1945
MR. DURRANT.
Mr. Durrant, whose article appears on another page, is a member of the War Office Personnel Selection Staff. He worked for eighteen months as a Sergeant Tester in the North of England giving Intelligence Tests to new recruits.
For the past year he has been employed at the War Office in connection with the production of official books and pamphlets relating to this work. These books have been illustrated by Mr. Durrant. Drawing has always been a hobby of his, and it is pleasant to hear that he has been able to use his talent in his war job.
Miss APPLEBY.
We welcomed to the School last term a new mistress-Miss Appleby, who teaches English and Geography. More about her follows in this magazine.
HAINES AND TAYLOR.
During the Spring term newspaper reports concerning enemy activity over Southern England highly commended the great work done by Dennis Haines and Stephen Taylor in rescuing three people from the wreckage of bombed houses, and then continuing to give them aid under orders from the Heavy Rescue Squad. We of the School are proud to have such gallant fellow-pupils, and offer them our sincere congratulations.
MR. WEST.
Mr. West has received a letter from the County of Essex War Agricultural Executive Committee concerning last summer's harvest camp at Stone Quay. A few quotations, perhaps, will suffice to show the general trend of the letter, your boys did extremely good work and kept up the reputation they made the year before when camping at St Lawrence Rectory
I would like to make special comment on the way in which the equipment was used and left for collection and I hope you will consent to hold another harvest camp in Essex during 1945
MUSIC RECITALS.
The School was visited twice last term by distinguished musical artistes, whose performances were greatly appreciated. Miss Esther Salaman's programme consisted largely of folk songs, but those of us who had hoped that the songs chosen would be on a higher plane were fully compensated by Miss Helen Pyke's interpretation of a Mozart Sonata, in which she displayed all the virtuosity of a solo artiste. Towards the end of term Squadron-Leader Bernard Shore, who was before the war principal viola of the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, came to the School to speak to the senior boys on methods of entry to the Royal Air Force. His offer to play for the School was accepted, and the following week he gave us a short and informal lecture on the viola and played several works, including some by Vaughan Williams, Delius, Mozart and Haydn.
ASSEMBLY HALL CONCERTS.
Parties from the School have attended concerts at the Assembly Hall given by the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestras. Arrangements for the continuation of reduced prices for the official School party in the future have been made.
CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE.
A small party of sixth-formers was present at a conference organised by the Council for Education in World Citizenship, which took place at the Central Hall, Westminster, last January. A report on the conference is printed in this magazine.
FIREWATCHING
Much to the dismay of the sixth, form and to the delight of the staff, firewatching at the School ended last term. The last night was to have been celebrated by a "Firewatchers' Reunion Party" but owing to the damage inflicted on the School building by enemy activity this was cancelled.
SCHOOL PLAY
The Dramatic Society has given this term two performances of A.A.Milnes The Fourth Wall. A review and criticism of the play is to he found later in this magazine.
ART EXHIBITIONS.
Several art exhibitions have been held recently at Leytonstone Library and fairly large groups of boys from the School have attended.
RED CROSS.
£160 4s. 3d. was collected by the School in aid of the Red Cross during the period from December, 1943, to the 8th of June, 1945, that is, two weeks before Red Cross collections officially came to an end. This total was reached mainly through the untiring efforts of Mr. Hyde, in spite of the upsetting of organisation due to enemy air attacks.