Parties
Every October there would be a party to celebrate Miss Leila’s birthday, and we would also have a Christmas party shortly before the end of term. From time to time there would also be a Fancy Dress party.
The Christmas party took place in the Study playroom. There was always a very tall Christmas tree, full of candles [ Health and Safety would put paid to that now]. Mr Gladstone was charged with snuffing them all out at the end of the party.
Every child had a present, which we would go up to collect from under the tree when our names were called.
Other parties were held in the library. I always enjoyed the Fancy Dress parties. We were encouraged to make our own fancy dress, and there were of course prizes for the best efforts.
When I was about twelve, I entered as a French Revolutionary. I wore a hat with a red, white and blue cockade, and pulled a makeshift guillotine on wheels, which I had made in woodwork. It was customary for us to enter the library in turn, being introduced by one of the older children who was on the door. She introduced me by saying “Liberty, equality, fraternity – where’s my cake?”
Photograph Above: Fancy Dress Party
Me as a French Revolutionary