enjoy life again – and this summer is the perfect time to bring people together through music,” he said. “It’s good for people’s mental health, it’s therapeutic.”

Alfie has had his own share of therapeutic events this year.

He was one of eight celebrities who took part in the remarkable TV show Freeze The Fear With Wim Hof, filmed in the Italian Alps in January.

Each week, they faced a series of mental and physical challenges, and reaped the rewards of cold-water therapy and Wim ‘The Iceman’ Hof’s extraordinary breathing techniques.

Alfie credits Freeze The Fear with helping him find a new direction in life.

“I didn’t really know what to expect!” Alfie admits. “I was asked if I’d be interested and volunteered after reading up a bit about Wim Hof and his methods and watching videos of what he does.

“I thought it was something I could really benefit from and needed in my life at that moment. So I took the plunge – literally. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, I really mean that.

“It was pretty intense in terms of the cold therapy, and a really emotional time.

“I fixed a lot in myself, I healed a lot, but also found a strength somewhere inside, and a direction in life of where I wanted to go and what I want to try to be moving forward. It was a learning process.”

Among the challenges, the stars undertook cold water submersions and their final task saw Alfie and six of the group take a leap of faith from a 500-foot-high bridge.

Alfie Boe

“On a practical level, I still take cold showers and I do a bit of fresh-water swimming now,” said Alfie about the experience and how it has changed him.

“But more than that, I want to do some fundraising events – putting my body to the extremes in cold weather – for mental health charities.

“The power of the challenges and the cold, it brought something out of me in terms of sharing my experiences.

“My story, and my being able to open up to talk about things, if that helps someone watching, it’s done the job.

“I know now, I want to be an advocate for mental health. That’s something really important to me.”

Another project close to Alfie’s heart was the release in May of his recording of God Save The Queen, with Sarah Brightman, the NHS Voices Of Care Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

“The Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer were so well timed after getting through this difficult time, and I think it’s going to run throughout the summer – which will be great for the Proms at Lytham.”

Last Night of the Proms, Lytham Hall, Sunday, August 28. Details from Tickets are on sale now from www.lythamfestival.com