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Order of Service
Opening Prayer
Congregation : 0 Come all ye Faithful.
Choir : A Virgin Unspotted (Traditional).
0 Jesu so Meek (Bach).
Congregation : Once in Royal David's City.
Choir: Zither Carol (Czech folk tune
arranged by Malcolm Sargent).
Puer Nobis (Geoffrey Shaw).
Nativity Play
During the performance of the play the choir sang
0 Little Town of Bethlehem.
Silent Night.
While Shepherds Watched.
Away in a Manger.
We Three Kings.
Congregation : See Amid the Winter Snow.
Choir : The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Congregation : Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
Benediction : Sung Three-fold Amen.
The Choir
Trebles—M. Binks, J. W. S. Brown, R. Cowie, W. Crichton, P. Gilchrist, B. Goldie, T. Goldie, S. Grant, A. Hewgill, N. Houston, A. Jeffrey, G. Kent, R. Kent, N. McKinnon, S. McLean, W. McMillan, R. MacVicar, C. Martin, D. Moss, B. Murton, I. Playle, A. Pocock, K. Ross, P. Sherwood, R. Weir.
Altos—J. A. Allan, R. Campbell, A. S. Grey, S. Hartley, G. Hill, C. Matheson, D. McLean, I. McKenzie, B. Nicol, S. Pope, J. Robertson, B. Sutherland, D. Wrenn.
Tenors—J. Allan, T. Bonar, M. Hewgill, J. Lee, S. Leitch, D. Maclver, G. McManus, G. Slater, W. Shields, D. Stainthorpe.
Bass—J. Brough, N. dark, I. Fraser, D. Marshall, C. McLaughlin, M. Owens, A. Richardson, D. Robertson, I. Smith.
The Nativity Play
Girl: Sim Wilson.
Boy : A. Hill.
Mary : Elizabeth Jamieson.
Joseph: N. McMurdo.
Herod : G. Neill.
Herod's Servant : D. Macdonald.
Angel Gabriel : A. Bums.
Readers : A. Cassells, D. Crombie, B. White.
Wise Men; J. Murdoch, P. Docherty, K.Owens.
Shepherds: R. Bonar, K. Cockburn, M. McLaughlin.
Chorus: Elizabeth Clarke, Jennifer Urie, Heather Williams, Pamela Williams, Fiona Wright, P. Docherty, A. Martin, I. Matthews, R. Watt, J. Will.
Costumes : Louise Le Maistre and mothers of girls in cast.
Props and Make-up :
Mr and Mrs Le Maistre.
Producer : Captain Frost.
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ALF’S BUTTON
This year's School play was " Alf's Button ". It is a comedy made from W. A. Darlington's first-war novel about a Cockney soldier who finds himself master of a genie because the new tunic-button issued to him has been made from the metal that was originally in Aladdin's magic lamp. To get first-war uniforms was too difficult, and so Captain Frost decided to transfer the period to the second world war. Then a problem arose. There are no buttons on battledress tunics, and it was rather late to start calling the play, for example, " Alf's Cap-badge ". A solution was reached when it was remembered that the forage cap of the second world war had two small buttons on it.
Those who have read the story will remember that the efforts on his new master's behalf of the genie " Eustace " including whisking a society beauty from the officers' hospital at her house in England into the trenches of France, creating a fairy-tale Arabian palace for Alf and Bill near the officers' hospital, where Alf's sweetheart is a maid-servant, and staffing and equipping the palace according to the style of the Arabian Nights. The stagecraft required and the Oriental costumes and trappings gave plenty of scope for the talents of the LeMaistre family, of Messrs. Finlay and Jamieson, and of their boy helpers. Every- thing was magnificently done. No bit of the play aroused a greater response among the junior boys in the front rows than the setting-out of the banquet which Mustapha, the Arabian butler, thinks suitable as a meal for two. Each splendid mock-up of a huge dish of meat or confectionary was greeted with roars.
As in last year's play, the principal role was taken by Michael Owens, whose aim is to make a career in drama, and he was again the outstanding performer. C. McLaughlin was lively and convincing as Alf's comrade. Bill Grant ; and K. Owens, sometimes inaudible at the back, acted his part well, with clever mannerisms. M. Scoggins, in the role of Vicar, was dominated, as the characterisation demanded, by his fierce little wife. This was a spirited piece of acting by a junior member of the cast, M. McLaughlin. Another excellent performer, also from a first year form, was A. Hill, who had the part of the Cockney servant girl. We have to allow for the fact that the dialogue of this year's play, in spite of some dated slang, was much easier for schoolboys than it was in last year's production of " Sweeney Todd." Even so, the diction and movements were certainly better this year. Words were much better heard at the back of the hall;
and there was never a time when the action dried up into a mere exchange of words. The cast got into the spirit of the play, and made us feel we were seeing Darlington's characters, not just old so-and-so dressed up.
This was the third, and unfortunately the last of Captain Frost's productions at Queen Victoria School, for his tour of duty here will end at Christmas. He has done a great deal for drama in the School;
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