Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

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down south
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Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by down south »

I don't know if nativity plays are as common for the youngest pupils in Scottish schools nowadays as they seem to be south of the border; but there certainly didn't seem to be any great tradition of them when we were young.

Here, however, is an exception to that; and a vastly superior :roll: production it was to the familiar sort with wistful infants and pantomime livestock. It was put on at Christmas 1969 by our class of second year girls at Ardrossan Academy under the direction of our English teacher Mrs Dick, on the last day of term to an audience which was supposed to be of the rest of the junior forms, but seemed to turn out to be more or less the whole school.

Wonder if anyone who was a pupil at the time, remembers seeing it. You certainly SHOULD do; it has to be the only nativity play you ever heard of that had disco dancers...part of a rather worthy modern-day framing scene, where a grumpy old lady came to complain about youngsters having a noisy party and urged them to consider the real meaning of Christmas...

It was an all-singing, all-dancing production altogether; carols between the acts, and King Herod's troupe of dancing girls did a little number to Zorba the Greek. Everyone in the class who was there on the day was involved in some way, and the actual cast was over thirty; many more than are in these photos, which were taken by me at a dress rehearsal ( setting: Room 12 of the old Primary building, with Shakespeare posters on the walls ).

Nativity Play 1969; at the inn.jpg


This first ( and best ) one is At the Inn: Wise Man, Helen MacPherson; Joseph, Jean Grimley; Mary, Linda Reid; Innkeeper's wife, Irene Hart; Innkeeper, Elspeth Dowell; servant girl, Marion Dodds.

Nativity Play 1969; King Herod's court.jpg



King Herod and courtiers: King Herod, Ailsa Wardrop; messenger, Jane Henderson; dancing girls, Gillian Barclay, Betty McKay and Eleanor Bartleman.

Nativity play 1969; shepherds and angels.jpg



Shepherds and Angels: Shepherds, Ann Boyd, Sandra McMillan, Sheila Curwen and Judith Farrer; Angels, Jean Fry and Lucy Robertson .

And a great time was had by all ! :santa01:

Susan
Last edited by down south on Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by Meg »

I must admit Susan - every school I have been in over the last four or five years have all had nativity plays - this year we had a whole school (14 pupils) production of "rock around the flock" - with choreographed (by the older girls) jiving, solo singing that would have brought a tear to a glass eye, and a rousing finale! I LOVE this time of year - battled through snow and minus 12 Deg C temperatures for our party today - with a visit from Santa! (who came in a quad bike!) and again tomorrow for our church service.

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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by morag »

I think at St. John's we had a Christmas concert which included a nativity play. Nothing near as exciting as Susan or Meg's stuff!
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by down south »

I obviously should have qualified my remarks, Meg:
down south wrote: it has to be the only nativity play you ever heard of that had disco dancers
with "back in those more traditional days "! That was another snowy winter too, as they go in the Three Towns; though nothing like as bad as this year. Most of King Herod's court lived in West Kilbride, and our Mary came from an outlying farm... some people were struggling to get into school a few days before the performance, but the weather had eased by the day itself.

Susan
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by EllieB »

I just found this site and these photos - was instantly transported back to 1969 and the nativity play.
I was very jealous of Linda Reid (Virgin Mary) - she looked like the real thing. I was a dancing girl in Herod's court. Rubbish dancer, but I borrowed an embroidered velvet jacket my Dad had brought back from the Middle East after the war. I also had a Fez but decided not to wear it - with my cropped hair, baggy pants and lack of womanly curves I was feeling decidedly boyish and self conscious. We skipped around a bit - I knew we should be wiggling a bit but didn't know how and Zorba the Greek wasn't quite Middle Eastern enough. I also notice that I'm wearing my diving watch!
It's great to see these snaps - I knew all the girls in them. What a tonic - thanks!

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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by down south »

Hello Eleanor, and welcome to Threetowners. Good to hear from you.

I look back so fondly on Mrs Dick's class; we had some great times with her. I don't think I ever heard the story about the jacket; it certainly looks terrific there, even in my not very good photo....I think they must have been taken in the reverse order to how I've shown them; I did get a little better as I went along !

I expect you'd forgotten these photos ever existed; and even more probably you won't remember I took some others too of some of the class a few months later, in the playground when we were over at Jacks Road; one of them has quite a good view of you. ( Luckily you weren't in the other one, which is totally mad because it was invaded by first year boys...! but it'll be good for a laugh anyway ).

( PS These photos , with names,can now be found here:

http://www.threetowners.net/forum/viewt ... 94#p101594 )

I'm sure you'll be equally keen to see those, and I see you've got an e-mail address on the Academy website, so perhaps I should give you a private look at them first ... they'll be better copies anyway. In the meantime by the way, if you haven't been on Ardacad lately you'll find quite a few interesting recent contributions from our era in the picture archive on the end pages; including you and lots of others we knew in the girls' choir.

Susan
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by Elsie Treize »

These photos are amazing. It's almost like looking at a previous life! But who took the photos?
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by down south »

Apologies for not making it clear that I was the one who took the photos; I being Susan Nock as you may or may not have guessed. I'm meanwhile guessing myself, from this and your other post, that you were Elspeth Dowell in that other life. Glad you enjoyed the pictures, and hope you'll find some more to interest you on Threetowners .

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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by Elsie Treize »

Susan, oh my goodness, thanks so much for posting the photos. I looked at the Jacks Road photos, too. Anyway, I don't remember anyone with a camera. Memory is a very weird thing. I lived in Wellington N.Z., then we were in Toronto and now I've lived more than half my life in Montreal. When certain memories don't get accessed, I think they erode!
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by Elsie Treize »

It seems to me that for 1st and 2nd year, the boys and the girls had completely separate classes. But for a nativity play, why not have boys play Joseph and the Innkeeper?
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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by down south »

It would certainly have spared you the false beard, Elspeth ! But I don't suppose it ever even occurred to Mrs Dick to make it anything other than a project for our class alone.

Since the rehearsals were in class time, there would have to have been co-operation with whoever the boys' teacher was to have " borrowed " some; and like as not they would have demanded a complete joint venture with half the parts for boys ! There was certainly no intention at the beginning that it should be put on in front of the whole school; that only happened at the last minute because the school carol service had to be cancelled or something.

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Re: Ardrossan Academy Nativity Play, 1969

Post by EllieB »

I remember you, Elspeth/Elsie - weren't you a proper dancer who did ballet and everything?
Whoever it was who was given the job of putting on the Zorba the Greek record did so at the wrong bit, so our carefully rehearsed dance routine went pathetically wrong. We were all rather huffy about it afterwards!
We were in all girl classes at the time, 1st and 2nd year - I don't think it ever occurred to us we'd do a play with boys, don't think we'd have wanted to! However, I do recall a singing lesson in third year when we were reunited with the boys for everyday classes, and we were all amazed at the sound we made as the boys voices had dropped.
I remember Mrs Dick - she was an excellent teacher. I can still recite many passages from Shakespeare because of her wonderful delivery - 'the quality of mercy is not strained .....etc'. She pronounced the words with such passion and humour that she brought the verse to life. She was quite funny and passionate, and talked about love (in poetry and drama) in a way that made us blush!
I have no recollection of anyone with a camera, Susan....how strange....
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