had done the job quite well for amateurs but he and his men would decorate our room with the professional touch. (Do things ever change? Refer to the 6th formers of two or three years ago!) This year we have four people completing a third year in the sixth form, studying at scholarship level, I think that gradually more and more grammar school pupils arc realising the opportunity and benefit a sixth form course offers. We now have a large sixth form compared with previous years. Cricket: A successful season without conceding a defeat. Football: Likewise a most successful season compared with past seasons. Hockey: The 1st XI played 15 games and lost only one. This was probably the most succes.sful season ever. For the first time for many years the staff turned out a football XI almost as strong as the school's first XI, which just goes to prove that 'there's life in the old chaps yet'. COMING OF AGE The School's 21st By the School's 21st Birthday in 1960 the Head could report that since the end of the war 130 pupils had gone to universities, and 211 State Scholarships had been awarded. That year rugby was introduced into the school, the 1st X1 hockey team gained second place in the Middlesex Senior Hockey Tournament, the Science Society was re-started and a Tuck Shop was established. The school library contained 6,000 volumes and to mark the birthday the Old Scholars presented a Bible bound in red to match the stage curtains. The Ministry of Education sent its Inspectors in to report on how the School was developing. In the next year or two, a new society , the Forum.... founded to encourage the development of cultural and other interests including public speaking. The School first entered pupils for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme: the junior basketball team won the Middlesex Cup Competition and a girl won the Senior Girls' Long Jump Title at the All-England Schools' Championship. The Prospect Players On Location During the '60s the Old Scholars drama group, the Prospect Players, were not to be outdone by Ealing Studios, Pinewood, or Hollywood for that matter, and ambitiously started making films. For example, a 'western' was completed in November (1962). with 'commercials fitted in appropriate places' and given its premiere at an Old Scholars' Social in March. But the enterprises were not without their difficulties: 'We started work on a Robin Hood epic in the early summer, but were rained off after shooting only a quarter of the action' By the following May they were at it again with The Vikings but didn't quite finish then because 'the weather broke at an inopportune moment and bad light stopped play.' Such vagaries of the weather did not discourage the intrepid film crews who went on to complete these films and others including At Your Leisure in 1969. Meanwhile, Back in the Studio Concerts remained a major feature of school life and included performances of works like Handels Messiah given by the School Choral Society with soloists and school orchestra, sometimes augmented by members of the Ealing Youth Orchestra. In 1964 the school purchased a 2 manual Compton electric organ to mark the occasion of its 25th anniversary. (Unfortunately the organ was destroyed in 1974/75.) Christmas, Easter and Whitsun services of appropriate hymns, readings and talks by special speakers continued annually. And On Stage The School continued producing plays regularly during the '60s, usually in December. plays such as Pygmalion in 1963, Macbeth, and Much Ado About Nothing in succeeding years. The cost of hiring lighting was increasing annually so the School made an appeal and by 1966 parents and staff had contributed enough to provide lighting equipment for the production of The Importance of Being Earnest. A performance of Androcles and the Lion was given in 1967. Among those present was Mrs James. The Lion was played by John Vale; Androcles by Victor Coleman; Magaera by Jill Richardson; Centurion, Malcolm James; Captain, lan Hinde; Lentulus, Philip Mison; Metellus, Anthony Summers; Spintho, Michael Linane; and Ferrovius by our present Deputy Chair of Governors, Richard Bellairs (at other times, when he wasn't acting, he seems to have been contributing his talents to the strings section of the school orchestra or playing the guitar in Entertainments!). The Autumn activities of the Art Society revolved around designing and making costumes for Androcles and the Lion. Judith Lester made a very realistic lion's head from old mops and papier mache. Others spent their time sewing tunics and making swords and helmets. It wasn't until the production was behind them that the Society was allowed to get on with their usual activities of visits to exhibitions and art galleries, and experimenting with various forms of art or craft. 1968 found many of the same members of the Dramatic Society involved in the production of Gogol's The Government Inspector received high praise in the local paper. The reviewer commended the choice of play as a wise one because it is an amusing play which gives a fair number of pupils a chance to display their acting abilities. The audience found plenty to laugh at with extremely good performances from Malcolm Barry, as the Mayor, and John Vale as the mistaken inspector. Both had difficult and lengthy parts to sustain but neither needed prompting. John Vale received special credit because the sum total of his previous acting experience was as the lion in Androcles! Many of the other 25 members of the cast deserved a mention but the ones particularly liked by the reviewer were Ossip (Keith Harber) who played the clerk's servant, and Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky (Vic Coleman and Chris Humphrey). The scenery and costumes were considered excellent on the whole the one criticism concerned the grubby shoes worn by the Mayor! The following year Vic Coleman, Peter Wareham, Linda Woolley, Suzanne Rees, Gill Baker, Philip Mison, Alan Tozer, Neil Snowdon and Sharon Adlem played parts in Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer. The Insect Play by The Brothers Capek followed in December 1970 with the Tramp played by Peter Wareham, Lepidopterist by Tim Lott, Clytie by Sharon Adlem, Otto by Alex Hidveghy, the Chrysalis by Gillian Hircock and the Chief Engineer by Neil Snowdon. Mr Cheshire as Fagin, R. Postins as Oliver and M. Wilson as the Artful Dodger, R. Sansom as Bill Sykes and Moya McLoughlin as Nancy led the cast of Oliver in 1971. What was to turn out to be the last full production of the Grammar School's Dramatic Society was one that had page 59