SCHOOL CONCERT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 59, 28 July 1947, Page 5

SCHOOL CONCERT

BRIGHT AWAKERI PROGRAMME RECORD attendance Possibly what was the most successful school concert ever to be held in the Awakeri district took place in the local hall last Friday evening, when a record crowd filling the v building to its utmost capacity thoroughly enjoyed a two-hour programme of homely child items in which ever child attending the school took part. The headmaster, Mr G. Anderson, and his assistants Mrs T. R. Hammond, and Misses E. J. Cain and H. A. Woolfield are to be warmly congratulated on their work in training the children and in the staging and presentation of the items.

Visitors from Waimana, Matata, Edgecumbe and Whakatane thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings along with the large crowd of locals, and from the Nursery Rhyme 'Section by the tiny-tot's which opened the concert to the final assembly by the seniors there was nothing dull or sustained. The juniors did an excellent job in their own inimitable way, and we particularly liked the Bo Peep, they produced, and the trio of baa-ing lambs which followed her about the stage. The play ‘William Tell’ was a bright spot borrowed from history to suit the jun-

ior boys, and many a mother held

her breath as the arrow from the .-.--bow of the redoubtable ‘Will’ flew narrowly above the head of his shivering ‘son.’ The boys (from standards I and II did surprisingly well. There was a definite nautical flavour in the next three turns, when sailor boys and buxom sailor girls entertained with song and assemblies. The Sea popular with the audience. Another play setting out the fate ..of a school report and a genuine case of mistaken identity was well staged by the boys from the senior .standards. A further highlight from history was the depiction of the ‘Bell of Artrey’ by a group of budding hollywood stars, and though we were never privileged to see the starving nag which tolled the hell, we felt mightily incensed against its miserly owner. If the curtain had behaved itself the item ‘The Chairman’ might have had an auspicious opening, however the confidence of the main actress triumphed over small things like that and a rattling good turn presented itself and won well-earn-ed applause. Deep-sea saga was served in the underwater scena when Neptune per the charming wiles of half a dozen sea nymphs lured three mariners to a salty interview on the bottom of the ocean. There was plenty of humour here, .and the final assembly and chorus which sounded like the ‘Ki Ki Kiss Parade’ was quite enchanting. The play by the seniors ‘Uncle Peters Visit’ was very good, and though the caste was entirely feminine, they strove hard to give the :necessary masculine tang to the proceedings and succeeded quite well. The final, a combined scene where twenty attractive Gipsy maids met a dozen handsome bushmen, and two crooks in the depths of White Pine Bush (well, near there) was quite intriguing, and the anti-climax came when both groups discovered that they were in reality Girl Guides .and Boy Scouts and proceeded to give solo items, and choruses round a, chilly-looking camp-fire with a billy (suspended over a familiar tripod of saplings. It was a good concluding item to a happy show. The thanks of the teaching staff were also due to Mrs E. Haultain who acted as make-up artist behind scenes and also as civilian police force in marshalling the acts.