THEY were the skirt-shedding, Eurovision-winning feel-good 80s pop foursome, whose catchy lyrics won the hearts of the teenybop generation.

Now touring with the 80s revival act Here And Now under the name The Original Bucks Fizz, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan, Bobby Gee and Shelley Preston are back on stage together for the first time since 1989.

And, according to Cheryl, the band can't wait to perform in a show that also includes Midge Ure, Belinda Carlisle and Kim Wilde.

"Bucks Fizz fans have been asking us to get back together for ages," she said. "We're just doing this for old time's sake though. It's not a relaunch of our careers. We're not going to be doing a new album like Duran Duran. It's really for the fans who have stuck by us."

"We were This Morning recently and we were even asked to sing together then, but we couldn't. We hadn't performed for so long, we'd forgotten all the words!"

Fortunately Cheryl and the others have been swotting up on the lyrics to the likes of Making Your Mind Up, The Land Of Make Believe and Talking In Your Sleep in time for their gig in Manchester on December 15.

Despite choosing the name The Original Bucks Fizz, though, the band won't be the original foursome who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. Jay Aston left the band in 1985 to be replaced by Shelley Preston and it's Shelley who will be join the group for their come-back appearance.

Cheryl said: "It was Shelley who got us all back together for the Here And Now tour, so it was only right she should join us on it.

"It was difficult for her to organise because we've all got other commitments now. She was in the band for longer than Jay, but Jay's the one people remember because she was with us when we won Eurovision."

Indeed, Eurovision was probably the band's defining moment, with the girls' famous skirt-ripping dance routine indelibly inscribed in pop history.

"It was actually my idea," admitted Cheryl, before adding quickly: "And I only said it as a joke.

"We weren't sure whether to wear '50s rock 'n' roll type skirts or '60s mini skirts.

"So I said, flippantly, why not wear mini-skirts underneath our other skirts and whip them off half-way through?

"I don't think we'd have won if we hadn't done that!"

A string of top 20 hits followed, but as the glory days of the 80s faded, Bucks Fizz began to fall flat - and found their name claimed by band member Bobby Gee, who still tours as the official Bucks Fizz.

Cheryl too is inundated with work - although her TV career has become more prominent than her music career.

Now, however, Cheryl's ready to throw herself back into the Bucks Fizz skirt-ripping routine.

"I think people will be expecting it," she laughed.

Catch Bucks Fizz on Wednesday, December 15, at the Manchester Evening News Arena. For tickets call 0161 832 1111.