THE SCHOOL MAGAZINE

Summer 1960

"DIDO AND AENEAS"

The opera "Dido and Aeneas" by Henry Purcell was presented by the School Music Society on May 12th, 13th and 14th, with the following cast:

Dido, or Elissa, Queen of Carthage - R. Kitchen
Belinda, a Lady in Waiting - P. Artis
First Woman - K. Gregg
Sorceress - R. Leighton
First Witch - J. Woodward
Second Witch - V. Huffer
Aeneas, a Trojan Prince - P. Francis
Spirit of Mercury - R. Lockyer and P. Bowers

Chorus of Courtiers, Witches and Sailors:

J. Baxter, M. Berry, A. Blayney, V. Blyth, M. Brignell, R. Britzler, C. Bruce, S. Bysouth, C. Capon, L. Caten, J. Every, M. Fletcher, A. Foreman, J. Gibson, J. Giles, I. Hedges, P. Hill, G. Horton, J. Hounsell, S. Jenness, P. Johnson, B. Law, K. Levett, S. Marson, J. Matthews, P. Meredith, C. Morgan, B. Moy, S. Newman, D. Regan, P. Ungerer, J. Vacher, J. Winsor, I. Wise, A. Wingfield, K. Andrew, N. Bannister, E. Cutts, R. Leader, R. Phipps, B. Simpson.

Orchestra:

First violins: C. Waker, C. Page, C. Gore, E. Manning
Second violins: B. Sheff, C. Hall, G. Watsham
Violas: Miss Rowntree, Mr. Rokos
Cello: D. Johnson
Piano: Miss Fairchild

Miss C. Clarke conducted, and the production was by Mr. A. S. Jaques. Many other members of staff contributed to the successful performances, including Mrs. A. Cleare (designing and making costumes); Mr. R. Dunhill (lighting); Mrs. E. Leech (business management); Mr. L. Williams and Miss B. Brooker (props) and Mr. A. Shine (printing).

Assistance was given too by several Old Scholars, and of course by Mr. Miller.

KANDERSTEG by Veronica Huffer, Pat Salmon and Iris Wise

We arrived, at Victoria Station after a warm send off from parents and members of staff. We boarded our train and passed an uneventful journey to Folkestone, followed by a calm but windy sea-crossing to Calais. After passing through Customs we boarded the train and sorted ourselves into our compartments whilst our luggage was being hoisted through the window. The train moved out of the station and then most of us caught our first glimpse of a foreign country. We travelled, through the night and arrived at Basle - the frontier - at 4.30 a.m. where we had a Continental breakfast. Breakfast over, we waited for another train which was to take us the last lap of our journey to Kandersteg. On the journey we noticed how friendly the people were and how lovely the scenery was. At Kandersteg we were welcomed by Herr Reichen (the owner of our Hotel) who took our luggage by station waggon to the Kurhaus, our home for the next eight days. We waved our luggage goodbye and set off for a short but very lovely walk to the Hotel. Lunch was waiting for us, after which we changed, and went for a short walk, 5,000 feet up a mountain. In the evening we went to the Bear Pit - a café belonging to the Hotel.

In the following week we experienced:- a chair-lift, a cable-car, a funicular railway, wading through glacially fed rivers, sloshing through mud, playing with snow in June, seeing a certain member of the party lose her lunch to a large, hungry alsatian, and another having his pyjama legs sewn up, and one of the staff receiving a loving embrace from another of the staff whilst he tried to save her from falling into an icy cold brook, and getting soaked in the torrential rain we had during the holiday on our way back from short walks of a mere ten miles or more!

We visited Interlaken and Thun, two large towns where we did our shopping. Another day we visited Stresa and the island of Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore in Italy where we bargained for souvenirs in the market.

All too quickly the holiday came to an end and we were on our way to Berne, where we spent a few hours before travelling on again to Calais. The very rough sea crossing was spent trying to look dignified as we rushed green-faced to the nearest convenient place to be ill.

We are sure that everybody who went will join us in conveying through this article our deepest thanks to the members of the staff and Miss Marriott, who accompanied us on a truly wonderful holiday.

THE GARDEN FETE by A.S.

Our first Garden Fete was held on Saturday 18th June with the help of the Parent-Teacher Association, and the general impression seems to be that it was a great success. As the day drew near, anxious eyes watched the weather forecasts, because we were to hold the fete on our field and we seemed to be having a lot of rain for June!

However we were lucky and the 18th dawned fine. Parents, Staff, Old Scholars and children started to construct stalls on the field from tables, crepe paper, bunting and balloons. Then the gifts which had been sent by parents were piled on the stalls - groceries, tinned fruit, soap, toys, clothes to name a few.

The donkey was collected from its kind owner so that little children, could ride up and down our field, and a busy donkey he proved to be. The ice-creams were delivered and were soon very welcome as the afternoon grew hotter.

At 3 o'clock the fete opened and before long the stalls were busily selling their goods. The side shows collected their pennies and gave their prizes.

For the thirsty, tea and cakes, all provided by the parents, were on sale in the school hall, thanks to the band of hard-working ladies at the counter - and the washers-up.

At the end of the day when we reckoned up our takings, we found in the till £65 profit and hundreds of new friends - so it must have been a success.