South Yorkshire Times, May 26th, 1939
Group Of Children Who Took Part In The Pagent
A pictorial representation of English history with emphasis on the important chapters was the novel method chosen by the staff and children of Hemingfield Ellis School for their celebrations of Empire Day on Wednesday.
This was supplemented by special descriptive talks in the various classes. Simplicity was the keynote of the pageantry. Every child in the school played some part in the “story” and all were in costume, mostly contrived out of paper and what oddments of property were available. Nevertheless, a surprising standard was achieved as the composite story was unfolded with Muriel Fearnley acting as narrator.
Principal parts were taken as follows: Brittania, Enid Flinders; train bearers, Bessie Rawson and Jean Lovatt; Britain’s Ministers, Ronald Kershaw, Roy Broadbent, Donald Binns, Roy Burn, Frank Hazzard, George Fawcett; Ancient Britons, Albert Cooper, Sonia Rawson; King Alfred, George Whittaker; Queen Elizabeth, Joyce Wood; Francis Drake, Gordon Head; Admiral Nelson, Joseph. Lawrence; Soldiers, Douglas Manley and Geoffrey Scattergood; Sailors, Mavis Cook and Margery Lines; Airmen, Herbert Lindley and Thomas Harper; Present Day, Betty Jarvis and Barbara Moore: Teacher, Esmond Sands; Parents, Brenda Walters and Edna Lee; India, May Mann; Canada, Betty Hague; Australia, Joyce Butcher: South Africa; John Thawley; New Zealand, Joyce Gower; Wales, Noreen Rumbles; Scotland, Constance Beavers; Northern Ireland, Muriel Fearnley; England,
Sylvia Flinders. Standard VI gave a “Poem of Empire,” introducing works of Rudyard Kipling, with Harry Thompson and Ellen Meadows I leading. Class II sang the chorus “God of our fathers known of old.” The whole made a most impressive combination of historical study and dramatic art. Headmaster and teachers supervised the performance.
