Vanessa Hocking

The Charcoal Burner's Son

Characters:

The Princess Helen Speed

The Charcoal Burner's Son Melville Ueckermann

The Ogre Robert Gelding

The King Stephan Wechsler

The Dragon Robin Newman

1st Soldier Keith Aberdein

2nd Soldier Micbael Free

Chorus of Soldiers Lise Larsen, Jean More, Nelia de Beer, Anna de Beer, Mary Wechsler, John Boswell, Rodney Holland, Robin Ulyate

On April 1, 1955, the pupils of Arusha School performed " The Charcoal Burner's Son " by L. du Garde Peach and Victor Hely Hutchinson, for the entertainment of the people of Arusha.

The play consisted of five leading characters : the Princess, the King, the Ogre, the Charcoal Burner's Son and the Dragon. There was also a chorus of soldiers who made up the army and sang some very comical songs which greatly amused the audience.

The Princess sang very delightfully and was greatly applauded as also were the King and the Charcoal Burner's Son. These three had many different solos to sing and aided by the chorus helped to make the play a great success.

We heartily congratulate Mrs. Joy, our Music Mistress, who conducted the singing, and Miss Robertson who produced the play. We also congratulate Miss Elliott who painted all the scenery which made the stage look very colourful.

The scenery consisted of two large trees, a very impressive-looking castle which belonged to the Ogre, and a hill on which the castle was situated. The whole stage looked as if it were in fairyland.

Jean More Aged 12 years

The Elocution Contest

Our annual Elocution Contest was held in the second term of the year. It began on July 14 with the Junior classes competing for a huge cake. Standard 1 won this, having acted " Little Black Sambo " very well.

The Elocution continued with the middle school competing for a silver candlestick. Standard 2 came top in this section. Their play " The Discontented Fir Tree " was about a tree who wanted different leaves. In the end he saw that other leaves had their drawbacks, so he asked for his needles to be returned, and all ended well.

Standard 4 and 4A, Secondary Forms 1 and 2 competed for the remaining candlestick. Secondary Form 2 and Standard 4 shared the honour of the prize. Secondary Form 2 acted the trial scene from " The Merchant of Venice," in which Jean More as Antonio, Gilda Troup as Gratiano, Ann Brooker as Portia and Michael Free as Shylock acted very well.

I think the Elocution Contest was a success, and we all enjoyed watching little plays instead of listening to the usual recitations.

Vanessa Hocking Aged 10 years

Swimming

During the year the following Tanganyika Schools' Swimming Certificates have been gained.

Second Class : Anna de Beer, Nelia de Beer, Rodney Holland, David Phibbs, Peter Rhodes-Jones, Klaus Gaetje, Raymond Timms, Barry Childs, Bobby van Rooyen, Teresa Rarogiewicz, Hedda Gaetje, Richard Jacobs, Robin Ulyate, Rodney Williams, John Boswell, John Coutouvidis, Robin Gemmel!, Tony Marchant, Edda von Wedel, Ann Boswell, Michael Webster, Brian Merson, Robert Gelding, Melville Ueckermann, Peter Davies.

First Class : Helen Landcastle, Jean More, Gilda Troup, Tony Coxall, Mary Wechsler, Stephan Wechsler.

Senior Class : Lise Larsen, Michael Aylward.

A Visit to the Cinema

On Wednesday, June 1, the two top classes of the school went to see the film " Romeo and Juliet."

The parts were chosen very well, except that I should have liked to see Lawrence Olivier play the part of Romeo, instead of Lawrence Harvey, although he acted very well. The part of Juliet was aoted perfectly by Susan Shentall and Flora Robson played the part of her affectionate nurse.

Some of the scenes were tragic and some were quite amusing or peaceful. One of the scenes I enjoyed most was when Friar Lawrence was picking flowers in the early morning. I thought it was rather frightening when Juliet was alone in her bedroom trying to make up her mind to drink the drug, and I was positively terrified when Romeo was down in the vault. The balcony scene was a little long, and, not knowing the story properly, I thought Romeo was going to be captured.

The last scene when Romeo was in the vault with the sleeping Juliet, was frightening, especially when you could see Tybalt lying there with blood on his clothes; and I was hoping that Friar Lawrence would come down into the vault in time to rescue them.

Although some of the words were blurred, the film was very good and I should like to see it again to understand it better.

Vanessa Hocking Aged 10 years

THE ELOCUTION CONTEST

This year, the Elocution Contest was held on July 11th and 13th, when we were entertained by some short scenes. All classes la upwards competed. The Junior section included classes la, 1 and 2a. 2a won with a play called "Dr. Screwbones". Leslie Haigh was the doctor, who had invented a machine which would cure everybody, whatever their disease. We saw it being tried out successfully on many different types of people.

The next section included Standards 2, 3a and 3. Standard 3 won with an amusing play called "On the Lawn". Three children were trying to think of something amusing to play, when some Crusaders marched on. The three children thought they would like to be Crusaders, but when they heard of the dangers, they changed their minds. When the Crusaders left, some Turks arrived, and told their story. The Children then decided they would rather play their own games, and so the play ended.

The senior section was won by Secondary Form 2, who acted extracts from "As you Like It" by William Shakespeare. The scene was set in the Forest of Arden and all the main characters, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando and Adam were seen making their way to the Forest where they met Duke Senior, the banished duke.

Altogether it was a very enjoyable contest.

David Marsh 11 years